Day 9 of 2019 Western US Tour, July 20, Beartooth Highway

Our fifth and last day in Yellowstone National Park, when we left the park through Lamar Valley that’s abundant with wildlife, and Beartooth Highway in stunning alpine scenes.

According to Google Maps, the road trip from Gardiner (which was just outside Yellowstone National Park) to St Mary (which was just outside Glacier National Park) was 374 miles of Montana country road, that could be completed in less than 6 hours. However, we decided to split this road trip across two days with an intermediate stop in Great Falls, Montana. In this way we could fit some excursions in Two Medicine area of Glacier National Park on the second day, and take a detour along Lamar Valley and Beartooth Highway for the first day.
And it turned out to be one of the best decisions we made planning this trip.

And here’s our route on the map:

A pivotal theme of the day was wildlife, as we seemed to be watching more for the day than rest of our trip combined. And it started right outside our overnight cottage, with a pack of deer roaming the ranch on our doorstep.

Unfortunately, a gentleman that seemed to be the ranch owner wasn’t very happy with their presence, so he herded them off, leaving us only to admire the mountainous landscape nearby.

Yellowstone National Park

After filling up tank in the town of Gardiner, which had the cheapest gasoline for the day’s trip, we entered Yellowstone National Park for the last time. We made a few stops along the Northern part of Grand Loop Road, since we were in a hurry for lunch the previous day as we drove down the same road.

Undine Falls

A waterfall with roadside pullover / viewing platform. Unfortunately this West-facing waterfall wasn’t very photo-inviting in the morning light, so we quickly set off.

Forces of the Northern Range

Our next stop was Forces of the Northern Range, which was half a mile of boardwalk through some meadows and pine trees, aimed at educating people about wildlife and forces of nature that have sculpted Yellowstone. In particular, Huckleberry Ridge Tuff that was formed by volcanic eruptions 2.1 million years ago.

And here’s a video of this squirrel eating nuts.

Petrified Tree

This petrified tree was created 50 million ago through a series of volcanic eruptions. After the tree was buried by landslide, silica in the volcanic flow turned this tree into stone before it can rot.

Lamar Valley

After that, we crossed Tower Junction into Northeast Entrance Road. And immediately we were greeted by the sight of a roadside bison.

And here’s a video of this playful creature:

Ten minutes later, a few cars in front of us we found another pack of bison, this time they were farther from the road next to a pond. But since this was the first time we saw a bunch of bison together in Yellowstone National Park, we were still excited by their appearance.

Apart from bison, the surrounding landscape was still a treat to the eye.

Ten minutes after that, a few cars in front of us we hit the jackpot, of a pack of bison enjoying themselves literally feet from road. I was surprised that wildlife patrol wasn’t even at scene.

As usual, the nearby mountains never failed to impress.

Less than five minutes after we were back on the move, we came across a bend of Lamar River, where hundreds of bison were roaming the field.

After that and deep in the heart of Lamar Valley, we came across a few packs of bison. But compared with our first four days in Yellowstone National Park that we saw a total of probably five bison, we had seen hundreds for the day and was pretty content. Thus, we no longer bothered to stop for them for the rest of this morning.

Just before noon, we arrived at the small village of Silver Gate just outside Yellowstone’s Northeast entrance, with some long-missed signs of civilization.

Just down the road was a larger village called “Cooke City”, a small tourism town. It’s interesting to learn that during winter, Beartooth Highway towards its East would be closed, thus the town’s only connection to the outside world would be through Yellowstone’s northern loop, via Gardiner, to Livingston Montana. An arduous 111-mile journey.

Beartooth Highway

Now we were officially on Beartooth Highway, where sceneries around us were transitioning from lush forest to magnificent mountains.

Beartooth Highway Yellowstone Overlook

After continuing past the junction to Chief Joseph Highway, we stopped by a roadside viewing platform and admired the imposing mountain ranges.

After that, we continued onto some plateau with lush meadows and patches of snow, among lakes and boulders.

25th Annual Beartooth Motorcycle Rally happened to fall on this weekend, so once we exited Yellowstone National Park, we came across parades of motorbikes.

Beartooth Pass

At an elevation of 3337 meters, it’s the highest point of Beartooth Highway. We followed many motorbikes and made a stop here.
First in our sight was this Prairie Dog just next to the pullover parking area.

Then we enjoyed views of nearby mountains and canyons before setting off.

Gardner Lake Overlook

We made another brief stop at Gardner Lake, where in my opinion the views were better than Beartooth Pass. There was also a hiking trail here leading to Tibbs Butte, which I would definitely give a try should I have time. Unfortunately, winds were high and thus our stop here was short.

At about 1:30pm, we crossed for the last time into Montana. A few minutes later we were at Rock Creek Vista.

Rock Creek Vista

Apart from Yellowstone Overlook on its western end, Rock Creek Vista was probably the only other vista near the eastern end of Beartooth Highway. It featured a spacious parking lot that’s popular with cars and motorcycles, a few bathroom stalls, and an observation platform with (almost) 360-degree view.

Besides, a few animals certainly enjoyed this summer home that’s abundant with food from animal-loving people.
Despite that feeding animals wasn’t technically allowed.

Not long after following these squirrels, I found they had their own set of cute gestures for panhandling.

And it’s quite effective.

Apart from the not-so-wild animals, the neighboring mountainous landscape was also stunning beyond words.

At about 2pm, we left Rock Creek Vista for Red Lodge, which was a town just on the footstep of Beartooth Highway. We planned to have lunch there.
And in between was the final segment of Beartooth Highway, which never ceased to impress.

As for lunch, we visited a restaurant called “PREROGATIvE Kitchen”. Well, I didn’t recall much about their menu, but their excessive decorations, especially in the bathrooms, were certainly hard to forget.

Parade in Red Lodge

After lunch, we happened to bump into a parade of horse-drawn wagons, presented by Budweiser. I didn’t know whether this had to do with the annual motorcycle rally, but everyone around us seemed so festive as we decided that we should too.

After that, I took over driving so there were no more photos. It was an uneventful five-hour drive Great Falls Montana, with a Walmart grocery stop to stock up supplies, where country roads with few cars passed along beautiful farmland and unfortunately rundown villages.
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