Friday, July 20, 2018

Beartooth Scenic Byway

For about 15 years now it has been my desire to drive the Beartooth Scenic Byway that runs from Silver Gate to Red Lodge, Montana. Although a few adventurous motorhome owners have driven the byway with their coach, this was not something I was inclined to do. Driving a 40 foot motorhome towing a car it would be necessary to negotiate some of the switchback turns using both lanes of the highway. Also there would be very few places to pull off and take photos. We like to make quick stops to take photos so driving this byway with our motorhome towing the car was out of the question. We visited Yellowstone five years ago but Pam enjoyed the park so much she wanted to stop there again. I wanted to do the Beartooth Byway. So the original plan was to spend four days camped in West Yellowstone, making daily trips into the park, and then move to Red Lodge via I-90 and drive the Beartooth Highway from there. While we were in Oregon we found out that some friends from Sacramento, California were going to the FMCA Rally in Gillette and wanted to meet up with us and drive in together. By driving in together we would be parked together. We decided to modify our plans and do the Beartooth from West Yellowstone. That meant an all day drive from West Yellowstone to Silver Gate, over to Red Lodge, down to Cody Wyoming and back thru the park via the East Entrance. We packed lunches and dog food and hit the road early for a 12 hour day trip.

Beartooth Scenic Byway sign near Silver Gate


Beartooth Lake



Top of the World Store at 9352 feet on the Beartooth Highway




Elevation at scenic viewpoint where the following photo was taken. Notice it is seventeen feet short of 11,000 feet. The wind was blowing at about 20 mile per hour and we had to wear our jackets.


Beartooth Mountains in the distance


Many glacier lakes along the top of the byway

Take a close look at the next two photos and you will see some of the switchback turns that must be negotiated to travel the Beartooth Highway.



The next photo was taken on the way back to West Yellowstone in the middle of the park near Fishing Bridge. The photo is of Yellowstone Lake looking east from Highway 20. The surface of Yellowstone Lake is 7714 feet above sea level.

Yellowstone Lake

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