We woke up early, packed the car and headed out into a cloudy day, knowing we would go on a beautiful drive. Today we would take the Beartooth Highway over the Beartooth Pass, at nearly 11,000 feet. From there we would enter Yellowstone National Park via the least used entrance at the northeast corner of the park.
We started on the 40 some mile highway at about 7:15 AM. Our early start was rewarded with our having most of the drive having the road and the view almost entirely to ourselves. Nearly every switchback and corner brought another beautiful view. Mountains, lakes, all different kinds of trees, and then no trees because we were in tundra. The views were spectacular, even though it was a cloudy day so no blue skies in the background of our photos.
About two hours into the drive, it began to rain. We had some conversations with some motorcycle riders who were even less thrilled about the rain than we were. We were stopped for road construction for about a half an hour behind a bunch of bikers. Thankfully the rain was fairly short-lived. The construction was pretty impressive as in some cases the road seems to have been completely swept away. Construction crews were working diligently to rebuild roads, carving away parts of the mountain, and at least in one case build a bridge. What a job! The view was spectacular.
We stopped regularly to take photos, especially of the wildflowers that were in full bloom. There were flowers that were yellow, purple, red, white. In some cases they just carpeted the Meadows. And some even grew up the rocks along the edge of the road. Of course, we were looking for animals. At one turn of the road a family of marmots posed for us.
The drive over the Beartooth Pass took us about three hours. At the bottom, we ran into the traffic backed up waiting to get into Yellowstone Park. At least that was what we thought. It turns out that there were several bison in the road backing up traffic. That makes it a little more exciting. Not really any faster, however, and eventually we did hit more of the crowds backing up to the entrance. These were the inevitable crowds that are seeking to get away from it all this summer at our national parks. The wait went pretty quickly, and soon we were in Yellowstone. This would not be a big destination for today, but more an opportunity to take in some of the sites well on our way to today’s destination the Grand Teton National Park.
Soon after we came into Yellowstone proper, we started seeing bison. Not one, not ten, but hundreds of bison stretching on either side of the highway and sometimes making their way across the road. We were part of “bison jams” maybe for five times during our several hours in Yellowstone. These animals are so magnificent. We were pleased that we didn’t see any people doing some of the very very stupid things that tourists been known to do like coming up and trying to pet one, or taking a selfie too close to a bison or allowing their children to get way too close. Mostly people stayed in their car or at a respectful distance away and many many people shot photos of these wonderful animals.
Our plan had been to do sort of a minimum cut through Yellowstone to get to the Tetons. However we soon found major road construction meant the most direct route was totally closed. This meant we had to add probably an additional hour and a half to two hours of time getting through Yellowstone. The traffic at times was really miserable, especially in the areas with the very popular sites to see. The detour took us to Mammoth Hot Springs. We could see the beautiful terraced formations. As we drove through the little town there we had a surprise driving through traffic. We both glanced over and saw on the lawn what we thought was a statue, but turned out to be a live elk just eating the grass in front of a hotel. You never know what you’re going to see in this magnificent national park. We entirely skipped the area with Old Faithful Geyser, but did manage to see The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, with a magnificent waterfall inside.
Even though we had limited time in Yellowstone, how could we be in Yellowstone and not see at least a little of the thermal features? We had a nice stroll along the boardwalk in the West Thumb are basin. There we got to see some of the beautifully colored and sometimes audibly bubbling, warm features. On other trips we’ve had a chance to see Old Faithful geyser and many other iconic geysers and mud pots, etc. Today, only a taste. But this is such a magical place. We are so grateful to spend a chunk of the day enjoying the drive, seeing the animals, and driving by so many beautiful trees, mountains and lakes.
Around 3;30 we reached the edge of Yellowstone and bid it goodbye. Then, we had a short drive on the Rockefeller Parkway that connects Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. The closer we get to the Grand Tetons, the more excited Dick would become. Out of all of the national parks that we have visited, the grand Tetons is Dick’s most favorite.
It was exciting to arrive at the Tetons, and when we arrived in stopped a couple of times to take some classic photos. But, we were also keeping an eye on the weather. The dark clouds loomed more and more in the direction of our campground. We drove and arrived at our campsite a little after five right in the middle of a pretty good downpour. This is the first time we had set up our tent and ours screened area that went over the picnic table in maybe 12 or 14 years. Doing it in the rain wasn’t our best moment. However we got it done and cooked some dinner on our camp stove. Gosh it was good to be camping again.
Wouldn’t you know by the time we finish dinner this guy had cleared up and no more rainbow in the rest of the evening. That’s kind of how it goes sometimes.
There were very friendly people in the campground. We enjoyed chatting with folks and then headed off to bed early because we have a big hiking day tomorrow.
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