Day 3: Beartooth Pass and Yellowstone

Best Western Dessert Inn
West Yellowstone, MT

We took 212 south just west of Billings, MT. Fabulous road up through the beautiful Beartooth Pass.

Steve wanted me in the front to be sure I didn't get car sick. (Not sure if I should tell him I didn't feel the least bit car sick. I think I've outgrown that.) Mom had the back seat, but there was enough to see in every direction that I don't think she felt cheated.

Near the top of the pass were glaciers (left) and pools (right). We figured even on the hottest day, they were probably too chilly for swimming.

I came off without my "real" camera. Everything you are seeing is from my phone. It does better than the real camera for general shots, but doesn't do zoom. The real camera was one of those things I thought of in the middle of the night, but didn't get up at 2 AM to pull out of the closet, so ... I missed it over and over today. The pointed rock that gave Beartooth Pass its name, shows up as a tiny nick in the mountain ridge. Not worth showing here.

From the pass we came down through the tiny tourist towns of Cooke City and Silver Gate to the NE entrance to the park. We stopped at the first picnic spot mainly because we needed the bathroom. It was fine, but a few miles down the road were a row of picnic tables along Soda Butte Creek that was much prettier.

The Lamar River Valley was gorgeous with yellow birches (junipers?), herds of Bison and wading fly fishermen. (Yes, herds of them, too.) I resisted making Steve turn off for pictures.

We turned right at Tower-Roosevelt since we won't get back that way. It was beautiful, but after Beartooth Pass, nothing special, so we cut back on Blacktail Plateau Drive, a one-way gravel road across the top. (The N/S from Gardener is closed for construction so that wasn't an alternative.) It felt like total wilderness (except when we came up behind other cars). Grassy plateau with mountain views.

Turned out for the Petrified Tree. Impressive, but disgusting to think there used to be three of these giant sequoia-type trees mummified in a volcanic eruption a million years or so ago. Tourists chipped  the others away for souvenirs. This one is surrounded by an iron fence like an old cemetery. Mom could see it from the parking lot without getting out of the car.

Heading south from Tower-Roosevelt, we got our first glimpse of the Yellowstone River canyon. (Mom stayed in the car.)

At Norris Geyser Basin, we dug out Mom's walker, but it was further than we were expecting and the path was pretty rough. When we got to the lookout, it had steps and there were no benches, so she decided to go back. Partly, it was in the shade and she was afraid of being chilly. A little ways further on there would have been a good place to sit and the steam from the hot springs made it hot and humid. (Also smelled of sulpher, but you could smell that in the parking lot!)

We decided to call it a day and head for our hotel in West Yellowstone. But we got caught in this traffic jam. :-)

Thank you, Lord ...

for safety on winding mountain roads.

for a car with a powerful enough engine to climb.

for $10 lifetime passes as senior citizens.

for breath-taking views from the pass.

for marvelous bubbling mud and pools that crackle with releasing steam.

that we didn't have to see it all in one day. We get to go back tomorrow!