As I turned on to Hwy 212, I saw this sign, very fitting for Montana (note: I hardly saw anyone smoking in Oregon and Washington, but as soon as I crossed over into Montana smokers were everywhere).
The official start of the Beartooth Highway is at Red Lodge, a cute old western town that I would absolutely have stopped in if I were even slightly hungry. The streets on this day were lined with Harleys, which I soon realized was because Sturgis had just ended and many of them like to take the scenic route home. This is what it looked like just out of Red Lodge, as the gateway to the Beartooth Highway:
And then the road started going up...
And up...
And up...
This is what it looked like from the top, or at least from the first scenic vista at the top.
And these are the bikers I met at the top... all very nice, of course!
From there, the scenery only improved. The crisp blue skies seemed to go on forever over these stunning vistas with just enough puffy white clouds to provide contrast. Such a perfect day! The road winded along this grassy plain sitting completely out of place in this rugged mountain range. Some of the pictures even remind me of that old classic Windows background with the green hill and blue sky... perfectly serene and calming.
Everywhere I turned I just saw more gorgeous scenery that I wanted to take more pictures of. I also had to get some pictures of myself in front of the awesomeness (and I only just now noticed I am dressed to match the scenery... green/brown on bottom and blue on top. weird.)
I stumbled upon the most picturesque little pond, even. Ok, maybe I was just camera-happy at this point, but I thought it was very pretty.
As I was coming back down out of the mountains, I stopped at one last spot... a turnoff up a dirt road to a forest service lookout station, where I found 360 degree views of the Beartooths (Bearteeth??) and Yellowstone.
As I got closer to Yellowstone, I came across this crazy sharp peak, which I can only assume is where the Beartooths got their name!
Finally I crossed from the Beartooth Highway into Yellowstone National Park. As I reached the guard booth at the northeast entrance, I handed the man my Parks Annual Pass and my id, as I usually do. The guy asks:
"So, are you married?" (which is a somewhat common question for me being among the first of the generation of kids who ended up with hyphenated names to become adults)
Me: "No, my mom hyphenated her name."
Him: "Oh, then you want to go get some ice cream?"
Me: "Uhh..." (pause... nervous laugh... stutter)
Him: "Uh, just kidding!"
I drove away wondering, did I just get asked on a date by the guard booth park ranger?? Or does he just do that to random women to screw with their heads??
The whole northeast section of the park was covered in these beautiful, verdant green meadows. I stopped at a sparkling creek to take some pictures...
As I continued on south and west, I saw a big traffic jam collected in front of me. I was soon to realize that this happens every time anyone sees an animal in Yellowstone, even if it is a squirrel by the road (well not quite, but almost). But this one was by far the most justified... there was a herd of buffalo crossing the road!! It was very cool to watch, plus you really didn't want to take on a buffalo even from inside your car, so you just had to let them pass...
Watch this video I took to watch them in action and hear the crazy noise they make... I guess it is buffalo for "moo."
A little further I stopped at Tower Falls.... pretty cool:
There were many more pretty views and meadows and hills as I drove through the center of the park on my way to the west entrance, where I had booked a room in the Madison West Yellowstone Hostel.
I also caught a glimpse of one of the reasons east Yellowstone was so hazy (check the 360 pics above from the lookout)
It did make for a pretty sunset from the hostel, though!
One of my friends from the hostel in Bozeman had told me he would be in West Yellowstone that night as well, so we met up for some dinner. Essau, from Tanzania, was full of interesting life stories of running safaris in Africa, politics in DC, and now getting a graduate degree in Montana.
Earlier that night I had received a text message from my mother (yes, my parents have actually figured out how to text!) saying there would be a meteor shower that night after midnight. Despite being very tired from the squeaky hostel beds the night before, we forced ourselves to stay up, wandering over to Bullwinkle's Saloon for some Moose Drool and other good local beers (love the logo glass...) and hanging out with this very nice Canadian couple.
Finally we made it to midnight, so we drove back into the park away from the bright lights of West Yellowstone and set up my camp chairs looking over the river to watch the stars fall.
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