The Beartooth and Chief Joseph Highways

This is a longer post than usual because it covers a long, long ride we took a week ago. We drove through the park over Dunraven Pass and through Lamar Valley to Cooke City. From here we went up Beartooth Highway which reaches almost 11,000 feet. Most of it is in the Shoshone National Forest and follows along the Beartooth Mountain Range. We retraced our steps back to meet up with the Chief Joseph Highway all the way to Cody, Wyoming where it was 85 degrees. From here we turned west back through Yellowstone and back home arriving 12 hours after we departed. We had not entered the park from Cody in 23 years, when we made our first visit here. It was a tiring day but well worth it. We saw moose, grizzly bear, elk, black bear, coyote, deer and various birds but this post contains mostly pictures of the majestic scenery.

Here you can see part of the road on the Beartooth zig zagging on a narrow strip of land.

The ski lifts were still in operation. Here you can see the bottom of one and the top of another.

The winter sports enthusiast were enjoying the 34 degree temps on this day late in June.

We saw one brave, (or maybe crazy), skier start at the top of the hill on the right and work their way through between the cliffs and down out of sight. It's hard to see in the photo, but it's almost straight down. The ride was over in a flash.

The road had only been open for a few days. It was amazing how tall the walls of snow were on both sides.

The Bear Tooth.

At the bottom of the bowl shaped valley we could see a creek.

It's definitely still winter here.

At the beginning of the Chief Joseph Highway.

These three pictures were taken from Dead Indian Pass on the Chief Joseph. What looks like many roads is just the route winding up through the valley and then up the mountain.

The Nez Perce Trail crosses the road here.

Awesome colors further along the Chief Joseph.

Back in Yellowstone. Recent wildfire damage in shades of gray.

Our last rest stop along the Yellowstone River.

Two different ways of looking at the same scene. Beautiful either way.

Yellowstone - North to Lamar Valley

Last weekend we planned to drive the north loop in Yellowstone, but due to the weather one of the roads was not open. We decided to drive north to Mammoth Hot Springs and then east to the Lamar Valley and retrace our route back home. It's looking more like spring and we saw many animals.

Here we saw some female elk in the water.

Interestingly enough we saw this grizzly bear near Grizzly Lake. There were so many cars parked at this location we could not safely get off the road, so we just snapped a few pictures as we drove by.

Further along, south of the Golden Gate area, we saw a mother grizzly and what we figure must have been a pair of last year's cubs. Here is the mom looking towards us.

A short distance from the mother grizzly these two young ones were evidently feeding on a carcass. Fortunately the grass was high enough we could not see what they were eating.

While we are watching the grizzly family, this adult bison wanders by.

Then as he gets closer to where the grizzlies are he starts kicking up dirt.

The mother comes closer and places herself between her babies and the bison.

Then they all watch the bison walk away.

Many people stop to watch the grizzlies. We are all a safe distance away.

After watching the bears we drive to Mammoth and then head east. Here we take a short walk to the overlook for Tower Falls. The trail to the base of the falls is not open, so we'll hike that next time.

Another view from the falls overlook. What a beautiful day.

These pronghorn and bison were in the Lamar Valley. Notice the two bison calves laying down to the right side of the picture.

There were many bison in the Lamar Valley.