July 2017: Epic Road Trip 1: Part V--Day 7: The Beartooth Highway

The actual Beartooth Highway

Day 7:  The Beartooth Highway
After the visit to the Little Bighorn National Battlefield, we headed for Billings, Montana.  After six days of camping, we decided to get a hotel.  You know, sleep in a soft bed, shower, get the stink off.  We got up and drove around Billings and stopped by the Billings Temple.  It's something we like to do when we travel.

Then we headed off toward the Beartooth Highway, which is the second highest paved road in the contiguous United States.  It's the third highest paved road in the United States if you include Alaska and Hawaii.  I know what you are thinking.  Alaska has the second highest paved road.  You would be wrong, believe it or not it's in Hawaii.  Weird.  The highest paved road in the United States is in Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado.  The Hot Chick and I went on that road last summer.  I'll tell you about it sometime.  The highest road in Colorado is the road to Mount Evans at 14,130 feet above sea level.  The second highest paved road in the US is in Hawaii at the Mauna Loa Observatory at 11,161 feet above sea level.  The Beartooth Highway in Wyoming and Montana gets up to 10,947 feet above sea level.  Having been on two of the highest paved roads in America, I can tell you that the air is thin up there, and even in the heat of summer you need a jacket.

The Billings Temple

So my last post was really heavy on words, because it was about the Battle of the Little Bighorn.  This post really won't have much to read because there isn't much in the way of history of the Beartooth Pass.  By way of history, General Phillip Sheridan, in 1872 crossed the Beartooth Mountains on the advice of a hunter named Shuki Greer.  He and 120 men had just inspected the Newly formed Yellowstone National Park.  Sheridan didn't want to go home the long way and Shuki Greer told him of a shortcut through the mountains.  In 1936, when the Beartooth Highway opened, it followed Sheridan's original route.  That is according to Wikipedia.

Today, it is one of America's great scenic highways in the scenic highway system.  The road is managed by the National Park Service even though it is not part of any National Park.  It has been described as America's most beautiful road.  That is usually by way of opinion, but still.  I have been on the 17 mile drive in Carmel, California.  That's a pretty spectacular road as well.  As we traveled on the route, it became apparent why they are called the Beartooth Mountains.  You will see in the pictures.

I don't have much else to say about this trip that can't be expressed in photos, other than this.  While driving in the Beartooths, I felt very small.  I realized that my place in the universe is very small.  I didn't feel small in a negative sense, it didn't make me feel like I lacked meaning.  I just felt very small.  I hadn't felt that much before in my life.  It was illuminating.

The road started in Montana at Deer Lodge, passed through Wyoming at it's highest point, then ended at Cooke City, Montana.  Cooke City is the Northeast Entrance of Yellowstone National Park.  After the Beartooth Highway, we drove home through Yellowstone but didn't stop for anything.  By that point in the seven day epic journey, we would have only stopped for a wolverine fighting a Sasquatch.  I have seen a wolverine and I have seen a Sasquatch, but I've never seen them fight.

Let's see some pictures and close this Epic Road Trip out.

The Beartooth Mountains

It's very steep

From the valley to the tops of the mountains are several thousand feet

Any idea why they call these the Beartooth Mountains?

Kind of like the Molar Mountains here 

Two lane highway with steep dropoffs.  Some of the people in the car weren't as excited about the dropoffs as I was

Every now and then this happened

Stunning vistas everywhere you look

I call this "Tree"

Toward the top there is a plateau

Exposed bedrock at 10,000 feet above sea level

And there were lupines there

Fir tree silhouette 

More bedrock that looks like bears teeth

More trees in silhouette 

More bedrock

I liked this dead tree that looked like it had been bent by wind

Close to 11,000 feet above sea level there were penstamons 

Very near the summit, on the plateau was tundra

Lakes abounded 

In July there was still snow at this elevation.  I don't think it ever completely leaves

Pothole lakes from previous ages of glaciation

Stunning

Still has snow

This guy came out of his bunker to look at us

Glacial till at almost 11,000 feet above sea level

And here we have a picture of a horse

I don't believe there are any fish in here

On the other bank is a dropoff, a significant dropoff 

First carved by glaciers and the finishing touches by rivers

Life finds a way

Now you really find out why they call these the Beartooth Mountains

Pretty incredible.

We came here on day seven of an epic road trip.  By the time we got here, we were pretty tired, but we all agreed that we'd like to come here again with fresh legs and go on some of the hikes that there were all along the way.  One of these days we will go back, but the Beartooth Highway will be the destination rather than the route home.  It was beautiful and well worth the time to see it.  Fitting end to an Epic Road Trip.


For Part I of the Epic Road Trip, click this Link

For Part II of the Epic Road Trip, click this Link

For Part III of the Epic Road Trip, click this Link

For Part IV of the Epic Road Trip, click this Link