Day 8: The Beartooth Highway

We kicked off Week 2 with a final pause in Yellowstone at Mammoth Hot Springs. It was located just south of the North Entrance (which is in Gardiner, where we stayed 2 nights), so we kept pushing it off when we drove past the other days. It was so close, it'd be easy to hit later on. So here we are, leaving town and still touristing in Yellowstone.

It was really beautiful; utterly unlike anything I'd seen before. We learned from a roving Park Ranger that these springs accumulate 3-5 feet of new sedimentary rock PER YEAR; 1000 lbs. per day. So the springs themselves are constantly changing - new leaks spring up, old ones stop flowing as the waterways collapse under the new weight and as earthquakes hit the area (between 1000 and 3000 per year, most of them too small for most people to even notice). 

We headed out of town around 10:30am towards the Northeast Entrance of the park and the Beartooth Scenic Highway. Oddly enough, Dad's AAA guide books for Montana and Wyoming didn't mention it - possibly because it's closed Oct-late May? - but it was stunning. I almost don't want to share photos because they don't come close to doing it justice. Lots of snow, insane daredevils snowboarding down the mountains in dense cloud cover, panoramic views of snowy mountain peaks. I didn't expect views like this until we reached Alaska (and figured we'd be lucky to see snow there, considering that we're chasing spring this entire roadtrip). 

Pilot Peak 

Dad on the Wyoming side of the Hwy

We found a spot with a view for a lunch break

These trees are tenacious; they just grow straight out of the rocks

Pilot Peak

Beartooth Plateau

This wasn't even the highest we saw the snow plowed along the Beartooth Hwy

From a viewpoint on the Montana side of the Hwy

Because of the way a storm blew in, our views from the Wyoming side of the Highway were extraordinary; the Montana side was only stunning. A common refrain was "Anj would love to drive this road" because of the vistas to be seen and the constant curves in the roadway. We stopped at a viewpoint in Montana and Mom made some friends (Dad did, too - you'll have to check out his Daily Report for a photo). 

Dinner last night was at a place called the Thirsty Turtle - recommended by the front desk clerk at our Super 8 in Big Timber. Local spot (we stuck out like sore thumbs - it was very movie-esque with folks turning to stare as we walked in), but the beer was cold, the fries were crispy, and the sandwiches were tasty! After Mom's white-knuckle drive day yesterday, she was stumbling on the way in from exhaustion and Dad and I weren't far off. It was great to get back to the hotel and pass out - I'm pretty sure we were all out before 9pm.

Today we've got a long day coming. About 6.5 hours (lol) to get up to Glacier National Park. Since yesterday was supposed to be 4hrs20 but actually was more like 10 hours with our stops at Mammoth and for lunch and for chipmunk befriending, we'll see how today goes. Safe to say we haven't been following the schedule very well so far.