July 15-16, 2007

The Beartooth Highway
(click on this for some interesting info)
July 15, 2007


Northeast of Yellowstone Park is a highway that Charles Kuralt once called “the most beautiful in America.” Stretching 60 plus miles from Cooke City to Red Lodge, Montana, it has intrigued me since reading about it as we planned this trip.

Is this a road that we should drive with the motorhome? I queried various on-line RV forums and the answers were mixed.. There were steep grades up and down—brake burners for sure. Hairpin switchback turns. A grade school-high school chum was the mayor of Red Lodge---I asked him. His response was lukewarm, but the nail in the coffin was that his schedules and ours conflicted, and he would be away until a couple days after we left the area. We nixed the RV assault on the Beartooth and took another route (Hwy 89) into Yellowstone, stopping short in Gardiner, MT.
Nevertheless, the Beartooth beckoned, so we headed out in the CRV for a day trip. 40 miles to get to the start, and then 60 miles more—one way. These mountain miles are slow miles, especially when vistas appear mile after mile that pull you to the side of the road to gawk or take a picture. Critters appear—buffalo, coyote, elk, and white-tailed deer. Wildflowers guard the roadside. Many motorcyclists were enjoying the drive---I think this is one of their 'merit badge' routes.


It is a great drive—both ways, with a buffalo pastrami sandwich for lunch at the turn around in Red Lodge. Now Red Lodge is a town with a siren’s song during the summer. Vital and historic. You can sense the property values rising as you sip iced tea, pushed upwards by newcomers laden with yuppie cash. Just don’t think about winters—the snow drifts and sub-freezing temps. But it has the feel of a very special place. My friend is a a fortunate person to be rooted in this place. Buy property here. You can't lose.

After 9 hours and 200 miles on the road, we returned. Carly, who had done the drive with us, was hungry, and the frozen chicken breasts we took out to thaw in the morning were now lukewarm. I’ll pass on the salmonella, but we nuked ‘em for Carly, who will have haute’ cuisine for a few days.

The final verdict on the Beartooth is that only a fool would take an RV on it (There were several such fools on the road.) Pavement is fine, but steep grades up and down would wear hard on the rig. Few of the pull-over sites (many) would accommodate anything larger than a car, so many vistas would simply be missed. One realistically could not drive this and look at all of the great views without going off the road or smacking an oncoming vehicle. Any passengers in the rig would likely get car sick or suffer permanent sphincter damage.

Enjoy the video---it doesn’t do the scenery justice (lighting wasn't optimum), but then, I don’t take this photography stuff too seriously. Click here—and turn on the audio. It'll take a while to load.

July 16, 2007
Outside Grand Tetons NP
Grand Teton RV Resort

We cruised through Yellowstone on Hwy 89 early in the a.m. to avoid looky-loos.
Unhooked the toad at West Thumb and drove up to Bridge Bay. Nice campground there.
Finished today's drive at Grand Teton RV Resort which is soaking us nearly $50 for one night. Nothing else is available

We will be going into the park after dinner when lighting is better for pics and critters are roaming the range.