Today we spent most of the day in Yellowstone. We started looking for info and ended up a junior ranger station. There we saw the first wildlife of the day. There was a bison just outside the window walking around eating grass like there weren’t 20 pairs of eyes staring at him and taking his picture. Unfortunately, I left the camera on the bike…dork! From there we went to Norris and on to Canyon Park to the Upper and Lower Falls. I took a million pictures. We had a picnic lunch in the park. Then we went to Tower Canyon where we took fewer pictures but it was still beautiful. Then we headed out of the park. We came upon a bison herd grazing and hanging out. We were able to see them really close up. We even got a picture of a baby bison. Ryan scared it when we crept passed. It darted off to finds its mom and tattle on us. It doesn’t sound like a long day, but we were in the park from 0900 to 1500. We should have scheduled two full days for the park because we only saw half of the park sites.
We left Yellowstone from the Northeast entrance on the Beartooth Highway. Just outside the park the road was all torn up. A guy we met yesterday, from Salt Lake City, who rides through the park often, told us there are two seasons, “winter and construction”. So we dealt with that and followed a lead vehicle for 5 miles until we got back to two lane pavement. The pass itself was certainly something to experience. It was a beautiful drive but a little scary. The road climbs to nearly 11000 feet between Wyoming and Montana. It took about at least an hour and a half to go 70 miles. There was a gentle (yet super windy and chilly) ascent to the top in Wyoming. Then the decent into Montana was rather rapid. The Beartooth Highways ends in Red Lodge, which is a tourist town that looks almost identical to West Yellowstone. If we weren’t trying to make time it would have been a perfect place to call it a day. However, we continued on 212 to Billings where we got on I-90 and came to Hardin for the night. From Billings to Hardin was all interstate and really boring. What was even worse was the wind was blowing like crazy.
Hardin is a two exit town, but there is nothing here, except Custer museums and the like. Tomorrow we are going to see Battle of Little Big Horn site, to Rapid City and Mount Rushmore. It is going to be a busy day.
We left Yellowstone from the Northeast entrance on the Beartooth Highway. Just outside the park the road was all torn up. A guy we met yesterday, from Salt Lake City, who rides through the park often, told us there are two seasons, “winter and construction”. So we dealt with that and followed a lead vehicle for 5 miles until we got back to two lane pavement. The pass itself was certainly something to experience. It was a beautiful drive but a little scary. The road climbs to nearly 11000 feet between Wyoming and Montana. It took about at least an hour and a half to go 70 miles. There was a gentle (yet super windy and chilly) ascent to the top in Wyoming. Then the decent into Montana was rather rapid. The Beartooth Highways ends in Red Lodge, which is a tourist town that looks almost identical to West Yellowstone. If we weren’t trying to make time it would have been a perfect place to call it a day. However, we continued on 212 to Billings where we got on I-90 and came to Hardin for the night. From Billings to Hardin was all interstate and really boring. What was even worse was the wind was blowing like crazy.
Hardin is a two exit town, but there is nothing here, except Custer museums and the like. Tomorrow we are going to see Battle of Little Big Horn site, to Rapid City and Mount Rushmore. It is going to be a busy day.
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