Day 7: Yellowstone to Beartooth Highway – Awesome
This is an account of our seventh day of the trip, third day in Yellowstone, and one of our favorite days of the trip. Before I got started typing about the seventh day, I wanted to share a picture of Old Faithful that would give a little bit scale to the eruption. Here is a picture from the evening of Day 6 where we got to see Old Faithful go off just before we headed back to camp for the evening:
A quiet morn
The earlier evening was not a restful one for the Dogman, so we relaxed in camp for much of the morning. We built in lots of rest time, and I look forward to a little rest and relaxation.
A little quiet time where I can catch up on my travel journal and commune with the nature around me. I love to camp. We were never hampered by the rain this trip, the first big cold drops feel great in the hot afternoon sun, the evening rain was my favorite. As the sun goes down, the land cools, our meals cooked and our gear back in place, the fire dies down, and then the wonderful sound of those big rain drops on the tent to ease you into sleep. The air is so dry here, that by wake up call the tent is mostly dry, except for the dew moisture that attracts there under the rain fly.
We have been on camping trips before, where we were caught by a thunder storm. If you know the weather and watch the clouds you can usually tell what’s coming out in the West. If you don’t know how to place your tent correctly you could be in for a bit of an adventure. In our last trip across the Southwest we were witness to many a poor packer that chose their location unwisely and woke up in a very large puddle. Lessons learned the hard way; all though a pain when they happen, ending up in a puddle is probably one of the more benign lessons you could learn on a camping trip, and is one of the type you can share and laugh on for years. Although we have never had this story to add to our collection, we have had a few already this trip that have already given us the high-altitude giggles over more than one meal. Good times…
In more humid areas, if you are picking up camp after an evening of rain storms, it is a little bit more of a challenge to pack up your wet tent. I can’t see this as a problem in Yellowstone. The climate is pretty arid; the region only gets about 2 inches of rain per month all year round. You can see the clouds forming, and the funnels approach. Rain should never be a surprise. It was nice to see lightning again too. The small light shows are pretty, and it is also cool as it lights up the outside from the inside of the tent.
I miss camping already. It is one of my favorite things to do.
My buddy Grizzly
About mid morning in camp grounds are dead, so we had the place to ourselves. Here is my little friend “grizzly” the Unita ground squirrel. These little guys are only out and about approximately 90 days of the year; after this short period of time they go into hibernation. This shy little one was nice enough to get friendly with me in the quiet morning and show me his little home, a hole dug under one of the logs they use to line the roads in the campground, and the yummy morning stash of food that was found in the fire pits around the grounds.
So cute. My favorite little rodent from this area of the country is the Pica, that live higher up in elevations. Cute little ears…
Beartooth
So far on this trip there has been little to top the Beartooth Scenic Byway. Just the drive out of Yellowstone through the Northeast road was beautiful in itself. Some of the rock formations out there are quite spectacular, but once we entered the glacier cut valleys of the Highway 212 it was all quite breath taking.
Here is a picture on a side road we took off the highway, and some things that I just find extremely lovely, wildflowers and mountain meadows.
We have been very very lucky people to have scheduled our road trips to be in the short durations in which these plants are in bloom. In this arctic mountainous region the growing season for these beauties is about 45 days. Just above this mountain meadow were a couple small glaciers.
Climbing High Above the Treeline
I think my other half would agree, some of our absolutely favorite rides have been those most out of the way places, those places off the beaten track. Most of these places were over 10,000 feet; the highest we have gotten to in the United States was over 12,000 ft. I will probably shed tears when I retire my jeep, it has boldly gotten us to these places; the third in our little tour group. Up by the mountain meadow there were some cool 4-wheel-drive only roads we would have treated the old girl too. If we had not started our day so late we probably would have gone even higher on that road. But we did actually go higher… all the way to the top.
And this picture wasn’t even taken at the top, this was only the West Summit. This next picture was taken at an even high location, over looking the Absaroka Range.
Pictures can’t describe it.
Here is one more picture to end my post: sunset as we drove back into Yellowstone.
Just an amazing day.
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