The northeast road out of Yellowstone is highway 212. It runs about 65 miles from Cooke City to Red Lodge starting in Montana, dipping into Wyoming, and then back into Montana. The road travels through the Beartooth Mountains.
I have done my fair share of driving (not just on this trip, but in general). I've driven from Anchorage to Fairbanks (after stopping in Denali), I've driven a bunch in the Sierras, driven outside of Seattle and Portland, even in Maine and Canada. But the Beartooth Highway is absolutely the most amazing road I have ever driven in my life. Without a doubt.
I doubt that anything I can write could fully encompass my amazement and wonder, so I'm going to keep it brief and instead include more pictures/video. The road begins in a valley, traversing a mountain to the north. To the south is a set of pretty impressive mountains. The road just keeps going up, so you see the rest of the Rockies in the background and eventually the Tetons. As you gain in elevation (ultimately up to 10,590 feet), you pass mountain lakes, patches of ice, the beginning of streams, tundra, and countless overlooks. I think I stopped about 15 different times to take pictures and videos. (I think Joaquin wasn't happy with my frequent stops - I would park, get out take pictures and then drive less than half a mile and do it again.) It might have been that I was on the road at just the right time and that it was very clear, but whatever it was, I am incredibly lucky to have been on the road at the right time.
The following pictures are posted in chronological order of the drive:
This is one of two videos from the drive. The videos take FOREVER to load, so I'm going to load the other video later.
1 comment:
Yum. That's a delicious road. I recommend against doing it in a 25-foot moving van. Doesn't take the hills as so nicely...
Hooray for road trips.
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