Sunday, July 6, 2025

June 29 - Driving the Beartooth Highway and into Yellowstone

Sunday morning, we allowed ourselves to sleep in, in hopes of helping recovery. On the road by 9:30, we decided to drive the Beartooth Highway, a very scenic drive on our way to Yellowstone. First, we headed to Laurel to charge, then to Highway 212, Beartooth Highway. The sights were stunning, and the drive was fun. We reached the highest point at 10,900 feet. We were above the tree line when we spotted a family of mountain goats up there. We both HIGHLY recommend doing this drive - it truly is one of the most breathtaking scenic drives!





This wide U-shaped valley was carved by a glacier.


We saw waterfalls, big and small, throughout our drive.

Sometimes it felt like we might drive off the edge of the Earth.









We passed from Montana into Wyoming on the drive. 

At this point, we were above the tree line and in true alpine territory.

This is a high glacial lake that we could look down onto.







Here we caught a glimpse of a family of mountain goats. They were quite far away, but we (and the other tourists) kept a very respectful distance so that we didn't disturb them. There was a baby - it is that white figure on the right. There were more at this site, but I couldn't get a picture of them all.








The road led us to the northwest entrance to Yellowstone. We arrived in Yellowstone around 5pm.

First, it is important to note that Yellowstone is a massive park - I really had no appreciation for just how big it is. It is 3,472 square miles! There are numerous parts of the park and it takes literally hours to drive from one side of the park to the other. 

We were fortunate to enter where we did at the time that we did - we got to drive through Lamar Valley, famous for wildlife as the crowds were thinning and the animals were becoming more active. While we drive through, we saw at least 1000 bison, 3 coyotes, several pronghorn antelope, elk, a moose taking a swim, a marmot, mule deer, an osprey, and ground squirrels. It was truly incredible!

We came across this river that was in a hurry! Lots of elevation change making this solid whitewater.


As you can see, we were feeling better and very excited to be in Yellowstone finally!


Everywhere you looked, there was something else that was just gorgeous and unexpected.

This is the first bison we saw; he was chilling on his own in the trees. We were so excited - little did we know that we were going to be seeing a LOT of his kin very soon.

One of the many herds we saw in Lamar Valley.

This guy was grazing right on the side of the road. As you can tell, I kept my window up!


We were a part of a bison traffic jam.

Pronghorn antelope, the fastest mammal in North America


There were a lot of bison calves; sometimes they would frolic together, and it was really cute!

The second coyote we saw; the first one took me by surprise (and I thought it was a wolf) so I didn't get a picture.

Marmot

Third coyote


There were beautiful and unusual rock formations when you turned a corner. Yellowstone is truly a magical place.

Yellowstone River winding through a valley.

Mule deer


Moose taking a dip in a small lake - he was also eating aquatic plants.

Elk cow

Once we were through Lamar Valley, we decided to see Tower Falls since it was relatively close and we weren't sure if we would be back in this part of the park again.

After that, we drove to the north entrance town of Gardiner to charge and have dinner. We ate at the Iron Horse Bar & Grill (I had a great bison burger) and we scored a view of the Yellowstone River while we ate. But by this time I was a tired puppy, still not being back to full strength.



We drove to our campsite outside the park at Custer-Gallatin National Forest Eagle Creek Campground. It sat above the town of Gardiner. We had to drive over a washboard road up there, but we great views of the park from where we were. It was a very secluded campsite, with beavers in the creek behind us and a pair of elk grazing across the creek. We also heard coyotes yelping/howling about the time we were going to bed. I didn't want to get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night due to the wildlife - I finally got up the courage/gave into the pain at around 4:30 when it was beginning to get light.




Our national forest campsite - it was close to primitive camping, but the views were amazing!


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