Yellowstone National Park,
Wyoming,
United States
Saturday, September 6, 2008
We left Mammoth Hot Springs today and headed for a short 1 mile hike to Wraith Falls. Now for all of you sci-fi fans that watch Stargate, you know the significance of this hike. The hike was short and sweet to a small water fall. We enjoyed the shortness of this hike. Kevin and I were still a little sore from the hike the night before to Osprey Falls. We stopped at the Roosevelt Ranger Station to see if the Beartooth Pass was open to Red Lodge Montana. The ranger had no idea so we decide to chance it and drive the pass. It was a great decision. The Beartooth Highway (Rt 212) starts at the Northeast Entrance of Yellowstone to Red Lodge Montana. We wanted to stop every 100 feet or so to take pictures. The views were incredible. The Beartooth Pass was at an elevation of 10.940 feet. We were well above tree line in the tundra. The mountain peaks were just beautiful, the mountain lakes so blue and the valleys so lush and green. It is a drive everyone should take at least once in their lives. The clouds were starting to roll in and we lost some of our view but we felt very privileged to see the awesome views prior to this point. We did get to see some Dall Sheep from a distance and got several pictures. The road was very curvy and the views so spectacular that it reminded us of Switzerland. Kevin loved driving these curvy roads and wish he had his motorcycle. We stopped in Red Lodge for dinner. This dinner was the cheapest so far this trip and it was great. It was a small town with no stop lights and once you get out of town the speed limit is 70 mph on a two lane road. Those of you who know Kevin know that he loved this town! We stopped in this old time candy store in Red Lodge and felt like two big kids in the candy store. Of course we had to buy some. They had every candy imaginable in different barrels and we filled our paper bag full. We headed to Cody Wyoming for the night. The drive down was quite different than the Beartooth Hwy but beautiful in its own right. It reminded me of the old westerns. I told Kevin we should be riding some horses on the range here. Tomorrow we head through the East Entrance of Yellowstone and down to the Grand Tetons.
