Today’s adventures started outside of Yellowstone National Park. We took the scenic route over to the adorable town of Red Lodge, MT. First stop was Red Lodge Ales for flights and seriously delicious lunch, then shopped in town for a bit. The ride up was a bit cloudy but we knew enough to realize that there would be some great views if the clouds broke.
The destination in this area was the Beartooth Highway which quickly took us to over 10,000 feet on some steep, winding switchbacks. This road had been closed just a few days ago due to snow. We did see a couple of crazy snowboarder guys who were out enjoying some life-threatening thrills this afternoon. The skies did open up, and it was incredible! It was also about 20 degrees colder up there so we didn’t stay long. The ride down was just as spectacular, but the altitude definitely made Rick and I sleepy passengers (ok, it’s likely that the lunch beverages contributed as well). By the time we got back down into Cooke City and the Northeast Gate of the park, we were good to go again and back on to our wildlife spotting roles.
We found ourselves a great spot in Lamar Valley to truly just relax and take in the views for several hours. We had plenty of bison, pronghorn (like an antelope), a few elk, deer and even one curious badger in our company. After some time, we did also spot a couple of bear. We heard, but did not see, what was likely wolf or coyote. We stayed through dusk to enjoy the dinner we had packed right there in the middle of the park. We really made ourselves at home with a table for our snacks and mosquito repellers around our perimeter. We had hoped for some wolf sightings… maybe another day!
Anyone else remember the Big Valley TV show? My dad liked to have that on Sunday mornings when he made family breakfast at his bar. Kept thinking about that today sitting there!!
We are grateful for another amazing and full day, including a really long and dark drive back this evening. The diversity of this area, and the hospitality to share this with our friends continues to be a fabulous experience.
Happy campers (again)
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