Distance today: 282 miles
Am still in awe of the MT scenery! And how cool is the name Red Lodge!! I think in my next life I'm going to live in MT!! There are days I sit on my own porch, looking around at the beauty & have to go inside because my brain gets overloaded with all the beauty around me. Same situation here. I scare can take it in. Just when one thinks they can't possibly see anymore beauty, then you look at something else & get blown away again!!
 |
| Roosevelt Arch at the North Entrance. (Side walls are gone now.) |
One can enter into Yellowstone National Park from the North, South, West, East or Northeast (see map below). Yesterday we came in from the west &, because I got overwhelmed by too many people, the crowding & time limitations, we booked out in about 20 mins. Today we came in the north entrance & man, did that make a huge difference!!! This entrance was very different than the west entryway. Narrower, less crowded & more to my personal liking. We rode our bikes around the interior loop, then exited out the NE exit,
 |
| Map of Yellowstone Nat'l Park |
the vistas & the 'wildlife encounters', the trip was a huge success nonetheless.
I also was really pleased to see some herds of buffalo!! I couldn't help but think that the Native Americans in this area viewed the herds just like I did today, even tho' there are far fewer buffalo than there was then. Perhaps someday their numbers will increase even more.
We spent most of the day there, seeing many sights. I've posted some pictures below of features that I saw but these pictures just can not portray the natural beauty of this area. But one must see these things personally to really appreciate just how unique these wonders are.
 |
| Grand Prismatic Spring |
 |
| Old Faithful |
 |
| Yellowstone Lake |
 |
| One of many billboards along the roadways about historical sites |
 |
| Just another beautiful Mt scene |
 |
| mineral deposits |
 |
| sign in front of the area pictured to left |
 |
| Buffalo |
 |
| Yellowstone prarie |
 |
| Fire area regrowth |
 |
| Click on any of these pics to enlarge |
 |
| Caught this view when just mindlessly driving past. |
 |
| Beauty abounds! |
After a really impressive day at Yellowstone, we exited the park, we travelled away from the area on yet another scenic highway (212).
I couldn't believe that there was something even more impressive than what we had seen that day but we then went through another totally awesome stretch of innumerable 20 mph curves called Beartooth hwy. Heralded as one of the most scenic drives in the United States, the Beartooth hwy, passes through what is known today as the Beartooth corridor. This corridor is surrounded by the Custer, Gallatin, and Shoshone National Forests, traveling parallel to the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, and abutting Yellowstone National Park, the Highway sits in a million-plus acre wilderness. Absolutely friggin amazing & what a RUSH!!!!
 |
| This makes my heart gasp, just looking down! |
 |
| No guard rails & a longggggg way down! I couldn't EVEN look away from the road while driving! |
 |
| Pulled this off the net cuz no place to pull over up there to take a shot like this! |
Couldn't believe these untouched alpine and mountain landscapes, lush forests, and alpine tundra & there was snow up there! Imagine snow in June!! This highway stretch covers one of the highest and most rugged areas in the lower 48 states, with 20 peaks reaching over 12,000 feet in elevation. In the surrounding mountains, glaciers are found on the north flank of nearly every mountain peak over 11,500 feet high. We had an absolute BKAST driving our motorcycles on this road & stopped at the highest elevation highway in Wyoming (10,947 feet) and Montana (10,350 feet).
This is the highest elevation highway in the Northern Rockies! And yet with snow nearby, there were flowers blooming on the tundra. I took so many pictures that day my phone died BEFORE I got here! So you need to go see this yourself!!
 |
| Beartooth hwy topo |
No comments:
Post a Comment