28th
June 2016
How much fun can
a man have by 10 am ?
I woke up at
about 6 am having slept like a log out here in the wilds of the Bear Tooth
Pass. We were actually just back from
the summit, at Little Bear Lake, but we were close to 10,000 ft asl, so it had
been quite chilly last night – and still was as I got up to make tea this
morning. Before 8 am, Steve was up and
ready, his dog Zoe was obviously ready to go, and we headed out of the camping
area between the trees and down to the “main” road. As soon as we hit the road, the WOW’s started
!
We passed a snow
plough beside the road – Not the first we had seen. A reminder that they expect snow at any time
on this pass, and I now realize why the road was closed when I tried to get
here from Yellowstone in April 2012 in the Lotus ! In fact, several of the “official” campsites
we had passed last night were still closed now at the end of June, because they
normally have snow until mid – July !
As we climbed up
the hill to the summit at 10,947 ft, the views looking back over the valley and
the lakes, with the sunshine lighting everything up in the morning, were just
indescribable. And the pics don’t even
do them justice, as usual. Several times
I just stopped, and had tears in my eyes, because it was just STUNNING. There is a LOT of snow still lying around up
here, and remember that this winter past was a very mild one compared to usual. At the top of the pass we took a few pics,
then Steve and Zoe turned around and headed back down the hill on their way to
their destination – Steve had only come this far up the pass because I
persuaded him to !
And that was
Steve’s big mistake, because IT GOT BETTER
as I set off down the other side ! I won’t try to tell you more than the
photos can, but suffice it to say that I did find the actual Bear’s Tooth after
which the pass is named ! There are
several other one’s that could be the one, but this one is actually signed !
Only half an hour
after leaving the camp site, I was finding “summer ski areas”, countless wild
flowers beside the road, as well as a bunch of Marmots – Kind of like Prairie
Dogs, but slightly bigger and furrier !
They were also a bit more timid, running away at the slightest
provocation. At the summer ski area not
only was there a slope grooming machine, but also a ski tow – With 3 white
mountain goats finding food to eat among the rocks. The view from there down to the lake in the
valley floor was – yes – amazing !!
Shortly
afterwards I crossed back into Montana – This whole corner is a mess of state
lines between Wyoming and Montana – as is Yellowstone Park itself. I found it kind of funny that on the “Welcome
to Montana” side of the sign it says we are entering Custer National Forest, and
on the “Welcome to Wyoming” side of the sign (on the reverse of the same sign
!) it says “Entering Shoshone National
Forest”. You would have thought that
Custer and the Shoshone were kind of on opposing sides ? !!
Dropping down
towards Red Lodge, I passed a couple stopped beside their motorcycle, taking
photos as they head up the hill (ie the other direction from me). I stopped and told them not to waste time –
It was going to get better, and they smiled and just said they couldn’t believe
it could get even better ! Then I
pulled into a lay by to take some photos and there was a Wicked Camper with all
the usual “graffiti” all over it. I
parked right in front of it and the guy came over and said “Gday, What are you
doing here ?”. Turns out Chris Hill was
from Frankston, Victoria, and couldn’t believe seeing a Queensland number plate
pull up in front of him ! We chatted for
quite a long time about this and that, and in the end agreed to try and meet
that night in a campsite near Yellowstone – Nothing firm if something else came
up, but we hit it off really well and would like to continue the chat over a
beer. Then we headed off, Chris uphill,
and me downhill. I did find the graffiti on the back of his van quite humerous though !!
I passed the
dramatic scenic lookout leaning out over the valley below, and after a quick stop,
kept on going down the switchback road carved out of the mountainside. There are more switchbacks on other roads,
there might even be better scenery on some other roads, but I don’t think many
roads combine the two as well as the Bear Tooth Pass does. Eventually the roads levels out a bit and you
start to just descend through this very pleasant valley, with abandoned mines
on one side of the road, and splashing rivers and rolling hills on the other
side. Gorgeous.
It was then about
40 miles back to Cody across wide open Wyoming grasslands, to Bear Co Tire
Company, who had told me that they would have my two replacement tyres at about
noon. I had time for a wander around
town, seeing the Buffalo Bill statue (he was from Cody), and a bit of a shop, befoe
getting my tyres replaced. You can see
from the pics of the old tyres, one of them was really worn badly on the
inside, so although buying the tyres here instead of in a bigger city like
Seattle that I had originally planned, I had no choice. And now they are fitted, the ride is so much
smoother, with the vibration from the uneven tyre wear completely gone,
And as soon as my
tyres were fitted, I was off again – Back over the Bear Tooth Pass in the
opposite direction ! I had enjoyed the
morning so much, and I only had to get to the entrance of Yellowstone tonight,
that I decided to see what the Pass was like the other way. I won’t repeat the journey verbally, but
while it was different, the weather had closed in a little so much of the run
was made in cloudy conditions, which meant that the views, while still
great, were not as spectacular as they
had been this morning. Additionally it
did rain for a while too, but that was OK – It just showed the pass in a
different light.
I might add that
while Cody was about 30 deg C, going up into the Pass, even in the afternoon,
the temps still dropped to about 12 deg C at the top. Eventually I came down past Little Bear Lake
and our campsite from last night – And in the distance could see a big plume of
smoke rising into the air, from a forest fire.
I hope it was not on the road between me and Yellowstone ! And as I slowly got closer, it seemed to be
getting bigger all the time. But
eventually my fears proved groundless and I reached Cooke City on the edge of
Yellowstone’s northern gate.
Cooke City was as
far as I had got in Elsie in 2012, and where I took a photo of Troopie was
where I had a phot of Elsie with a big snowbank behind her which closed the
road to the Bear Tooth. I found the pic
of Elsie at the same point, and have inserted it into the pics out of interest
!
I then turned
back out of the park as I had agreed to meet Chris at the nearest open camp
site to the park entrance. Found a
lovely campsite in the forest just 5 miles or so up the road, and set up. I had bought a couple of nice steaks and even
some Tim Tams in case Chris made it back !
Well, he didn’t –
He must have found a better offer elsewhere.
But I had one of the steaks and it was EXCELLENT, although I saved the
Tim Tams for later ! During the evening,
my next door neighbours in the campsite came over, and they are in the middle
of preparing their van to hopefully do the trip down through S America, so we
had LOTS to talk about. Hopefully they
will digest at least half of the many things I told them ! Then it was to bed – I plan on getting up at
5 am, and on the road by 6, in order to beat the bad traffic I have been told
currently exists in the park.
What a day. I thank my friend Phill from Aussie Elises
who had told me 4 years ago to drive the Bear Tooth Pass – Well, today I finally
did it, and it was great ! Tomorrow
Yellowstone.
Pics are here :-
https://picasaweb.google.com/110185357936043625130/6302104332477240081?authkey=Gv1sRgCNurh5rg9f3dkAE
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