Beartooth Pass

Date: Tuesday, July 20th
Day: 67
RV Miles: 6,009
Location: Gardiner, Montana (about 600 feet from the Roosevelt Arch)
Elevation: 5,403

For pictures go to:
http://www.facebook.com/larrylaswell#!/photo.php?pid=30741898&id=1495071726

First thing this morning I had an avuncular discussion with Larry. I know he didn’t want to drive a 300 mile loop but Marsha was really firm in her position. I tried to explain to him that it was suicide to stand in front of the inevitable. He wouldn’t budge, so I told him he better have a plan “C” or plan to sleep under the RV tonight.

While on patrol, Larry visited with a few local people about Beartooth Pass and found that the unanimous opinion was that all the scenery was on the West side of the pass and all of the really bad roads were on the East side of the pass. As I explained to Larry, “Therein is the seed to plan ‘C.’ Drive to the summit, then turn around and come back. No matter what you do you will have to drive up and down a mountain. Why not drive down the side of the mountain with the scenery that you are already familiar with and avoid the really bad road on the East side of the pass that you don’t know.” Larry caught on right away.

As we were leaving camp for trip, Larry proposed the compromise to Marsha. She still would not commit except to say, “We will decide when we reach the summit.” Notice the use of the regal “We.” At Cooke City (the beginning point of the ascent, we stopped for some snacks and Larry bribed Marsha with an ice cream cone while selling plan “C” with all the grace of a snake-oil salesman. Marsha ate the ice cream but held her ground.

Believe it or not, it took us almost 6 hours to cover the 96 miles to the summit. This is 20 miles short of Red Lodge, 16 miles of which is nothing but switchbacks. The road up was not bad. Yes, as advertised, it had 25MPH hairpin turns, no guardrails, no shoulder and steep drop-offs and was barely wide enough for two compact cars. Oddly enough, it never had more than two of those things at the same time. The drive wasn’t that bad.

In the end, plan “C” won the day and we turned around and headed back the way we came. The return trip took about four hours. The travel times to someone who had never been there may seem extreme but we had several factors that made the going slow: This is a mountain road with a speed limit of, at most, 35 MP; There was road construction; The scenery was breathtaking and the scenery was non-stop; Every turn presented a new photo-op.

Larry was left speechless except to say, “If i had a bucket-list this drive would be number one.” Both Larry and Marsha agree that the scenic views along the way were over-the-top and that the drive was the most beautiful drives they had ever taken. Bear in mind that these are the two people who had raved about the Grand Canyon, Zion, Yosemite, Crater Lake, Mt. Rainier, the Olympic Peninsula forests and shoreline as well as the desert. They both agreed that none of those sights could hold a candle to Beartooth Pass.

Let me try to help you understand. The Beartooth range is the largest land area in the lower 48 states with elevations above 10,000 feet and the scenery is non-stop. Once you leave Roosevelt-Tower in Yellowstone, you enter the Lamar Valley. From there to the summit, every mile is filled with new and fresh vistas that takes your breath away: the scenery is an ever changing kaleidoscope of stunning beauty. This is not the type of scenic drive where you go and look at something like Crater Lake or drive along some scenic feature like the Crimson Cliffs in Utah. Each and every mile is a destination in itself. The beauty is stunning and its continuity and diversity is overwhelming.

During the ascent, you find thermal lakes above 8,000 feet, plateaus, high mountain meadows. You gaze down into cliff-bound canyons 3 and 4 thousand feet deep. You gaze across green lush valleys equally deep that are five, ten, twenty miles wide. Everywhere you look, sharp stony snow-draped peaks reach up to touch the clouds. At eye level, storm clouds formed in the Northwest and devoured peak after peak as they rolled across the range toward us.

There isn’t much more to say.

Tomorrow is going to be devoted to logistics. Larry has to get the oil changed in the car and in the RV. Marsha has to do laundry. We need to move the RV to another spot here in the park and Larry and Marsha have to go grocery shopping. Sasha and I need to catch up on our naptime. Thursday they will be back in Yellowstone. I think Sasha and I will be in day-care.