Beartooth and Red Lodge

 Bearthooth Highway!

I have been wanting to do this trip for 3 years.    I acquired a number of items that had belonged to a great aunt who grew up in Red Lodge Montana in the late 1800's, early 1900's, and wanted to donate them to the Carbon County Historic Society Museum.    For a lot of reasons my trip kept being postponed, so this was the year. (no more geriatric cats to take care of).

The Beartooth Highway, which terminates in Red Lodge, seemed like a great trip.    I invited my brother to join me, and since Waddles is pretty close quarters, we decided to make it a two-bedroom travel set up, and hooked Waddles up to his van.

We gave ourselves 2 weeks, found a house sitter to keep the garden watered, and packed up our respective rigs and hit the road.

Like me, my brother prefers backroads to freeways, so we headed across Oregon taking the scenic route.   The first night we spent at Oregon Campground, on the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest.   We were the only ones in the campground.  It was basic, small, pit toilets, and set up for OHV recreation play.    

We got up early the next day and headed for Craters of the Moon National Park.    Got there mid day and there were still plenty of campsites available and we found one of the few with a little shade.  We did a little exploring, and went to bed early anticipating a long day tomorrow.

The next day we drove through Idaho Falls, and cut over through Victor, Idaho, over Teton Pass and down into Jackson Wyoming.   Jackson was a MADHOUSE.     We didn't have camping reservations so stopped at the local Forest Service office to find out about dispersed camping.    They sent us up into the Forest to look for a site.    There were a lot of campers in the area already, and so we found what looked like an OK spot, right off the road, but with a bit of shade and a bit of a view.    

After being there a few hours we realized that there was quite a bit of traffic up and down this road, AND the mosquitoes were AWFUL!!!!    The next day we planned to drive through Yellowstone National Park and over the Beartooth Highway, which was going to be a very long day, anticipating lots of traffic through the park.   So we made a decision.    We decided to drive through the Park at night, and camp somewhere near Cook City, Montana.     We packed up camp quickly and set out about 9pm.

We drove through the park and hit a detour at Canyon Village, which took us through Norris and up to Tower, about 30 miles out of our way.     We got to Tower at about 1am, and called it a night.    Woke up at about 6am and hit the road again.    Though we didn't see much of the park, we did see one Elk in the middle of the road near Canyon Village, and smelled sulfur, so knew we were near hot springs!

The drive from Tower to Cooke City was beautiful early in the morning.  It goes through Lamar Valley which is known for its wildlife.   There were already lots of people along the road with big cameras.    This is a great place to see Bison.

We stopped in Cooke City to see if we could find something to eat.    It is a small, quaint town.

And then we headed off onto the Beartooth Highway.  The highway is only 68 miles from Cooke City to Red Lodge, and passed through Montana and Wyoming.   It is SPECTACULAR scenery and an amazing engineering feat.  The highest elevation is 10,947'.  More photos to follow in this post.  

We had reservations at a campground just outside Red Lodge for one night, so checked it out before heading in to town.  Is was very close to its neighbor campsite (you could almost touch both tables at the same time), so we decided to see what other options we might find for camping over the weekend. 

We went to the Carbon County Historical Society Museum and met with Rob, the Director.  I showed him what I had to donate (photo albums, personal letters, personal items, and a large scrapbook from my great aunt's youth in Red Lodge).  My great aunt's father was an attorney in Red Lodge, and a prominent citizen.   I also had a photograph of the family home (taken in 1960) and wanted to see if we could find it.  Rob didn't know that house, but gave us an idea of where to look.   We found it!  Here is the 1960 photo and the current photo.

I apologize for this weirdness, I can't figure out how to fix it....We were delighted to find it.  I wonder what it looked like in the early 1900's when it was built.  It hasn't changed much in the last 60 years!

Rob also gave us a great place to look for dispersed camping for the weekend.   We planned to lay low until Monday and then drive back over the Beartooth Highway.  South of Red Lodge is Rock Creek, and a road that runs along it up into the canyon, terminating at the trailhead to Glacier Lake.   This area is a Very popular place for the locals to camp and ride their ATV/ORV toys.  We drove about 3 miles up the canyon and found the perfect spot to camp.  Unlike other places along the road, this site was away from other sites, in the trees, overlooking Rock Creek and with a view of the Beartooth Highway switchbacks climbing up out of Red Lodge.  If you look closely you can see at least 5 switchbacks in this photo. 

Our Campsite: 

One of the reasons this site was unoccupied when we got there was it was quite tricky backing in between the trees and the rocks and stumps.    My brother is a master at that, so we settled in for the weekend.

The next day we drove up to the end of the road to the Glacier Lake trailhead.    The hike is only about 1.5 miles each way, but quite steep.   We didn't hike it, but got a GREAT view on Monday when we stopped up at the top of the Beartooth Pass.   Below you can see the road up to the trailhead at the bottom of the canyon.   Glacier Lake is peeking out in the middle of the photo.

On Saturday we went into Red Lodge and toured through the Historical Society Museum and learned more about Red Lodge and the building of the Beartooth Highway.   Red Lodge was settled mostly because of Coal Mining.   The Highway was an idea to stimulate the economy when the coal industry was dying down.    The highway opened in 1936.    Today it is closed in the winter, and plowed for opening around Memorial Day each year.   You can watch the plows working on it via the internet.   I can't imagine doing that job.   It is steep, windy and drops off on the edges in many spots.

While we were in town on Saturday we decided to see if we could get a motel for Sunday night as we were both badly in need of a shower.     We found a 'condo' at the Chateau Rouge in Red Lodge.

So Sunday we took it easy and packed up our camp.    We went out for a great meal at the Hardwood Smokehouse, and had a good night's sleep at Chateau Rouge.     Sunday we headed back over the Beartooth Highway.    We stopped more frequently and got to take in some AMAZING vistas.   

Here is near the summit of Beartooth Pass, looking out over Rock Creek with Bear's Tooth off in the distance.  It is that little point sticking up to the right of the sign.

This is just south of the summit, looking southwest.

The photographs do not do this area justice.   It was another amazing vista around every corner (and there were a lot of corners).

We traveled back through Cooke City and into Yellowstone NP again.  This time we headed for the West Yellowstone entrance and got to see more of the park during the day.    The traffic wasn't too bad, except around the Visitor's Center at Mammoth Hot Springs.  

We saw more bison, and more hot pots along the way

We made it through the park and then started looking for a place to spend the night.    We found Flat Rock Campground on the Caribou-Targhee National Forest.   Loop A was a bit funky, but Loop B was in the trees, and quite nice.    A bit of road noise, but not bad.

The next day we had a choice.  Either have a short day and stay at Crater's of the Moon again, or have a LONG day and get past the greater Boise area and travel back into Oregon and find a campground on the Willowa-Whitman National Forest.   We opted for the LONG day, about 500 miles.    It was HOT but we mustered and made it through the urban area and the freeway driving for a part of the day.

We stayed at Yellow Pine Campground, near the Oregon Campground we stayed at on the way out.   Yellow Pine was MUCH nicer.  Much bigger.  There were only about 5 other sites occupied and it was VERY VERY quiet.

 The next day we drove home.     This trip was amazing, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.    If you ever get a chance to drive the Beartooth Highway, jump on it.     We chose to do it in August to make sure the snow banks were gone, the views were there, the wildflowers were beautiful and the weather was good.    The weather is always a gamble, we did have a few thunderstorms while we were camping near Red Lodge.

I apologize for putting this entire trip into ONE blog post, but we didn't have internet access while traveling.    We also chose to make as few people contacts as possible, so we stayed off the beaten path, camped in out of the way places when we could, didn't eat out or shop much.    It was a perfect trip.   Thanks to Robin for house sitting, and to Richard for doing ALL the driving.