23 August 2017, Wednesday
After our fresh-baked lemon bread breakfast and a conversation with our neighbors from the Billings area, Bev and Cliff, we are off on a car tour of the most scenic highway in America (per Charles Kuralt.) The Beartooth Highway exceeds expectations! If ever you have the chance to drive it, do so. We wind through sharp switchbacks up the rocky, pine clad slopes. As we round various turns we can see the road snaking up the mountain above and below. We stop at many of the pull-offs for photos. We learn that the dark rocks we see within the lighter sedimentary layers are igneous intrusions that are 3.2 billion years old! At vistas along the way we chat with people from all over the US and Canada.
Near the summit is a rest area where one can walk out on a rocky promontory to admire the view. A sign explains that the Beartooth Highway first opened to the public in 1936. Many people are walking the path to the end of the promontory where there are several very fat chipmunks and piles of pumpkin seed hulls. We drive onward and upward, above treeline to the wide open alpine meadows. At the 10,947 foot summit we stop to admire alpine lakes, snowpack and flowers. A field of rocks and boulders creates mazes and passageways populated by a whole tribe of pica. The cute little critters are scurrying about, cheeks and mouths full of vegetation which will be dried for winter storage. They are quite fast and very difficult to photograph.
We go onward, over the summit and down into Cooke City where we have a late lunch of rainbow trout at a local bistro. On the advice of our campground neighbors, we decide to make our drive into a loop trip by heading back up the Beartooth Highway and then turning onto Chief Joseph Scenic Highway, which traverses a somewhat lower mountain pass, at just over 8,000 feet elevation. We cross and re-cross Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone named, of course, after Captain William Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. At one of the many crossings of Clarks Fork we spy a restaurant named Clarks Fork and Spoon. Near the summit of this highway we drive over a bridge with yet another scenic turnout. From the bridge we view the deep gorge below and much of the Clarks Fork River Valley. We can also see a rock formation that looks to us like the Tower of Babel.
On we go as day turns to evening, arriving back at camp around 7:30. Here we thank Bev and Cliff for their route recommendation. They provide more tips for future visits and give us a bag of cherry tomatoes from their home garden for us to enjoy along our way tomorrow.