Time to say good bye to Yellowstone and start heading back east. After a hot breakfast at the Mammoth dining room, we were on our way. There was only one elk in the area this morning, quite different than the herd that was camped out last night.
We headed to Tower-Roosevelt, then to the northeast entrance to leave the park. In the Lamar Valley, we ran into our only bison road jam of the trip. There were 50+ moving from one side of the road to the other. A ranger was following behind them. They probably went ¼ mile or so before finding a spot they liked on the other side of the road.
Exiting the park, we took the Beartooth Highway. Amazing scenery! It did make me very thankful for guard rails and wide turnouts. Elevation is 10,000+ feet so it was a lot of climbing then a lot of going down. Saw some lingering snow on a few mountain tops. Glad we drove it.
Our only other stop for the day was at Little Bighorn Battlefield. We spent about and hour and a half there doing the driving tour and some walking. I didn't know that there is also a national cemetery there.
Heading back down into Wyoming, we found our way to our planned stop for the evening...only to discover that our reservation was missing in action. “I didn't write down your phone number so I couldn't call to tell you that you didn't have a room.” Oh well, nothing to do but head back to Gillette and find a room. Which we did. And got a good night's sleep.
A few pics from the day:
 |
| Yellowstone sunrise |
 |
| On the move |
 |
| Safely on the other side |
 |
| Red Lodge, Montana |
 |
| Fall color |
 |
| Beartooth Highway |
 |
| Beartooth Highway |
Another spectacular day (well except for the lost reservation part)
ReplyDeleteYour pics are just awesome.