Travels of a Paradox: The Beartooth Highway 9 June 2013

Charles Kuralt said that this was the most beautiful drive in America. He wasn't kidding. Our photos do not do it justice. Expansive views line almost the entire 68 miles. The road is excellent, but sometimes narrow with many tight switchbacks. This highway is a section of Hwy 212 between Cooke City and Red Lodge, MT.

At the entrance to the Beartooth Highway, just beyond the northeast entrance to Yellowstone National Park, we found this art around the plaque giving information about the road. It looks as though a bear had walked through the wet concrete to view the plaque.

Fish inhabiting local streams are depicted in relatively accurate colors just to the side of the highway entrance.

Here is the peak for which this highway is named. We were going from west to east. If I had a choice, I would drive from west to east because the expansive views would be out the car windshield for much longer.

Clay Ridge is huge.

We are looking into Sunshine Valley.

This is Beartooth Lake. You could see to the bottom all the way across.

Near the summit of the drive, the snow got serious. Beautiful little snow fed streams abounded.

These poor guys were working on a Sunday in a partially frozen lake, fixing a bridge.

Further ahead of this shot the snow was ten feet over our Jeep. The Beartooth Highway had only been open two weeks at this time.

Now, this is what I call serious snow blower power. Ted has missed his one and only snow blower since we left Omaha. These big boys brought back his grief.

This photo and the next three are four of the expansive views that can be seen much of the trip. I couldn't stop oohing and ahing. Ted took 254 photos, but there is no way a photo can do not do them justice.

The mountain range in the distance is the Absorokas

This photo was taken from the same spot as the one above, just facing in a slightly different direction.

A few miles further, this large snowfield added drama.

Even these coloful lichens growing on a granite road cut added to the beauty. Most of the seasonal vegetation had not yet made an appearance at this altitude.

It is June 9th and this and several other lakes are still frozen.

We watched young guys using this lift after snowboarding down the mountain.

Recent snow melt at the summit. Soon, this area will spring into its short, furtive growing season.

As we started down to Red Lodge, MT, we could see this valley almost the whole way. That is Wyoming Creek at the bottom.

This is one of the many tight switchbacks.

Rock slides appear to be a big problem along this stretch. This section has been covered in concrete, but has many cracks. This road, first opened in 1936, had to be quite an engineering marvel in its day. It still is.