The Beartooth Highway and Yellowstone

 

Since our anniversary falls squarely in the middle of hunting season, Jordan and I usually celebrate late.  This year, however, we mixed things up and got away early in order to take advantage of the good weather - which meant that we FINALLY got to take an incredibly scenic drive over the Beartooth Highway.  If you are ever anywhere near this corner of the world, you should most definitely plan to visit.  Trust me when I say that you won't be sorry!

We stayed at a quaint little AirBNB home in Red Lodge and left early the following morning to catch the sun rising over the mountains.  We were fortunate enough to see elk near the top of the almost 11,000 ft pass (seen in the right foreground of the photo above).

The mist coming off the alpine lakes along the highway made the terrain seem almost mystical, and we are almost 100% certain we would have missed this mom and baby pair if we had been driving through much later:

The back side of the pass was just as spectacular.  You can see why this highway is named the most scenic drive in the U.S.!

We took the highway all the way to Cooke City, where we hopped into Yellowstone from the northeast entrance.  We spent a long morning in the Park, spotting the usual animals (buffalo, elk, antelope, etc.)  We also spied two coyotes and another goat - a first for both of us in the Park.

We also drove down one of the Park roads that recently opened after being closed for road construction since we moved to Wyoming.

We made our way out of the park at the north entrance through Paradise Valley into Livingston, a first for Jordan.  We took a back highway part of the way home and got to see some beautiful ranch land and this abandoned mining town nestled in a small valley outside of Red Lodge.

 

We are looking forward to getting back to the area next summer for some hiking and camping.

Family Friends

 

One perk of moving around the country every few years is that we make some pretty amazing friends along the way.  The Attwood family, who we met in Colville, are among the best.  Three weeks ago, Tom & Becky came to visit with their precious granddaughter Hannah.  A week later, their son and daughter-in-law came through on their way back to Washington.  We had a wonderful time and feel so fortunate to call them friends!!

Solitude & Cliff Lake Loops

 

Last weekend was my turn to join Jordan on a long hike through our beloved Big Horns.  While we opted not to do the entire Solitude Loop, we still managed to hike 44 miles in 2 days, with just under 5700 ft of vertical gain.  We started from the Hunter Campground shortly after 6:15am last Thursday.  We saw 5 moose roughly 3 miles in, which was a delightful surprise and a decidedly good start.  Shortly after we started our ascent up and over Florence Pass (seen in the middle of the photo above).

Near the top of Florence Pass, we stopped for a moment to read the plaque placed there in memory of 10 World War II soldiers who crashed on the posthumously named Bomber Mountain.  It is still a mystery why the bomber was flying over these mountains en route from Oregon to Nebraska, over 150 miles off course.  No one knew the fate of the missing plane until 2 years later, when some cowboys saw several glints of metal atop the mountain and went to investigate.  The remains were gathered on VJ Day, although the recovery crew weren't aware of this auspicious event until they returned.  There are still parts of the plane on top of the mountain all these years later.  We paid our respects and then moved on.

After a brief lunch, we made our way through some beautiful alpine country, kicking up 3 more bull moose and a few mule deer along the way.

 

We finally arrived at camp around 7pm, having logged a little over 21 miles.  We found a tranquil spot on a meadow overlooking Lake Solitude, and we had dinner watching the sunset over the water.  Beautiful!

After a leisurely morning, we packed up and headed out around 8:15am.  After climbing out of the valley, we looked back to see our campsite on the far side of the water.  Breathtaking!

We trekked through several "parks" (meadows) and alongside numerous ponds & lakes until shortly before noon, when we jumped off the trail to do a 7 mile side hike around the Cliff Lake Loop.  Best.decision.ever!  We watched fish constantly jumping for insects on Cliff Lake during lunch, and then pushed upward to catch an epic view of Black Tooth (which we see from our front porch) and Cloud Peak (the tallest mountain in the Big Horns).

By 6pm, we had somewhat wearily hauled ourselves up Geneva Pass.  After 2 days of gaining elevation only to promptly lose it as we walked down to a valley below (wash, rinse, repeat...), it felt amazing to be on our final upward push. We had initially planned to spend another night on the trail and finish out the last 5+ miles in the morning, but the thought of a hot shower and comfy bed were irresistible.  

The trail is quite rocky in spots and it was slow going, but we made it to the trailhead at 8:35pm.  The last part of the trail is nestled against a west facing cliff in deep timber and we wore headlamps for the last 1.5 miles, but it was totally worth it when we pulled into our driveway at 10:30pm.

This view of Geneva Lake is one of the last views we saw before darkness set in. We are a bit sore and sun burnt, but every bead of sweat and quivering muscle was utterly worth it.  It was an incredible adventure!