What a day. I don’t even know where to start. For a day we thought was going to be light, it sure turned out to be a full one. Our plan was to drive the Beartooth Scenic Highway which is reported to be the most beautiful highway in the country. We had to go through Lamar Valley to get there. Lamar Valley is where the most animals are – bison especially. We really didn’t think it would be a full day. Boy were we wrong.

We slept in until about 7:00, grabbed a bowl of oatmeal and hit the road a little after 8:00. Our first stop was to see Tower Falls. Every time we had gone past it before, it was way too crowded and no parking. It’s just a short hike (1/4 mile) to the view and was worth the walk. We were rewarded with a mom and baby big horn sheep on the cliff along side the road – first one of those we had seen.

We passed Calcite Springs Overlook and stopped there as well. It was beautiful. While we were there someone spotted some goats on the cliff behind us. Another bonus!

Going through the Tower area there were lots of cars on the side of the road, which usually means bear. Sure enough there was a black bear up on the hillside just grazing away. I think I actually got some decent shots of it for a change.

Lamar Valley is gorgeous. Much more so than Hayden in my opinion. One of the spots we had to stop and photograph was filled with boulders, which made it that much more unique. After reading the sign it was even more interesting. These boulders were carried by glaciers and then left behind after they melted. How cool is that?

Back on the road it wasn’t long before we saw another traffic jam up ahead. This time the attraction was bison. LOTS of bison. And baby bison. We haven’t seen enough bison and we haven’t photographed enough of them apparently. The backdrop was too beautiful to resist.

The next area we passed was Slough Creek Road. We had heard about this road from others so we turned in. There were a number of people there with scopes and cameras. Sadly, we were too late. There had been a wolf there earlier but it had left. (We’ll try to see him tomorrow.) One lady asked us if we had seen the eagle’s nest a little further down. Well no, we haven’t. So off we bumped down this dirt, pot hole “road” for lack of a better word. This eagle’s nest was on the side of cliff. A golden eagle no less. We had never seen one of those before. It was way too far away to even think about photographing it, but everyone out there had scopes to look at it. We had binoculars but they aren’t the best and can be difficult to use. The lady who told us about it had one set up and let us look through it. Wow! It was amazing! No pics, but at least we did get to see it.

We still aren’t at Beartooth yet. Another few miles down the road are lots of cars. We pulled over and this time it was an osprey’s nest people were watching. I got a shot of it – not a good one but good enough to document it.

Finally we’re back on the road and we actually made it through the gate and into Silver City outside of Yellowstone. We were hungry – it was close to 12:30 by now. Bob pulled in to the first place he saw, Log Cabin Cafe. We knew absolutely nothing about it but boy did we luck out. This is a little hole in the wall. It had about 10 tables inside and a few more outside. But the menu? Holy cow. Everything was organic, sustainably grown, local and on and on. They even had wild Alaskan salmon. Who’da thunk? Bob got a burrito he could barely finish and I ordered a smoked sockeye salmon wrap. We waddled out of there. Very cool place.

A few miles up the road is the next little town, Cooke City (population 85 in winter, 350 in summer). We didn’t stop on the way in but did contribute to the local economy on the way back through. 🙂

Finally we are on the Beartooth Highway. After reading about how treacherous it was we were actually a little nervous about driving it. Plus I had been following it on Facebook where they had been posting videos about clearing the road of snow. It just opened last week. It honestly wasn’t bad at all. For the first ten miles or so. It did get more interesting as we went on. We pulled off at a scenic overlook and met two couples just relaxing on a rock enjoying the view. We learned they are from Florida and are working at Mammoth Hot Springs this season to escape the heat in Florida and enjoy the park. So on their days off they explore. They are loving it! Something to consider …

As we got further into the drive, the terrain started to change and the scenery got even more beautiful. We drove to Beartooth Summit, the highest point before turning around. The entire highway is 68 miles and ends at the Red Lodge in Montana. One day maybe we’ll get to do the entire thing. It certainly was breathtaking. The temperature went from 81/82 degrees in the valley to 57 degrees at the top, sitting at nearly 11,000′ about sea level. It was incredible. The pics don’t begin to do it justice. I can’t wait to do it again!

It was after 3:00 by the time we headed back through Lamar Valley. At some point on the drive we came to a complete stop with cars slowly winding down the road. At first we thought maybe it was a bison jam. The couples we met early said they got delayed 1-1/2 hours because of bison in the road. It turned out to be a grizzly, but he was too far out to get a photo. We did see him making his way up the mountain though. Was pretty cool.

Further down towards the Tower area we ran into another traffic jam. Another grizzly. Bob did manage to snap this one shot of him. A ranger was doing his best to keep people moving along so we didn’t get to pull over and spend any time watching him.

It was about 6pm by the time we got back to the hotel. Like I said, what a day. A wonderfully productive, long day. We’re beat. Again. I need a cruise.

Next day …