Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Drive from Black Hills to Yellowstone

NOTE: This is the 3rd of a multi-part series chronicling my family's two week vacation in the summer of 2010.

For links to the entire series, click here.

We left Deadwood, SD headed north on US Hwy 85 to Belle Fourche where we picked up US 212 headed west.  This route carried us a small distance through the northeast corner of Wyoming then into Montana.  Six miles east of Ashton, MT, in the Custer National Forest, we planned to pitch our tents in the forests' Red Shale Campground.  Though a little adventure awaited us before we found reached that night's resting spot.

As we crossed the Big Sky Country, we could see ahead we were approaching a thunderstorm.  We'd heard about tornadoes that struck Billings the day before, but thunderstorms are quite common in our home state of Arkansas so we pushed onward without fear. The storm was moving northeast and we were headed northwest, so I figured it was possible it could pass before we reached it.  I was wrong.


As we entered the leading edge of the storm, the clouds ahead of us seemed darker and more ominous than they had from a distance.  Then came the deluge.  It rained and hailed harder than I'd ever experienced. As the visibility shrunk and the wind whipped with a fury I'd never seen, I slowed to a mere crawl and turned on my hazard lights.  Then it really started raining, and hailing.  Golf ball sized hail and rain like it was poured out in a solid sheet of water!  I finally stopped the car when I couldn't see the hood, stopped right in the middle of the road.

The good Lord was looking out for us though.  In those wide open spaces, in the middle of absolutely nowhere, He arranged it so that we stopped right in front of the driveway of a ranch.  After a few minutes, when the rain slackened and we could just make out the driveway, my wife directed me off the road as I backed our Blazer into the drive.  Then, after what seemed like hours but was more likely about 15-20 minutes, the storm diminished to an intensity more like we were accustomed to.  Another car drove slowly by our parking spot and we pulled out and followed.


That adventure was over, but we were then blessed to see a beautiful double rainbow when we emerged from that most terrible tempest.  Once again, we were off to find our campsite.


Red Shale Campground in Montana's Custer National Forest is a primitive campsite. There's no running water, no electric hookups. The road in and the site pull ins are dirt and gravel but there is a picnic table at each site. There were six sites in the loop where we camped. One vault toilet sat in the middle of the loop. The grass wasn't cut and grew quite tall, but made for an excellent cushion under our tents. Though we enjoyed the rustic feel and beauty of this secluded and underutilized campground, those who require more contemporary amenities may not enjoy a night spent here.


We arose early the next morning and started on the now ~450 mile journey to Yellowstone. Between us and Billings, MT lay the Battle of the Little Bighorn National Monument. As we pulled off the highway and up to the gate, we were a little disappointed to see the gate didn't open for more than an hour. We had risen a little too early it seemed. Because we had a long drive still ahead of us and all of my research told us arriving late at Yellowstone may preclude us from finding a place to stay, we moved on without visiting the monument. That will have to wait until our next visit to this area.

We left the locked gate in our rear view mirror and pushed on to Billings. Mapquest results for a route from Rapid City, SD to Yellowstone told us to stay on I-90 all the way to Livingston and drop down on US Hwy 89 to the northern entrance to the park. But the atlas promised a scenic drive if we remained on US 212 through Red Lodge and Cooke City and entered Yellowstone at the northeast gate. But we were surprised to discover just how scenic a drive could be.

The route took us on the Beartooth Highway, which Charles Kuralt called "the most beautiful drive in America." After traversing the switchbacks that seemed as if they'd never reach the top, I must say the CBS correspondent may well be correct. The views are so stunning, it's difficult to keep your eyes on the road. With sheer cliffs on the uphill side of the road, the only thing between your vehicle and the beautiful abyss on the downhill side is a guardrail that at times seems a woefully inadequate barrier if one were to miss a curve or veer toward the fantastic scenery.

The Beartooth All-American Road passes through the Beartooth Corridor. It is one of the highest and most rugged areas in the lower 48 states, with 20 peaks reaching over 12,000 feet in elevation. In the surrounding mountains, glaciers are found on the north flank of nearly every mountain peak over 11,500 feet high. The Road itself is the highest elevation highway in Wyoming (10,947 feet) and Montana (10,350 feet), and is the highest elevation highway in the Northern Rockies.

Source: http://www.beartoothhighway.com/







But we didn't fall off the edge as we climbed and climbed and climbed some more. When we finally reached the pinnacle, we found the road under construction. At the top, we found ourselves in a veritable winter wonderland with snow in places twice as deep as the Blazer was high. Fortunately, the trek down was more gentle, the drop offs neither so sheer nor so deep. The beauty was just as intense as a light rain mixed with snow fell on that late June afternoon. As we descended the final miles toward Yellowstone National Park, we saw our first waterfall at a place we couldn't get off the road. But not far from it, we found another with parking areas where we took pictures. Even in the rain, the scenery was stunning all the way to the park.








If you've never driven the Beartooth Highway, you're missing one impressive masterpiece sculpted by the hand of God. The pictures don't do justice to the breathtaking panoramic vistas. This drive is one I'd recommend everyone take before his time on this Earth is up.

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