Sundance Pass to Beartooth Highway

Monday, August 27, was the last day of our backpacking adventure. The relaxing nature of our trip had seeped into Darrel and Susan Raye as they were laid back about eating breakfast and packing up camp for our departure - and they were the ones with a long drive ahead of them! I was happy they weren't in a rush to leave. This is a sign of a good hiking partner, when you are on the same page about enjoying the moment.

I did not want the trip to end. The feeling I had was the typical feeling I've had when near the end of a fun hiking/camping trip. I was happy to be there, happy to be doing something out of the ordinary, and sad to be leaving, for which it seemed so soon. Why can't it go on? Why can't we stay another day? Yes, we had accomplished all we had planned to do, but there was more we could do; more trails to follow and sights to see all without moving our campsite. My emotions were a rolling mix of happy and sad. Bittersweet and I wouldn't have had it any other way.

The morning had an empty feel from having accomplished all we had set out to do, and from the lack of other people. No one was around; no one was camping nearby or passing through on their way out. It was Monday morning and much of the world was back at work. We had the place all to ourselves. While I like the back country experience to get away from the crowds and to be alone in nature, I also enjoyed seeing the people on the trail and in their camp sites. Not only did I enjoy chatting with them, I felt a sense of community (loose as it was) and a shared purpose in being there.

I have structured my life so I don't have to have a 9-5 job. So why did I feel a little twinge that I was 'playing hooky' and should be at work? Perhaps because I had accomplished my hiking goal and now was casting about for my next purpose. Just because I no longer have "change the world, make money, have a great job, travel around the world" as life goals doesn't mean I don't have purpose in my life. It is just that my purpose(s) are smaller and more transitory. They are more like stepping stones through life.

I resolved to return to this area and hike Sundance Pass again, the mountains whose tops I did not reach, and the side trails I had not time to hike.

Darrel took photos of the previous night's moose tracks as they were undisturbed. One track is between Darrel thumbs in the photo to the left. Darrel also found some moose scat.

Across the stream and bridge was an area where many people have camped. The night before, and this morning, no one was there.

We all wandered around the area, no one in a hurry to leave.

Eventually we left. Per usual Susan Raye took off ahead with Darrel and I to follow once we finished the last of our packing.

We caught up to Susan Raye at Broadwater Lake. We all lingered, resting and refilling our water canteens.

Several people had tents at the foot of the lake and were in the process of taking them down to pack them up.

The parking lot was far different than when we had arrived. Susan Raye's car, my car, and one other car were the only vehicles there. A big empty parking lot.

Did my car start? Nope. Susan Raye and Darrel pushed my car and I popped the clutch to get it started. I didn't realize the car's clock had reset because of the battery. Therefore I thought it was noon when it actually was 1 pm. I didn't discover this until much later.

In the map, Sundance Pass is located between the two left ends of blue that branch out south of Red Lodge, near the words "Beartooth Area". I hiked along the lower blue branch (Rock Creek) to the Pass.

After getting gasoline back in Red Lodge I headed up the Beartooth Highway. There was almost no traffic so I could slowly drive and enjoy the scenery.

Beautiful! Beautiful! Beautiful! (Disregard my camera's photos as this was the cheap camera and it could not capture the area's beauty.)

The photo to the left shows on the horizon the area where I had hiked on Sundance Pass. I *think* Sundance Pass and surrounding mountains are near the center of the photo. I am not sure if the Pass is just left or center or just right of center.

I stopped at a rest stop/overlook. A dozen other cars and motorcycles were there. Because my car does not start, I left it running while I went to the end of the overlook to look at the road far below, and to look out over to Sundance Pass far away. There were so many people around, who'd steal a running car?

A couple of the motorcycle guys asked me to take a photo of them with the scenery behind them and I did. I got chatting with them and learned they were from British Columbia, Canada. They were on a road trip from Canada to Yellowstone Park via western Montana. It was the 50th birthday of one guy and he had a brand new Harley motorcycle. Even though they were dressed head to toe in black leather they acted like typical tourists taking in the sights. I later noticed that quite a few of the vehicles on the road were motorcycles.

No one had disturbed my car.

(Note: the "Beartooth Highway" links are to different web pages.)

The top of Beartooth Highway - the Pass - is on a high, treeless, plateau. So high I thought some of the clouds weren't going to clear the top. Usually a mountain pass is a narrow low spot between two taller mountains. Here it was hard to see where the pass was located as everything looked high and relatively flat, and it seemed to go on for miles.

I felt like I was on top of the world.

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. It contains 69 of Montana's 100 tallest peaks; 29 of these are 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. At roughly 3,000 square miles, the Beartooths are one of North America's largest land masses rising above 10,000 feet.

I stopped a number of times to take photos. I found that after three days of hiking and photo taking my camera's batteries were getting weak. I had to limit the number of photos I took at a time in order to conserve the batteries.

In the following two photos you can see the Beartooth Mountain the road is named after. It is located just left of center in the first photo.

When it came time to head down, the road steadily went down for miles and miles.

I stopped at Beartooth Lake to take a photo of Beartooth Butte in the sunlight. Just as I was getting ready to take the photo the clouds came and blocked the sun. *argh*

I waited, and waited ...and waited. I didn't have time to waste as I planned to drive all the way home this day. Finally I got some sun on the butte, took the photo, jumped into my car and took off down the road again.

A side road went up to the Clay Butte fire tower lookout. I could see the lookout from the Beartooth Highway and decided to drive the short distance to the tower. I found the road curved around more than going up. Just as the road decided to make the final push up to the tower the road was closed. *argh!* Why didn't they say the tower was closed back at the sign along the Beartooth Highway?

A few cars were parked along the road where a few hiking trails started. One car had Minnesota license plates. I can't get away from those Minnesotans no matter where I go!

Once I passed the junction of highway 296, and as I drove along the Clarks Fork river, I could see Pilot and Index peaks ahead of me. It was fun to watch them change as I drove towards them, then around the peaks as I made my way to Yellowstone Park.

As I approached the small town of Cooke City, Highway 212 was being improved. Parts of it had been, and parts of it were in the process of being, widened and re-paved. It was a pretty nice road for such little traffic on it.

Cooke City looked to be a typical small totally tourist town, albeit a nice looking one. I had miles to drive so I didn't stop.