Out West Trip 2021 - Day 9 (Yellowstone & Beartooth Hwy)

Day 9 - we left our hotel in West Yellowstone at 7 am and headed back into Yellowstone for our first stop of the day - Brink of the Lower Falls (Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone). Arriving at North Rim Drive an hour later, we were one of a handful of vehicles in the parking lot. We headed out to the trail to head down to the falls. We were a bit surprised to find that the trail was much longer than we anticipated (we assumed it was a short trail to an overlook) - it was just short of a mile down and back. It was very do-able, just unexpected. It was a bit chilly and not busy at all, so the walk was very nice (even though a bit strenuous on the hike back UP!). Well worth the effort!

Back in the van, we continued driving on North Rim Drive and made a few more stops at different overlooks.

Lookout Point

Inspiration Point

We finished driving along North Rim Drive and headed out to Grand Loop Road. Soon after turning onto the main road, we came across this guy...

Next stop - Brink of the Upper Falls. We loved the multiple overlooks on this trail. Impressive to say the least!

While at the Brink of the Upper Falls, we noticed a few overlooks across the canyon from us. We decided to try to find them and see a different angle of the Upper Falls. Heading back out to Grand Loop Road, we then turned onto South Rim Drive and found our pulloff (near Uncle Tom's Trailhead).

Notice the people at the brink of the falls? That was where we just came from.

We decided to finish this area by heading down the South Rim Trail a bit to our last overlook.

Our other drive for the day (in Yellowstone) was Lamar Valley. Unfortunately, the Grand Loop Road was closed from Canyon Village to Tower Fall. This closure made our drive a lot longer as we had to backtrack west and north to Mammoth Springs and then east to Lamar Valley!

 As is often the case, we received 2 blessings as we drove the detour. Two "goals" for our trip - Bear & Moose. We came around the bend on our detour and found traffic at a stand still - and lots of people out of their vehicles. It wasn't safe to pull over due to the drop-off shoulder, but we were going slow enough that we saw the mama bear and her two cubs off in the distance (first picture, the 2nd cub is on the hillside). We quickly swapped lenses and Matt was able to snap some pictures as we stopped in the road. 

Just a few minutes later, we came across our 2nd blessing! How grandiose can it get! A majestic mountain with beautiful trees and grassland in the foreground...with a MOOSE!!!

We continued to Mammoth Springs where we found this elk family. 

From Mammoth Springs, we headed east towards Lamar Valley. Turning from Grand Loop Road onto NE Entrance Road (at Roosevelt Lodge), we came across this group of horseback riders. As we came to the point where they were going to cross they road, the leader waved us along so they could cross without any traffic. We were hoping to get pictures of them crossing the road - oh well.

Within a minute of passing the horses, we came to a bridge over the Yellowstone River. We were able to stop on the bridge (thanks to the horses crossing the street and stopping all traffic behind us) and I got out of the van to snap an overhead photo.

We had started to look for a pulloff area where we could have our picnic lunch. As we came around the next bend in the road, we found this Yellowstone River Picnic Area (Speciman Trailhead). We pulled in and took the last spot, right beside the road. It was a scenic, tranquil spot to have lunch. Even with all of the spots taken by other park-goers, it was quiet. It seemed that everyone was enjoying the beauty of the area. 

I can't find it online anywhere, but I was sure that I saw a sign that stated the name "Grizzly Picnic Area". Matt took pictures of these signs while I was making the sandwiches. Judging from the signs, we knew that we were in a heavily populated grizzly area. All of the trails that are in this area have heavy warnings about grizzlies. It would've been cool to see one off in the distance, definitely not cool to have one invade our lunch though! We were thankful that wasn't the case.

While we didn't sit down and eat (we stood around the table and by the back of the van and ate as each sandwich was made), Matt & Kaitee enjoyed a few minutes of the peacefulness of the stop. It really was a great place to stop for lunch - it will be a good memory for years to come.

The boulders were huge!

There was a decent ravine just beyond our picnic site. Maddie is surveying the land in this picture. She's probably making sure there weren't any bears off in the distance too.

After lunch, we hit the road again, heading east through Lamar Valley. This was a completely new area for us and we LOVED it! We expected to see buffalo, but not the vast amount that we did. So impressive!

Onward & Upward we went. We left Lamar Valley and exited Yellowstone via the NE Entrance, heading into Cooke City for a pit stop before driving Beartooth Highway into Red Lodge, MT.

A few years ago, as we researched different trips we planned to do out west, I came across a list of the top scenic drives in America. Beartooth Hwy (Hwy 212) was one of these drives. We knew that it wouldn't be possible to drive this in 2018 as our itinerary took us from Grand Teton/Yellowstone to Glacier then into the Canadian Rockies. When we started planning this years trip, we knew that we needed to work it into the schedule. 

We knew that once we left Cooke City, there would be very few opportunities for food/gas/restrooms. I had read about the yummy treats (sugar perfection!) at Bearclaw Bakery & Coffee. This stop was a MUST stop on our agenda. We found the bakery but sadly (very, very, very sadly), they were already closed for the day. We were pretty surprised since it was just a bit after noon. Sad day, indeed. We stopped at the visitor's center for the restrooms and then hit the road.

Our first stop on Beartooth was at Crazy Creek Falls. We took the trail up, alongside the Falls. The power of the cascading falls and the massive amount of water was truly crazy!

The next stop was one I was really looking forward to - Lake Creek Falls. The falls are situated a bit off of the main road but there are 2 trails from each side of the bridge as well as decent sized pull-offs for vehicles on each side.

With the mass amount of water coming down the mountainside, as well as the power of the water, we got wet!

Yep - we definitely got a little wet, haha!

Yellowstone Overlook

One stop that we weren't able to do was the Clay Butte Overlook & Tower. Sadly, it was closed due to construction on 212. 

Beartooth Lake

We pulled off at Beartooth Lake and drove down to the boat launch area. I had pinpointed this stop on our GPS as a place where we could get out and dip our toes in the water. Maybe even a family picture. As we drove in to the campground / lake area, we quickly realized my plan probably wouldn't happen. There was a lot of snow still on the ground (the sign in the next picture says "Parking area"!) and if there wasn't snow, it was a mess of water, mud & gravel. We drove to the boat launch, as well as a dozen other vehicles, and everyone pretty much turned around. I did get out to take some pictures - the area was beautiful - but we continued on after that.

Top of the World Store

We had planned to stop at the "Top of the World" Store to look at their souvenirs as well as buy some ice cream. Another sad moment, they were closed - there was actually a gate that was in the entrance way. We aren't sure if they were already closed for the day or if they hadn't opened for the season yet. Beartooth Hwy is a seasonal highway that opens (generally) over Memorial Day Weekend. We were hopeful that it would be open when we visited on June 7. I saw an article & video that showed the road opening on May 28th, so we were good to go on the 7th!

We pulled over into a parking lot across from the Top of the World Store and I got out to take some pictures of the beautiful scenery surrounding us. 

I took a picture of this beast of a machine! This is one of the snow plows/trucks that they use to clear the road every spring. The truck was huge!

We saw snow from the get-go when we started the drive on Beartooth. However, as we continued to climb, we saw more and more snow - compact (from being plowed) on the side of the road.

Continuing to climb - more snow. We were above the tree line at this point.

We hit the summit - 10,947 feet. At this point, Maddie got out to show off the sign and to throw a few snowballs. Will quickly followed her lead and a snowball fight (and Ninja) ensued.

Check out this wall of packed snow!!

We saw these squiggly lines in the snow and couldn't figure out if they were human or nature made. Then we came across some small parking lots with vehicles - people were skiing and snow-mobiling on the mountain!

Rock Creek Vista Point

Our last stop on Beartooth was at the Rock Creek Vista Point and Rest area. They did an amazing job with the scenic overlook as well as the path leading up to the overlook. Their were a TON of little "chipmunks" - all scurrying around, looking for handouts. 

Maddie wanted nothing to do with the little varmints, but the other 3 had a blast as they fed them, right out of the palms of their hands.

The views were pretty impressive too! 

We drove down the mountain into Red Lodge and then continued heading northeast into Billings and our hotel for the night. Matt & Kaitee headed out to grab some ice cream on the way back to the hotel for everyone. It was a great ending to a wonderful day of sightseeing - seeing God's beauty on display in America!

Day 9 Favorites -

Alex - Yellowstone Waterfalls, Chipmunks

Maddie - Large Rocks at Yellowstone, Lamar Valley, Summit of Beartooth Hwy

Kaitee - Chipmunks, Hike to Brink of Lower Falls

Will - Chipmunks, Lake Creek Falls (getting wet), dinner at Fuddruckers

Matt - Seeing the 3 bears and moose, Picnic

Becki - Picnic, Chipmunks (the whole stop)