Beaver Creek

Yesterday, I wrote about Rock Creek and the Beartooth Highway.  We intended to follow the creek up into the Beartooth Mountains and then cross into Yellowstone Park from there.

Didn’t happen.

A massive summer snowstorm swept over the high range and buried the uppermost highway under heavy snow and forced a road closure.

We (me, that girl, and her fiend Laurie) settled for crossing over the Beaver Creek flowing near West Yellowstone, Montana.  There is another Beaver Creek in the Big Belt Mountains a dozen miles from my house.  And another Beaver Creek in North Central Montana’s Bears Paw Mountains.  We passed by yet another near Livingston, Montana just before we reached the park.  And there are other Beaver Creeks—probably dozens more—in Montana.

Essentially, we were forced to divert along a wide arc around the north of Yellowstone Park, in order to enter the park from Gardiner, Montana.

The trip was by no means disappointing.  We drove through beautiful landscapes from beginning to end.  Lingering storms scrubbed at many of the highest mountains.  Fresh snow painted most peaks.  Inside Yellowstone, we saw all manner of game, including two black bear. 

Following are a few photographs from our drive.

--Mitchell Hegman