Once More, the Pass

I slept fitfully last night.  Normal for me when I am away from home.  Something about the bed being a bit bouncy and the room temperature being too warm.  Warm enough to force me to kick the blankets away at times.

Each time I awoke during the night, I heard Rock Creek rushing along just outside our room.

Nice, that. 

Yesterday, we (four of us) drove from Helena to Red Lodge.  We are going to make one more attempt at driving over Beartooth Pass so we can enter Yellowstone Park from Cooke City.

Beartooth Pass is the highest highway in the Northern Rockies.  The road reaches nearly 11,000 feet in Wyoming and nearly 10,400 feet in Montana.  We last tried the pass in July, but were unable to access the climb due to a freak summer snowfall at elevation.  As luck would have it, the pass was also closed the day before yesterday due to another fresh snowfall.

Fortunately, plows opened the Beartooth again yesterday.

I should mention that the van we are piled into—Kevin’s—is making a great deal of brake noise.  A bit worrisome.   Fortunately, we are driving up the steep side of the pass and descending gradually into Yellowstone.

Today: Yellowstone or bust!

I have posted one photograph I captured yesterday from the window of the van when we stopped for highway construction exactly on the Sweetgrass County line.  Not a great photograph, but I thought the fence running out there for several miles was interesting.  Beyond that is the Crazy Mountains.  The other photograph was taken from a bridge over Rock Creek immediately behind our room here at the Rock Creek Resort.

--Mitchell Hegman