Beartooth Highway and Yellowstone

We took a scenic detour for our long drive home.  On Friday we drove all the way to Red Lodge Montana to stay the night and then get an early start on the Beartooth highway and the northern 1/2 of Yellowstone.  We got to see some beautiful country and some neat wildlife. The hardest thing about blogging is deciding which pictures to post.  Here are my favorites

Our first view after gaining some serious elevation

Same location just a different direction

The first viewing area we all climbed out of the car and we were suddenly surrounded by all these chipmunks, fat small and extra fat.  They would eat right out of your hand.  We had to bribe the kids back into the car.  They thought these chipmunks were a lot cooler then the amazing scenery we were about to take in.

This is at about 11,000 ft.  We were well above the tree line here and the views were spectacular

 

If we look cold, we are

I love the variety in this picture. 

One of the waterfalls - just had to give the conversation bikes some face time

We almost missed this waterfall.  We could see it from the road and passed it, then decided to head back and park so we could walk up to it.  It was beautiful and awesome close up.  The roaring water was incredibly powerful as it funneled into the narrow crevice. 

 

Lincoln and Me headed back to the car

The last stretch of the Beartooth Highway before Yellowstone

Into Yellowstone-1st of many bison

Awful picture, but that is a wolf you can see-the ranger wouldn't allow us to stop because the wolf was supposedly trying to cross the road so Kevin had to take this picture as we were slowly driving through.

Mammoth Hot Springs

Midway up the boardwalk to the top-we barely made it before a huge thunderstorm rolled through

In all the times I have been to Yellowstone I have never been up to mammoth.  It was always out of the way.  It is very pretty and I am glad I finally got to see it. 

Elk

Mountain Goats

 For only being in Yellowstone a few hours, we did pretty good on the wildlife sightings.  We didn't get to see a bear, but we can't complain.  Now back to the car for the long haul west.

Back to Washington and the Inland Northwest.  We saw a lot of beautiful country, but I must admit that we have some pretty spectacular scenery right in our own backyard.