Yellowstone Adventure - Day 20

  Well I am sitting in the laundry room doing my weekly washing and contemplating the day. The day off was great as I got an early start after breakfast. Kathy, one of our great cooks, prepared me a sack lunch and dinner as I would be gone for both lunch and dinner. Two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I was in heaven. My plan was to make a beeline for the northeast entrance of Yellowstone and head out of the park to Cook City and then onto the Beartooth highway and up and over the Beartooth range to Red Lodge. What I mean by beeline is that I really was not going to stop anywhere in the park as I did not want to take time up looking at things along the way because I wanted to get into the mountains for lunch. As usually on the way out I did spot a coyote, a bear and several bison but did not stop to take any pictures. Now if I had spotted a moose I would have stopped as I have not got a picture of one of those yet. It took about two hours of driving to get out of the park and onto the Beartooth highway. Once I reached there the temperature was around sixty degrees and as I headed up in altitude the temperature started to drop to around fifty five. Which surprised me as I figured out would get lower than that. The more I climbed to the top the more snow appeared. Some lakes on the way up were still covered in snow and ice but were quickly melting as the days got warmer. That is the reason I wanted to head up there now. To see the top with as much snow as I could but still have the highway cleared. Several times on the way up I saw several gates and signs warning that the road is closed and to turn back.  But all the gates were open. There was also signs warning that the highest is not monitored after five pm. So if snow started or a landslide happened after five pm until eight am, then you were on your own.  As I got about half way up there was a pullover where you could see a massive waterfall. With the snow melting the water was coming down the falls so fast and hard that the noise was just unbelievable. I took a video of it and uploaded it to Facebook, but as always it does not do it justice. I was also pleasantly surprised to see that the highway was not really populated with tourists. So stopping every so often at overlooks was pretty easy to get into and out of.  I kept an eye on my car's navigation system as it used GPS to show altitude. As I approached eleven thousand feet I kept my eyes open for a great pullout where I could eat lunch with a view across the mountain tops. I came around a curve at ten thousand eight hundred feet and there was a great pullout facing the mountains and the lakes below. I backed into it and popped the back hatch opened and climbed into the car to prepare my PB&J. With feet dangling out the back I ate lunch with a most incredible view. Sitting there for a few minutes I looked to my left and there was a sign detailing the areas lakes and some info on the fauna around the area. At that moment I remembered that sign because when Dad and I came up here on motorcycles back in the nineties I read it after getting off the motorcycle.  That brought back memories of Dad showing me this place for the first time. I closed my eyes and could see in my mind's eye Dad and I pulling up here on the two BMW's. He on his limited edition pulling a trailer and me on Dad's other 1976 BMW.  I opened my eyes and looked out at the mountains we both admired and was tearing up some. I said out loud "Thanks Dad for showing this to me and I sure do miss you." Several people came and went while I was eating. Most took pictures of the view and of each other with the mountains behind them. I finished lunch and dropped out of the back of the car onto the ground. I looked up and noticed a large cloud and was amazed of how close it was. Like I could almost reach up and touch it. After another look around I climbed into the car and headed down the mountain to Red Lodge. I knew I would be back before my summer was over for sure.
  Just a short drive down I came to a ski lift. It seems that skiing at the top of the mountain is popular when the road is open. A few snowboarders were around though.  Soon I saw a sign indicating I have entered into Montana and left Wyoming. After several switchbacks and descending three thousand feet I leveled off for a trip into Red Lodge. Red lodge is an interesting town with a colorful history. I like the fact that Jerimiah "liver eating"   was it's first constable. He is the same character that Robert Redford played in the movie where they changed his name to Jeremiah Johnson.  I walked around the town and could tell they were very prepared for the tourist season. One notable thing about the area is that a few miles out of town is the only palladium mine in the US. Palladium is used in catalytic convertors and is pretty expensive.
  Leaving Red Lodge I headed to Cody Wyoming using the highway that takes you around the mountains and not over them.  I wanted to hit Cody so I could use the McDonald's WiFi to update my cell phone and upload some videos to Facebook. 
   Cody was not too busy with tourists yet and I was able to buy a tea and sit down for some wifi work at the McDonald's.  I also was able to call Cathy when I was driving through town to fill her in on what she was missing. I passed through Cody and headed back into the park through the east entrance.  I was hoping to see a bear when I drove along side the Shoshone river but none showed. I entered the park around six pm and headed toward lake Yellowstone where I stopped at another overlook for dinner. Rain was beginning to come over the mountains and my dinner view was pretty neat seeing the storm approach. Lightening flashed occasionall but the rain held off long enough for me to finish my dinner. 
  I managed to make it back to the dorm in time to do laundry which is where you find me now. Tomorrow I plan on another long drive through the mountains but these will be the Tetons. I plan on heading south to view them from the Wyoming side and then head through the Jackson pass into Idaho and see the back side of the Tetons from the Idaho side.  So until tomorrow you all take care and do good when you can.