Today we drove the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway, Highway 296, a 45-mile-long state highway that follows the route taken by Chief Joseph as he led the Nez Perce Indians out of Yellowstone NP and into Montana in 1877 during their attempt to flee the US Cavalry and escape into Canada. Click on thumbnail to view images
Chief Joseph Scenic Byway
Yellowstone and the Beartooth Scenic Byway
The Beartooth Highway, a National Scenic Byway All-American Road, dubbed by commentator Charles Kuralt as “the most beautiful highway in America.” From Cody we drove to the Lamar Valley in Yellowstone NP, and on to Red Lodge, Montana, over the Beartooth Pass. We saw lots of Buffalo in the Lamar Valley playing and roaming beside the road for us to be able to get up close for some great photos. As we continued toward Red Lodge we passed Beartooth Lake in the Beartooth Plateau. Beartooth Butte, a fortress of limestone and sandstone rising from the shore of the lake, is one of the last remnants of sedimentary layers which once capped the Beartooth Range. Then we reached Beartooth Pass, the highest motor crossing in Wyoming, reaches an elevation of 10,947 feet. We were fortunate to have good weather at the summit. As we descended to Red Lodge in the panorama of crags, steeples, plunging canyons, snowfields and glaciers we saw the Bear’s Tooth, in the distance, the spire that gave the entire range its name. Click on thumbnail to view images
Yellowstone NP Geyser and Falls Tour
