When I saw that the incoming storm prompted the Montana Department of Transportation to announce the closing of Beartooth Pass on Friday at 2:30pm, I got motivated to make one more trip across for this season.
I did my usual run to the gym, played with the weights, jumped some rope, and came home to a quick breakfast before loading a few items on the bike. I was out my driveway by 9:45am. My plan is to be gone all day as I want to do the loop which includes the north end of Yellowstone National Park. I’ve done this twice in the past and looking back on this blog I see that I did it at the end of September and about this time in October.
The weather was great with is supposed to hit 80 in Billings by the afternoon. It was difficult to decide how to dress but I took my mesh jacket with a long sleeve shirt and a sweathshirt under it. Heavy gloves were the order for the start of the day.
I took a different route to Laurel this time, riding Rimrock to 62nd, to Grand, to 64th, to King, to I-90, to Hwy 212. It was a nice route. Then it was a ride to Red Lodge. I stopped at the rest area near Roberts and shed the sweatshirt and swapped out to my lighter gloves. It was getting warm.
Outside of Red Lodge I pulled over for a photo at the beginning of the Beartooth Highway.
As I went up the switchback, the wind came up and was pretty fierce in some places as I rounded curves, surprising me at times. I felt the need to really hang on. At Vista Point I pulled over and put the sweatshirt and heavy gloves back on as it started feeling cooler.
The ride up to the pass was slower than usual, not due to traffic but for safety as the wind was as strong and gusty as I have ever felt it here. At the top I did stop for the usual photo.
I did retrieve some video from the ride. Here's a bit going up to the top and back down the west side.
On the way down I stopped at one of the lakes for photos.
I rode past Top of the World which was closed for the season, past Beartooth Lake, and past the turn off for the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway, and on toward Cooke City. The wind had died down quite a bit on this side on the mountains. Along the way I stopped to get this photo with Pilot Peak in the background.
I stopped to top up the gas tank in Cooke City. They have upgraded their fuel dispensers.
Now it was on to Yellowstone National Park.
Here's some video of the ride in, through the gate, and a bit beyond.
After a bit, I pulled over to the Soda Butte picnic area for lunch. I've stopped here in the past and it makes a perfect place to take a break. I had such of homemade rolls, an apple, and a cream puff with vanilla pudding. Yes, I made the cream puff.
I read on my Kindle while enjoying the sun.
I rode on into Lamar Valley. It was a beautiful day to ride here. There were a bunch of people pulled over looking at something down in the valley. It was a herd of something but too far away for me to make out without binoculars but a good time to take photos anyway.
I rode on through a curvy canyon and pulled over to look down into it.
Up ahead I saw some bison and grabbed some photos.
The rest of the ride was pretty fun because after passing the Tower Junction turnoff the road gets twisty for quite a while before dropping into Mammoth. I passed through and rode on to the north entrance and stopped by the Roosevelt Arch.
I left the park, rode through Gardiner, and north through the Paradise Valley. I stopped at a rest area and grabbed the last photo of the day.
I made it to Livingston and grabbed the slab, I-90, and cruised that all the way back to Billings with a reasonable tailwind. When I passed by Columbus I saw a sign indicating that the Beartooth Pass was now closed for the season. I did screen grab from my dashcam video.
I stopped for gas on the way home and arrived just about 6:30pm.
It was a 362 mile day.
