Day 45 of 117 on our “Go West, Young Man” Two Lane Adventure – Friday 8/10/18

On our way out of town, we got a quick glimpse of a member of the city’s urban deer population. There are estimated to be more than 200 deer in Cody and the surrounding areas. Seeing wildlife in a yard in town was not what we expected when we were told we would see wildlife today! Look close in the picture, you can see the back of the deer between the fence and the house.

Just before we began our car tour on 296, aka Chief Joseph Scenic Highway, we saw a prong-horned antelope. This scenic highway offered us unforgettable views in the Sunlight Basin. The highway winds into the Sunlight Basin-Crandell area. Some claim it is one of Wyoming’s best-kept secrets. The highway is named for the Nez Perce chief who in 1877 led a band, out of Oregon, after the US Government broke a treaty with the tribe to take their gold-rich grounds. Their trek wound through Yellowstone National Park, out the Clarks Fork Canyon and north through Montana, where the band was stopped near the Canadian border.

The scenic highway climbs through fields of wildflowers and red chugwater rock formations into the Shoshone National Forest. While driving we passed through painters canyon.

In Painters Canyon, we made a pit stop at Painters Outpost. It used to be a restaurant, now it is a C-Store offering a variety of snacks and candy, cold sandwiches, nachos, hot dogs, coffee, and ice cream. They have full bar, Jus 1 Mor, and a stocked liquor store.

Plus an awesome back porch with a view.

Continue climbing up the highway to Dead Indian Pass, at the elevation of 8,060 feet. The pass provides a dramatic view west into Sunlight Basin and north into the Clarks Fork Canyon.

The road descends through a series of switchbacks into Dead Indian Creek and Sunlight, offering a different perspective of the canyon views.

The Clarks Fork River is a federally designated Wild and Scenic River.

Pilot and Index Peak dominate the view to the west as we neared the junction of US 212. From their towering stance near the boundary of Yellowstone, the peaks remind us that nature knows no boundaries. These are the northeastern edge of the Absaroka Range. They are an eroded mass of lava, ash, and mudflows that began forming 50 million years ago.

The Chief Joseph Scenic Highway ends at US 212. Go west and head toward Yellowstone, we went east to go up and over the Beartooth Highway into Red Lodge Montana. 

Highway 212, also known as the Beartooth All-American Highway. If officially opened in June of 1936. It was referred to as “the most beautiful drive in America”, by Charles Kuralt. It is the highest elevation paved highway in the Northern Rocky Mountains open to travelers seasonally from May to October, although there is no plowing from 7 pm until 6 am.

Lake Creek Falls is the first landmark we came upon on this scenic highway. It is at elevation 7,329 and it is a fast moving cascading waterfalls.

We took the dirt road up to the Clay Butte Overlook and Fire Tower. The 360 degree view from the tower is outstanding. 

We can see lofty speaks, emerald valleys and sparkling lakes. The wild flowers were very impressive as well.

Beartooth Lake is at the base of Beartooth Butte. This water looked crystal blue and cold, even though it is August.

Top of the World Store is at the highest point at 10,947. You do feel like you are on top of the world. At this summit there is the store, fuel and campground.  The store was built on Beartooth Lake and moved to its current location in the 1960s. It is operated under a special use permit from the Shoshone National Forest. There was also road construction here and we had to follow a pilot vehicle across a dirt roadway. Our tail ender got stopped and had to wait for the next pilot vehicle to move them across the road work.

Island Lake is a popular boating, fishing and camping destination.

This little spire is called “Na Piet Say” meaning the bear’s tooth by Crow Indians. It is a narrow, pyramidal spire that was carved by glaciation and is the namesake of the Beartooth Mountains.

Beartooth Basin is an elevation of 10,737. Established in the 1960’s it is one of America’s oldest alpine ski training areas.

Here is where we crossed into Montana from Wyoming and we are also crossing the 45^th Parallel. We are exactly halfway between the North Pole and the Equator.

Hellroaring plateau is 10,000 feet above sea level. It is an awesome expanse of alpine tundra, glaciated canyons, and jewel-like lakes.

Vista Point Rest Area, was our last stretch break. It is twenty-one miles from Red Lodge. However, most of those miles are going down!

On the Rock Creek switchbacks we were descending, descending, and descending. We descended over 1,500 feet to an elevation of about 8,000 feet in about 7-miles. These 7-miles offer stunning views of peaks and glaciers of the Beartooths, the sweeping tundra of Hellroaring and Silver Run plateaus and in the canyon below, the tumbling water of upper Rock Creek.

Red Lodge was our lunch stop. Red Lodge is an old coal mining town with a long history of working heard, playing harder and looking out for one another in between. Their historic main street is filled with shopping, entertainment and old-time western hospitality mixed with modern conveniences. 

We ate lunch at the Regis Grocery. I know that sounds strange, but it was more like a café than a grocery store. It has a solid reputation for organic, locally sourced food, with a wonderful menu. The former grocery store was renovated in 2001 and began operating as a restaurant in 2002. Fruits and vegetables are grown in a back garden, and they have a gardener, three chefs and 10 employees.

The menu varies from vegetarian dishes, omelets, huevos rancheros and other items. They have an artry hardener called the pork-out platter, a hearty dish with an eight-ounce pork cutlet served on biscuits and gravy, with hashbrowns and a side of ham or bacon.

After our meal, we wandered in the gardens, checked out the green houses. 

We also enjoyed waiting in the red Adirondack chairs.

For those of you that follow my blogs, I also found my chicken, in Montana!

When we first departed Red Lodge on Route 308, we went by an old mining operation and could see what made Red Lodge the community it is today.

The remainder of the drive back was uneventful along, we came back to where we first got onto the Chief Joseph Trail Scenic By-way … Anyone want to go again?

We enjoyed a quiet pot luck dinner with a few couples.

Tomorrow begins another adventure!