Today was our last day in Yellowstone. We woke to 32 degrees (yes, you read that right and we are not joking) with ice on the motorcycle covers from an early night rain. Upon hearing this, Julie said “I’m not happy about this. How much do you think a cab ride to Billings would be?” The guys packed the bikes quickly given the cold, we got to breakfast at 7am, and were on the road at 8am. By then the temperatures had risen to 37 degrees.
Not five minutes after our departure, we were met with a wall of thick fog. Michele joked that all we needed was a bison to be standing stubbornly in the middle of the road (they are not shy about doing this, as we’ve discovered over our four days).
Her prediction came true soon after as a rather large bison sauntered right out into the road in front of us, took a look at us and kept going across the street!
The fog quickly lifted as we made our way towards the park entrance and Yellowstone provided us with some great parting views.
After about an hour’s ride, we made it to the southeast entrance of the park and sadly said goodbye to Yellowstone. (Michele’s note to future travelers, do NOT use the toilets right at this entrance as they do not meet any standards whatsoever.)
With the sun shining, the temperatures climbed quickly into the high 40s and into the 50s. We were thankful to enjoy the Buffalo Bill State Park this time with blue skies. The rock formations to our left and river to our right made a beautiful combination. Right after the park there is the Buffalo Bill dam, which is built into the yellow rock spires. With the cameras working and weather favorable, we finally got some great pictures through this area.
Our route took us to Cody, WY for a brief stop before heading towards the Chief Joseph Highway.
This Highway must have been made for motorcyclists because it is full of twisties up and down the mountain.
We rode on this for about 60 miles, enjoying the views of the mountains and steep valleys along the way. Once we hit the “T” in the road, we headed to the right up the mountain towards Beartooth Pass.
Not soon after a black bear bolted across the road and shimmied up the rocky mountainside! Tom and Julie came on the CB together and said “Cool!” We think it was a juvenile due to its size and speed. He had silky black fur—what a treat to finally see one in the wild, and at such a high altitude!
Speaking of altitude, we were steadily climbing towards the top of the Pass, and Tom gave us updates on our altitude—9500 feet, passing 10,000 feet and upwards. Rob soon announced “I see snow!” that was embedded within the crevices.
Of course, we finally encountered the construction we had heard about. Luckily they were small patches of packed stone/dirt that were easily maneuverable. There were many of these as we were going uphill. Near the top, we got stuck behind two large construction vehicles moving extremely slow—walking pace would have been faster. Tom and Rob again got to practice their slow rolls (not that they appreciated it, though!).
Once past the construction areas, we were at the top, and greeted by the “Beartooth Pass” sign.
Tom’s altitude reading was over 10,992! For all of us, this was the highest altitude we’ve ever experienced while on a motorcycle. At the top, it was 49 degrees, but the wind made it COLD. Despite this, the view was really spectacular. We could see straight across to the other parts of the mountain, but instead of looking up at them, we were at the same level!
Beartooth is a really interesting and complex mountain range with multiple layers as far as we could see. After taking pictures, we were back on the road for our descent. The descent had just as amazing twisties as was going up the mountain.
We entered Montana and shortly after reached Red Lodge.
We fueled up, ate lunch and were back on the road by 3:30pm.
We headed out 212 to I-90 on our way to Billings to drop off Julie for her 5:30pm flight. We entered Billings (about 60 miles away) around 4:15pm and were greeted by yet another road construction project. This one was just outside of the airport. Once again, Rob and Tom had to slow roll up a hill for 5 minutes while cars slowly filtered through the construction site.
We got to the terminal building, Julie and Tom got her things together and Julie checked in and was on her way to board her flight. Rob, Tom, and Michele got on the road again and headed east up I-90 and then I-94 for another 100 miles to Forsyth, MT.
We made it to our hotel for the night by 6:30pm. Our ride out I-94 actually parallels the Yellowstone River. Quite fitting that we started the day near the origins of the Yellowstone River and continue our journey along side Yellowstone as it journeys east as well.
Today saw several extremes. We had a 58F temperature swing. We went from 8k feet in elevation to 2k feet up to 11k feet and then back to around 3k feet. We experienced dense fog and then cloudless skies, mountainous terrain and flat plains. I can think of no better way than to experience these than while riding the motorcycle with friends and loved ones.
Tomorrow we continue east towards North Dakota, which is a new state for the trip.
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