Day 10 - Beartooth and Chief Joseph Scenic Byways Part 1

Just the post title alone intrigues me to want to read further! There is some much to talk about and pictures to prepare I have to break this up into parts. 

Today was one of our highlights of the adventure. Cindy really did her homework and earned her A+ from the Master's class in logistics that I eluded to in an earlier post. This 245 mile loop road trip was one of the most scenic and very open (much above treeline) road trips that we have done together. 

All of this started with an alarm clock going off at 5:30 a.m. That's right we were on vacation and getting up before the sunrise. But it was something we had to do in order to travel almost 250 miles to ensure that see what was on on our itinerary. We left Wapiti and the Trail Shop Inn and made our way back to the east entrance to YNP. Our first stop was in the Lake Village and Bridge Bay area (headwaters of the Yellowstone River)

for breakfast before heading in the Hayden Valley. Our expectation of seeing wildlife was granted very early, yet somewhat unexpected as it was very foggy following the Yellowstone River (see photo above) that early in the morning. As it turned out there was a herd of Bison walking along the road or plopping down in any available dust bowls. Here are a couple of the big fellows who could honestly careless that we were there!

We drove past Canyon Village (lots more to come from there) and up and over Dunraven Pass at 8,859 feet. This area will come back into the discussion during our hike up Mount Washburn. Here is a view from one of the many turnouts with some back country geysers that are all over the Park.

Further up the road we got to the Tower-Roosevelt junction. We took a small detour into the Roosevelt Lodge, but were not impressed, so we moved into the next well known wildlife areas called the Lamar Valley.

Lamar Valley, Yellowstone National Park

This VERY LARGE and open valley is teaming with Bison, Antelope, and birds of prey. The picture above does not do justice for the thousands of Bison that were  grazing in this area. I'm sure you have figured out by now that you can click on each picture to expand them to full size. In this photo you can see all the black dots --those are all Bison way off by the Lamar River that flows down through this valley. This went on for miles. Many wildlife photographers with there very expensive telescopic lenses and spotting scopes were posted along every turnout -- not for the Bison, but looking for Wolves and Grizzlies. Unfortunately, we did not see any, but these enthusiasts will sit there for hours waiting for maybe a 30 second glimpse of a Wolf. Some people, including us would say --a bad day of not seeing a wolf or grizzly in Yellowstone National Park is much better than a good day at work! -- 

Stay tuned for Part 2 as we drive along the Beartooth Scenic Byway and on our way into Montana.