Road Trip to CA Day 8 - Beartooth and Chief Joseph Highways

Day 8 was the epic trip to Yellowstone. Mike and I planned to take Beartooth Highway, a 68-mile road that peaks at almost 11,000ft and has hundreds of turns and switchbacks. We left Red Lodge, MT in hopes that the avalanche on Beartooth Highway had been cleared...

The beginning of Beartooth isn't bad at all...

It gets interesting very quickly

After a few switchbacks, we decided to stop for some photos:

A bit higher, there was this lookout....180 degree view, the lookout is straight ahead about 200 yards:

The path to the lookout was covered in rocks and snow, so Mike and I hiked along the edge of the railing: 

 And a 180 degree view from the lookout:

A view from higher up of that lookout:

We figured there'd be snow ahead with plows this huge, but we were still hopeful the avalanche had been cleared:

Aaaaannnddd now we see why those plows were so huge:

Apparently marshmallows expand a bit when you're at 9,000ft (these became the key snack for the rest of our trip):

Guess they couldn't plow the avalanche:

At this point Mike and I had to turn back around and find another entrance into Yellowstone. We surveyed the map and made our decision based on "average number of turns per mile of road." Main highways were obviously out of the question since they'd have a very low average. Hairpin turns counted 2x more than normal turns, so we settled on Dead Indian Hill Road (wtf?) and Chief Joseph Highway as it was the best alternative to the avalanche covered Beartooth Highway.

Yes, this road should do nicely:

Without question:

This is basically how we looked anytime we were out of the car. iPhone in hand, SLR around our neck:

Next up, Yellowstone.