Grand tetons or beartooth hwy
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Tourer
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 303
Likes: 1
From: Florida
Grand tetons or beartooth hwy
Guy's I have a problem, on the way back from the left coast some freinds want to go to yellow stone and the grand tetons while I would love to see beartooth hwy but we would be short on time and only get to spend one day in sturgis! Only problem with doing both is having to go the lenth of the park twice just to get back to beartooth. I learned about beartooth on the forum and Ive got to ride it! What do I do and how would you do it! Help
Intermediate
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 32
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From:
Do the Tooth
I would vote for the Beartooth pass.
I assume you will be entering the park from the west through West Yellowstone, turn south and do the full loop. from the bottom of the park you will be able to see the Tetons. Then you will have an opertunity to see most of the park. Dont forget traffic can be a mess and it will take longer than you expect. Exit through the North East gate and head over the Beartooth into Red Lodge. Keep an eye on the weather it can get messy on the tooth at any time.
I assume you will be entering the park from the west through West Yellowstone, turn south and do the full loop. from the bottom of the park you will be able to see the Tetons. Then you will have an opertunity to see most of the park. Dont forget traffic can be a mess and it will take longer than you expect. Exit through the North East gate and head over the Beartooth into Red Lodge. Keep an eye on the weather it can get messy on the tooth at any time.
Road Warrior
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 1,644
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From: Coeur d'Alene
+1 Beartooth Pass....no question about it. IMO, riding around Yellowstone in early August with all that traffic is highly overrated. If coming in from the west through ID, look at dropping into Jackson, WY via Teton Pass. You can check out Jackson and head north with a nice ride by the Tetons and on into Yellowstone. From the south entrance to Yellowstone Park get to the east entrance of YP that goes to Cody. Cody is a great place to stay. In the morning head out to the north to Dead Indian Pass and hook up with the Beartooth Highway (US 212) that'll take you into Red Lodge, Montana, another cool little town. Or, you could do this in reverse coming back from Sturgis. You will not regret this.
Ultimate HDF Member
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 8,831
Likes: 15
From: Nomad
Well, you can see that the Beartooth Hwy is very popular, especially with the summer Sturgis crowd.
The highway itself is not that long. You could do the Park, exit Cooke City, go down the Beartooth Hwy, visit Red Lodge, come back up, and take the CJ Hwy down to Cody, and on to Sturgis from there. Or, from Red Lodge, just head north another 45 mins and hit I-90.
For people only visiting the Yellowstone basin, this is a good ride. But we got tons more of that in Montana.
The highway itself is not that long. You could do the Park, exit Cooke City, go down the Beartooth Hwy, visit Red Lodge, come back up, and take the CJ Hwy down to Cody, and on to Sturgis from there. Or, from Red Lodge, just head north another 45 mins and hit I-90.
For people only visiting the Yellowstone basin, this is a good ride. But we got tons more of that in Montana.
Road Warrior
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 1,551
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From: Contributor to HDForums.com
My son and I rode out there from Indiana last June. It was the trip of a lifetime!
Do Beartooth and stop by Red Lodge Montana. If possible, ride the Chief Joseph highway too.
Man, I am SO jealous!
Do Beartooth and stop by Red Lodge Montana. If possible, ride the Chief Joseph highway too.
Man, I am SO jealous!
Road Captain
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 738
Likes: 0
From: Toronto
Do both and skip the day in Sturgis.....spend an hour or two in Deadwood if you want to visit that area....
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Tourer
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 435
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From: Alberta, Canada
I made a road trip to Yellowstone last fall. To be honest, I wouldn't waste my time on that ride again. Sorry, I know it is one of the jewels of the U.S. parks service but there is far better scenery out there than Yellowstone. Keep in mind that it wasn't that many years ago that fire took out most of the trees in the park and they haven't had a chance to grow back yet (Give it a hundred years). OK, I admit there are the geysers that you can't see just anywhere. As for the animals - I've got Elk in my backyard (so to speak) and buffalo - raised for meat around here.
The biggest disappointment - there are bleachers setup around Old Faithful. I'm not impressed with the whole sideshow nature of the place. What ever happened to just enjoying natural wonders like mother nature intended? Oh yeah, dumb tourists would fall in the holes if you didn't tell them where to sit. <G>
Nearby there are far better mountain roads than you will experience in the park and all the tourist traffic, even in September, takes away from any fun the ride through the park might have had. I would recommend you set a priority on the Beartooth ride and I would connect it with the road entering Yellowstone at Mammoth and exiting at Silver Gate (US212) so you only ride the North East corner of the park. This way you will hit the highlights (roads) and don't waste time sitting on bleachers.
Keep in mind, everyone is entitled to their opinion, this is just mine.
The biggest disappointment - there are bleachers setup around Old Faithful. I'm not impressed with the whole sideshow nature of the place. What ever happened to just enjoying natural wonders like mother nature intended? Oh yeah, dumb tourists would fall in the holes if you didn't tell them where to sit. <G>
Nearby there are far better mountain roads than you will experience in the park and all the tourist traffic, even in September, takes away from any fun the ride through the park might have had. I would recommend you set a priority on the Beartooth ride and I would connect it with the road entering Yellowstone at Mammoth and exiting at Silver Gate (US212) so you only ride the North East corner of the park. This way you will hit the highlights (roads) and don't waste time sitting on bleachers.
Keep in mind, everyone is entitled to their opinion, this is just mine.
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Ultimate HDF Member
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 8,831
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From: Nomad
I made a road trip to Yellowstone last fall. To be honest, I wouldn't waste my time on that ride again. Sorry, I know it is one of the jewels of the U.S. parks service but there is far better scenery out there than Yellowstone. Keep in mind that it wasn't that many years ago that fire took out most of the trees in the park and they haven't had a chance to grow back yet (Give it a hundred years).
As for your other remarks, yes, you live in Alberta. I live in Montana. Elk, grizz, bison, antelope, etc., are not exactly unusual for us. Yellowstone has the developed lodge areas; so do the parks in AB. So what?
But it's the only supervolcano on the continent. Most flatlanders don't bother to stop and marvel at the lava wall at Madison Junction or won't walk 1/4 of a mile away fromt eh parking lot to find unnamed geothermal features, but they will start accidents and traffic jams at the sign of the first cow elk.
It's still an amazing place and I'm glad to live just down the road
Stellar HDF Member
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 2,137
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From:
My brother used to live near Yellowstone, and after the first couple of trips there he would no longer go in June, July or August. The traffic is terrible and the tourists will line up for miles if they see an animal. Plus, the weather beats up the roads something terrible, so it's a lot more appropriate to go in a 4wd instead of a motorcycle.
Beartooth is beautiful, Red Lodge and Cooke City are cool.
Beartooth is beautiful, Red Lodge and Cooke City are cool.