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| The Hellroaring Plateau from the West Summit |
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The trusty Santa Fe was up to the challenge, climbing to almost 11,000' feet before descending a little bit for a quick stop at the Rock Creek Vista. This stop produced a few photos and questions of how different the Beartooth Hike would have been had we done the planned route, coming out at the Lake Fork now within full view. Once we got back into the truck I knew the trip was over. The drive down to Red Lodge was not the white knuckle experience I thought it would be. I'd never come down from the West side the previous three times I'd traversed the Beartooth Highwayso this was a new experience for me. Happily, there were no close calls due to my wandering eyes.
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| Good advice |
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Red Lodge was pretty much as I remembered it from previous trips through: a quintessential western town located at the base of the Beartooth Front. Paint Rock Creek was still carrying a lot of water from out of the mountains, which, undoubtedly would continue for the rest of the summer based on what we'd seen up high and the time of year. What we didn't see was any sign of the wildfire Hikerjer had told us about more than a week ago.
We continued through Red Lodge, dodging heavy construction equipment and tourists while looking for a sign of the local KOA and the $5 shower we all desperately needed. The nearly deserted campground was found a few miles north of town on 212.
After digging through the trusty Santa Fe for our clean clothes we invaded the recently cleaned shower room and basked under hot water, shampoo and soap for 10 minutes of bliss. Canadian Dude broke a major man rule by shaving, while Ward and I did the masculine thing leaving our whiskers in tact.
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| OK, we'll stick to the Interstate then. |
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Now that everyone was clean and ready to travel, we spent a few minutes in the KOA gift shop browsing for a few more postcards and cold drinks for the road.
It was still early in the afternoon when we piled back into the crowded Santa Fe and it became apparent that our planned meeting with Hikerjer for dinner and adult beverages would require a 4 hour layover somewhere between here and Billings. It was also apparent that each of us wanted to head for home to one degree of another.
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| No sign of deer or antelope playing. |
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I called Jerry's home and had a nice conversation with his wife who said Jer was out in Bridger teaching drivers education there and wouldn't be back in Billings until around 5 PM. I guess that settled it---we would be going home without meeting the legendary Hikerjer.
Now with a firm plan in mind I concentrated on the road and getting us home as quickly as possible. I figured we should be able to make it back to Minneapolis by 4 AM to drop off Ward at his son's house, and back to Manitowoc by 9:00 Saturday morning. Cool, we're practically home.
Except for covering the 1,100 miles between where we were and where we were going.
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| Ward couldn't wait to start looking at his Beartooth map to see where we'd been. |
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The first leg of the drive was handled with ease as we arrived at I-94 in less than an hour and made the turn east at Laurel. Soon after we were speeding though Billings and crossing the Yellowstone River. There's something about driving I-94 as if follows the Yellowstone in eastern Montana that I enjoy. I'm not sure if it's the history of the area or what?
The truck was fairly quiet by this time as Brad was tryng to nap and Ward, cramped in the back seat, was checking out Beartooth Wilderness map he'd bought in Cooke City. Meanwhile, I amused myself by listening to country music and checking our elevation on the GPS.
The breakfast we'd had back in Cooke was the only thing we'd had to eat all day so by 5 PM we were all getting pretty hungry and decided to stop in Glendive to find something to eat. This proved to be more difficult than anticipated, and after 20 minutes of driving through most of Glendive finally settled on the Pizza Hut we'd passed by near the interstate off ramp.
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| The price of unleaded was quite high in Eastern Montana so we passed by to purchase more expensive gas in Medora, ND instead! |
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After gorging ourselves on wings and pizza we continued along. I'd told Brad and Ward that we were going to be driving through Medora, ND whether we needed gas or not because it was a neat little town. As tour guide I felt the responsibility of making sure my passengers got their money's worth. As it turned out we did need gas and more beverages and the other two guys enjoyed seeing Medora.
By now it was nearly 8 PM and I was starting to feel a little fatigued. What good would it do to get all the great photos and then die a fiery death on the highway before the pics could be posted or a trip report written and uploaded to the internet? Ward stepped up and volunteered to take the graveyard shift and would attempt to get some sleep. I told him he'd have about the 3.5 hours it would take to empty the gas tank so he'd better get his rest.
Try as he might, Ward was unable to get quality sleep but took over anyway around 11 PM somewhere near Valley City, ND. Typically, I was unable to sleep much while somebody else was driving my vehicle but was able to get a few minutes here and there before giving up at Fergus Falls, MN.
There was a light rain falling but that didn't stop Ward from making it to his son's house in Minneapolis by 4:15 AM.
After another group picture and well wishes Brad and I left Ward behind and began the final leg home. IF all went as planned we should be pulling up my driveway before 9 AM. I could already taste breakfast at the Golden Flame and was busy making a mental list of everything that had to be done upon our return. Then my heart sank when I realized Yumi would probably have a bunch of crap that I had to take care of as well. Vacation over, baby.
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| Medora, ND---home of the $4.27 gallon of unleaded but still one of my favorite towns of all-time |
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Thankfully, Ward's son lived very close to the Interstate, and, after filling the tank one more time, were soon speeding through a deserted Twin Cities. Naturally, I got lost, wasting at least 15 minutes, though we did get a nice
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| A freshly-shaven Canadian Dude, Ward and a sleepy Dorf. |
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tour of UM's campus and fraternity row in the process. After we managed to navigate ourselves back to the correct highway it took only 5.5 hours to travel what should have been a little more than 4 due to yet another wrong turn in Wausau which detoured us through Stevens Point and Appleton.
This, however, wasn't my fault as my lovely wife decided to call me at the same time I was trying to navigate several different detours and road construction. Thanks, dear.
Somehow, we made it back safely at 10 AM and began the post-hike chores.
Another great hike had come to an end.
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