Yoda the Black Pug Does Montana - A Road Trip
Aug 26th, 2006, 12:32 PM
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Yoda the Black Pug Does Montana - A Road Trip
Hi fellow Fodorites,
Just got home from a spur of the moment vacation to new places! Didn't have a lot of plans in advance and it was a good thing, as this trip turned into an unexpected road trip covering alot of ground.
On short notice, no puppy sitter was available, so instead of camping I took my Pug, Yoda along. He did very well, but got bored with all the driving. I guess dogs ((&))don't have a great appreciation for scenery....
The original outline was to spend 4 days unwinding at Silver Gate, just outside the northeast entrance to Yellowstone, drive the Beartooth highway, then spend a couple nights in Big Sky. No major hiking or other activites on the schedule since Yoda is just not a hiking type dog.
Drove up through Evanston on Hwy 89 to Jackson and spent the first night. Jackson is always a fun town and I was amazed at the number of visitors during peak season, since I don't usually go during peak.
Restaurant rec: Sweetwater - I've eaten here several times and it's always excellent. Great service, food and atmosphere. In an original log cabin, nice deck for summer al fresco dining. Another favorite of mine, Jedidiah's House of Sourdough. Open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, extremely popular, very reasonable, good food. All their bread products, pancakes, muffins, buns, etc. are sourdough.
Drove up through Yellowstone past Tower/Roosevelt and east through the Lamar Valley, hoping to finally see wolves. No luck. Did see lots of bison. The big bulls seem to enjoy strolling right down the middle of the road and making traffic accomodate them! Lots of motorcycle riders all over Yellowstone and MT. Can't say I would want to be on a bike going through a bison herd (for lots of reasons)!
Arriving at the Silver Gate Cabins, I tried to reserve judgement until I saw the interior. Exterior was extremely disappointing. The oldest cabins (of which mine was one) were built in the 1930's. Rustic is fine, basic is fine, unmaintained for $90/night is not fine.
Drawbacks: no electrical outlets for hair drying, holes in the carpet, moldy, fiberglass shower, peeling paint. The beds were very nice, with lovely down comforters.
Later, as I was reading, I saw something run under the dresser. Figuring it was a mouse, I got down to take a look and the mouse came out to take a look at me! Yup, it's a mouse.
Fortunately, mice don't bother me, I think they are cute, but it's not good to live with them!
Checked out the next morning, got a refund, and decided to take my luck traveling on. The road trip begins!
The Beartooth hwy. was beautiful, awesome, amazing, and completely lived up to billing! One of the best scenic roads I've driven. Slow going, very windy, hair raising drops offs (if that type of thing bothers you), lots of incredible views and photo ops. Plenty of places to stop to strech human and Puggy legs.
After all these trips to Yellowstone, I can now finally say I've been in/out all the entrances and everywhere in the park except for the backcountry.
Drove on to Red Lodge. What a great little town! Found a motel that takes pets and spent the afternoon relaxing by the river in a park. Red Lodge was a mining town and has much in common with my town, Park City. Fun, funky Main Street and friendly people. Lots of colorful, well kept/restored Victorian homes in town and old (or new) beautiful ranches outside town.
Had the treat of seeing a doe and two fawns grazing on a front lawn. Such sweet little animals!
Had a very delicious dinner at a place on Main Street, sorry I can't remember the name. It was also a wine bar.
I would have stayed longer in Red Lodge, but a motorcycle rally of 22,000 people was coming through the next day, and that's a lot of noise!
Cut across through cattle country to I-90. It was 96 degrees and MT is having its 2nd extremely hot summer. The grazing lands were absolutely parched. It was a dust bowl! Still lots of pretty scenery, but you could tell it would be gorgeous in early summer when green.
Lots of tiny towns, lots of ranches, beef is very big here in the restaurants. Even though fly fishing seems to be the #1 sport, fresh trout is just not on the menus very often.
Drove down the highway through Paradise Valley. Wow! Such a beautiful place, very appropriately named. Awesome mountain views of the Gallatin range. Beautiful rivers and lots of fly fishers enjoying.
Stayed this night in Gardner, the north entrance to Yellowstone. So dry it was like a desert, I was shocked. Driving through to Mammoth Hot Springs the next morning, a whole elk herd (cows, calves, and a couple of immature bulls) was grazing and resting on the lawns of the lodge. Fun to see!
Looped through W. Yellowstone, where it seems the only places to eat are pizza places. On up to Big Sky and the falsely advertized "Comfort Inn at Big Sky". NOT! Very disappointing that this motel is actually 9 miles away from Big Sky.
First I was given a non-smoking room that was completely permeated with cigar smoke. Yuck! Changed to second room and went off to check out the ski area, since it's one I haven't skied at yet!
Looks like a great mountain, but their base area is very modern/manufactured, with high rise, up scale hotels and no independent restaurants, just hotel restaurants. Had dinner at a place further down the mountain recommended by a local gal, "Word of Mouth". Very good and a great wine list.
Second room's A/C stops working (it was extremely hot) and had to move to room #3. Success at last! Unfortunately, heavy smoke from wildfires blew in overnight. It was as bad as I've ever seen/smelled. Eyes watering, I decided to check out and head south to get out of the smoke.
Visited a very nicely preserved mining town called Virgina City. The real thing and a good place for lunch. Lots of western ranching/mining/outlaw history in this area if you are interested.
Driving south, the smoke continued and at some places was so bad, it looked as if you were driving into hell! You couldn't even see the mountains, but I did get to see a huge, beautiful Golden Eagle perched on a fence post next to the road. A rare treat!
At this point, I decided to bag it and drive home. Spent the night in Idaho Falls where the smoke finally cleared.
All in all, it was a nice trip in spite of not going as expected. I would defintely like to visit MT again for some serious horseback riding and hiking, but I would go in June, not August!
Yoda was glad to be home and is happily patroling his kingdom, barking at dogs/people walking in the green belt behind my house.
Hope this is of some interest to those planning a visit to MT beyond Yellowstone!
Happy travels all!
Just got home from a spur of the moment vacation to new places! Didn't have a lot of plans in advance and it was a good thing, as this trip turned into an unexpected road trip covering alot of ground.
On short notice, no puppy sitter was available, so instead of camping I took my Pug, Yoda along. He did very well, but got bored with all the driving. I guess dogs ((&))don't have a great appreciation for scenery....
The original outline was to spend 4 days unwinding at Silver Gate, just outside the northeast entrance to Yellowstone, drive the Beartooth highway, then spend a couple nights in Big Sky. No major hiking or other activites on the schedule since Yoda is just not a hiking type dog.
Drove up through Evanston on Hwy 89 to Jackson and spent the first night. Jackson is always a fun town and I was amazed at the number of visitors during peak season, since I don't usually go during peak.
Restaurant rec: Sweetwater - I've eaten here several times and it's always excellent. Great service, food and atmosphere. In an original log cabin, nice deck for summer al fresco dining. Another favorite of mine, Jedidiah's House of Sourdough. Open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, extremely popular, very reasonable, good food. All their bread products, pancakes, muffins, buns, etc. are sourdough.
Drove up through Yellowstone past Tower/Roosevelt and east through the Lamar Valley, hoping to finally see wolves. No luck. Did see lots of bison. The big bulls seem to enjoy strolling right down the middle of the road and making traffic accomodate them! Lots of motorcycle riders all over Yellowstone and MT. Can't say I would want to be on a bike going through a bison herd (for lots of reasons)!
Arriving at the Silver Gate Cabins, I tried to reserve judgement until I saw the interior. Exterior was extremely disappointing. The oldest cabins (of which mine was one) were built in the 1930's. Rustic is fine, basic is fine, unmaintained for $90/night is not fine.
Drawbacks: no electrical outlets for hair drying, holes in the carpet, moldy, fiberglass shower, peeling paint. The beds were very nice, with lovely down comforters.
Later, as I was reading, I saw something run under the dresser. Figuring it was a mouse, I got down to take a look and the mouse came out to take a look at me! Yup, it's a mouse.
Fortunately, mice don't bother me, I think they are cute, but it's not good to live with them!Checked out the next morning, got a refund, and decided to take my luck traveling on. The road trip begins!
The Beartooth hwy. was beautiful, awesome, amazing, and completely lived up to billing! One of the best scenic roads I've driven. Slow going, very windy, hair raising drops offs (if that type of thing bothers you), lots of incredible views and photo ops. Plenty of places to stop to strech human and Puggy legs.
After all these trips to Yellowstone, I can now finally say I've been in/out all the entrances and everywhere in the park except for the backcountry.
Drove on to Red Lodge. What a great little town! Found a motel that takes pets and spent the afternoon relaxing by the river in a park. Red Lodge was a mining town and has much in common with my town, Park City. Fun, funky Main Street and friendly people. Lots of colorful, well kept/restored Victorian homes in town and old (or new) beautiful ranches outside town.
Had the treat of seeing a doe and two fawns grazing on a front lawn. Such sweet little animals!
Had a very delicious dinner at a place on Main Street, sorry I can't remember the name. It was also a wine bar.
I would have stayed longer in Red Lodge, but a motorcycle rally of 22,000 people was coming through the next day, and that's a lot of noise!
Cut across through cattle country to I-90. It was 96 degrees and MT is having its 2nd extremely hot summer. The grazing lands were absolutely parched. It was a dust bowl! Still lots of pretty scenery, but you could tell it would be gorgeous in early summer when green.
Lots of tiny towns, lots of ranches, beef is very big here in the restaurants. Even though fly fishing seems to be the #1 sport, fresh trout is just not on the menus very often.
Drove down the highway through Paradise Valley. Wow! Such a beautiful place, very appropriately named. Awesome mountain views of the Gallatin range. Beautiful rivers and lots of fly fishers enjoying.
Stayed this night in Gardner, the north entrance to Yellowstone. So dry it was like a desert, I was shocked. Driving through to Mammoth Hot Springs the next morning, a whole elk herd (cows, calves, and a couple of immature bulls) was grazing and resting on the lawns of the lodge. Fun to see!
Looped through W. Yellowstone, where it seems the only places to eat are pizza places. On up to Big Sky and the falsely advertized "Comfort Inn at Big Sky". NOT! Very disappointing that this motel is actually 9 miles away from Big Sky.
First I was given a non-smoking room that was completely permeated with cigar smoke. Yuck!
Changed to second room and went off to check out the ski area, since it's one I haven't skied at yet! Looks like a great mountain, but their base area is very modern/manufactured, with high rise, up scale hotels and no independent restaurants, just hotel restaurants. Had dinner at a place further down the mountain recommended by a local gal, "Word of Mouth". Very good and a great wine list.
Second room's A/C stops working (it was extremely hot) and had to move to room #3. Success at last! Unfortunately, heavy smoke from wildfires blew in overnight. It was as bad as I've ever seen/smelled. Eyes watering, I decided to check out and head south to get out of the smoke.
Visited a very nicely preserved mining town called Virgina City. The real thing and a good place for lunch. Lots of western ranching/mining/outlaw history in this area if you are interested.
Driving south, the smoke continued and at some places was so bad, it looked as if you were driving into hell! You couldn't even see the mountains, but I did get to see a huge, beautiful Golden Eagle perched on a fence post next to the road. A rare treat!
At this point, I decided to bag it and drive home. Spent the night in Idaho Falls where the smoke finally cleared.
All in all, it was a nice trip in spite of not going as expected. I would defintely like to visit MT again for some serious horseback riding and hiking, but I would go in June, not August!
Yoda was glad to be home and is happily patroling his kingdom, barking at dogs/people walking in the green belt behind my house.
Hope this is of some interest to those planning a visit to MT beyond Yellowstone!
Happy travels all!
Aug 26th, 2006, 01:20 PM
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Hi Dayle,
Thanks for the wonderful info and great report. How nice to take an unplanned trip! We'll be in Yellowstone/Tetons just after Labor Day and I'm hoping to work in a drive on the Beartooth. How long did it take to get to Red Lodge with plenty of photo stops along the way? Just trying to decide if its worth driving even part of the Beartooth and turning around. I appreciate your advice. Also, we'll be driving from SLC airport to West Yellowstone the 1st day - should we just go the fastest way on rte 15 or is there a more scenic route? Thanks again. By the way, my sister and BIL are in Moab right now on a trip that we planned and mapped out for them. Their first time to Utah and her 1st time in the southwest! They are at the Dreamkeeper and absolutely love it. We can't wait to get back to Utah.
Thanks for the wonderful info and great report. How nice to take an unplanned trip! We'll be in Yellowstone/Tetons just after Labor Day and I'm hoping to work in a drive on the Beartooth. How long did it take to get to Red Lodge with plenty of photo stops along the way? Just trying to decide if its worth driving even part of the Beartooth and turning around. I appreciate your advice. Also, we'll be driving from SLC airport to West Yellowstone the 1st day - should we just go the fastest way on rte 15 or is there a more scenic route? Thanks again. By the way, my sister and BIL are in Moab right now on a trip that we planned and mapped out for them. Their first time to Utah and her 1st time in the southwest! They are at the Dreamkeeper and absolutely love it. We can't wait to get back to Utah.
Aug 26th, 2006, 05:52 PM
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Hi Sharondi,
Thanks for your comments. I'm glad to hear your BIL & sister are enjoying Moab and the Dreamkeeper. I could (and do) spend a lot of time there and never get tired of it.
I've driven from Jackson/Yellowstone several times down I-15 and, in my opinion, it's the least scenic way to go. But, if you are staying in W. Yellowstone, it's the best way to go. It should take you about 4 - 4 1/2 hours.
If you were to go via Logan Canyon and Bear Lake, then through Star Valley, that is the most scenic. Once at Alpine (north end of Star Valley) you could go on up to W. Yellowstone from there. I've only gone this way once and it was so long ago, I can't remember the time.
Are you staying at W. Yellowstone the whole time? How much time do you have? It would be a very long day to do the Beartooth even half way from there! I believe I left Silver Gate about 9:30 am and got to Red Lodge about 12:30 pm. I took as many photo stops as I wanted. I would recommend going the whole way though- it's amazing!
Hope this helps!
Thanks for your comments. I'm glad to hear your BIL & sister are enjoying Moab and the Dreamkeeper. I could (and do) spend a lot of time there and never get tired of it.
I've driven from Jackson/Yellowstone several times down I-15 and, in my opinion, it's the least scenic way to go. But, if you are staying in W. Yellowstone, it's the best way to go. It should take you about 4 - 4 1/2 hours.
If you were to go via Logan Canyon and Bear Lake, then through Star Valley, that is the most scenic. Once at Alpine (north end of Star Valley) you could go on up to W. Yellowstone from there. I've only gone this way once and it was so long ago, I can't remember the time.
Are you staying at W. Yellowstone the whole time? How much time do you have? It would be a very long day to do the Beartooth even half way from there! I believe I left Silver Gate about 9:30 am and got to Red Lodge about 12:30 pm. I took as many photo stops as I wanted. I would recommend going the whole way though- it's amazing!
Hope this helps!
Aug 26th, 2006, 06:08 PM
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Dayle,
Great report! We also did a last minute trip up to Red Lodge and over the Beartooth Highway this summer. It was wonderful. We bought a couple of topographic maps in Cooke City so that next time we will be ready for some longer hikes. Did you see any wildlife? We were lucky to see a few mountain goats at the summit. I love that part of the country.
A fun place to eat outside of Red Lodge is the Bear Creek Saloon. The steaks were good, but the highlight for us (especially the kids) was the pig races. It was a hoot!
I agree - Sweetwater is a great restaurant. I ate there two years ago and still remember the meal - especially the piece of orange cake I had for dessert.
Great report! We also did a last minute trip up to Red Lodge and over the Beartooth Highway this summer. It was wonderful. We bought a couple of topographic maps in Cooke City so that next time we will be ready for some longer hikes. Did you see any wildlife? We were lucky to see a few mountain goats at the summit. I love that part of the country.
A fun place to eat outside of Red Lodge is the Bear Creek Saloon. The steaks were good, but the highlight for us (especially the kids) was the pig races. It was a hoot!
I agree - Sweetwater is a great restaurant. I ate there two years ago and still remember the meal - especially the piece of orange cake I had for dessert.
Aug 27th, 2006, 03:25 AM
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Dayle,
We are only staying in W Yellowstone the first night. Then we have 2 nights each in Old Faithful, Mammoth and Canyon. With 6 full days in the park, I figure we'd find some time to do the Beartooth, possibly while we're staying in mammoth since its closest to the NE entrance. I guess we'll just see how it goes and decide while we're there. Thanks again for your help.
We are only staying in W Yellowstone the first night. Then we have 2 nights each in Old Faithful, Mammoth and Canyon. With 6 full days in the park, I figure we'd find some time to do the Beartooth, possibly while we're staying in mammoth since its closest to the NE entrance. I guess we'll just see how it goes and decide while we're there. Thanks again for your help.
Aug 27th, 2006, 07:54 AM
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Hi Barbara! Yes, I'm about ready for a nice dinner. I didn't take many pictures because of the smoke. Views were not very good in most places.
I'll e mail you!
Sharondi,
I think you will find less to do/see at Mammoth so that might be the good day to drive the Beartooth. It will be a very long day. You could also drive up the Paradise Valley from Gardner, so so beautiful!
If you haven't been to Yellowstone before, take time to see some of the geysers. There are some that they can somewhat predict and are more impressive than Old Faithful. Each one is unique!
Have fun!
I'll e mail you!
Sharondi,
I think you will find less to do/see at Mammoth so that might be the good day to drive the Beartooth. It will be a very long day. You could also drive up the Paradise Valley from Gardner, so so beautiful!
If you haven't been to Yellowstone before, take time to see some of the geysers. There are some that they can somewhat predict and are more impressive than Old Faithful. Each one is unique!
Have fun!
Aug 27th, 2006, 08:49 AM
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We enjoyed a trip to Yellowstone in early June one year. Not too crowded. However, we couldn't take the trip over the Beartooth highway that we wanted because the road wasn't open for the season yet. Before you make plans to take the Beartooth highway, check to make sure it is open.
Aug 27th, 2006, 09:57 AM
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