Climbing Through Yellowstone

I set off from Bozeman today for Yellowstone. Before I left the B&B my fellow guests gave me some tips when I mentioned that I wanted to do some hiking while I was here. One guest advised me to purchase bear spray. I asked if I was supposed to spray it on myself or on the bear. I had assumed that he was just having fun but there actually is such a product; it's pepper spray and is supposed to be effective against bears. Another guest talked about his experience in the woods being surrounded by a pack of wolves. The last guest told me the animal to be most afraid of in Yellowstone is the mountain lion it seems to prefer waiting in the high rocks for a hiker to pass by. All of this advice just made me even more determined to spend the whole Yellowstone trip inside a locked car.

I decided to take the Beartooth Highway to enter Yellowstone. This highway has been described as the most beautiful road in America by writers.







This was the first of many stops I made on the highway. Here a local resident who was walking his dogs told me that it just gets better. I found out he was telling the truth.





This gentle stream had some hidden surprises.





Some more stops I made as the road climbed higher.







I parked my car next to this hill while I went to cross the road to photograph the above scene. Given the condition of the rocks on the hill I made sure I closed the trunk (that's boot to you Brits) lid very gently.



I finally made it to the top of the mountain and parked in this viewing area. This is over 10,000 feet and I noticed how cool it was; the car's thermometer was 15/59 degrees (C/F) whereas at the bottom of the hill it was 24/75 degrees. The climb was a series of increasingly hairpin bends as we climbed.
Every time I got out of the car to take photos I would look up and see the next section of the road which seemed impossibly high. The route on the car's satnav looked like a coiled up purple snake trying to eat its own tail.



This car was parked next to mine. This is the closest I came to a bear in Yellowstone.



From the car park this path takes you to a point which overlooks the whole area.











These zoomed-in photos shows one of the many hairpin bends you experience on your way up. This is the first time I have experienced vertigo from inside of a car.







On the way up the path I had heard a series of chirruping sounds. Turns out they were coming from chipmunks. They weren't put off by visitors even when people brought their dogs with them.





I came across this powerful waterfall on the way down.



Caught this glimpse of one of Yellowstone's peaks just as the weather started to change. Soon after I could see flashes of lightning around the hills. When I arrived at the gateway to Yellowstone I saw that the admission charge for cars varied from 30 to 50 dollars. As I got my wallet out I was informed by a park ranger that today was free as it was the National Park's 101st anniversary. Just when I was congratulating myself on my good luck the sky opened up and the rest of the trip took place in torrential rain, making it almost impossible to see anything. The one insight I did gain was how vast Yellowstone is.











Just as I was leaving Yellowstone the sky cleared I came across this cloud of steam and pulled over. I could smell the strong sulphur fumes before I even got out of the car. According to the plaque the water is just below boiling and is one of the hottest springs in Yellowstone.