Beartooth Ski Area

There is an International Ski and Snowboard Training Ski Area in the Beartooth's. It is open from approximately Mid May to sometime in July. It all depends on how much snow the area received that winter. ... and how soon they can plow the road.

There  is not much there -- a chair lift and some facilities. These are the facilities (ALL of the facilities)

Yes, that is the Eiffel Tower sitting on a toilet!

Camping in the Beartooths

Our two tent solution is working out well... we now have the "great room" and the bedroom... and good news, the campground has bear boxes in all the sites. ... since they actually really do need them!

Average temperatures are about high 75 - low 45. If you get some weather, it could be colder. After all, it is at 9600' or so.

The bedroom, lighted up by a Luci

We take full advantage of the bear box.

Beartooth Highway

The beartooth highway connects Cooke City at about 7500' to Red Lodge at 5500'. but first you have to drive over the pass.  We planned on stopping at Island Lake Campground at 9600' for some hiking and fishing (more on that later)

This is the 3rd or 4th time we have driven the Beartooth Highway, and is never fails to inspire. This road along with Going to the Sun Highway in Glacier, the road from Silverton to Ouray, and others can be scary with very thin roads, no guardrails, 2-3000' drops, several hairpin turns, etc. These roads are such that RV's are pretty much not permitted on them.

These are a bunch of shots all taken from the Beartooth Highway

If you look closely, you can see the road below as it descends, oh, and the marmot who wanted to be in the photo

Twin Lakes

The ski area --- yes, this is a shot of the ski are (most of it is on the left of the photo) -- more later .

Another photo of the road as is winds and hairpins down from the pass

Teton River -- with Tobin again

So, we stayed overnight in Driggs and dried out from the rainy day. The next day was predicted to be sunny and in the 70's. -- the weather guessers just got 2 out of 2!

This day we chose to float the Teton River in Tobin's raft and hope for the best --- the weather was perfect, there we a TON of bugs -- but, no fish wanted to play. We caught maybe 5 all day between all of us.... but that we better that some others who we talked to!

Not a lot of action shots as there wasn't a lot of action!

This is a shot of Tobin fishing in the middle of a fantastic hatch -- that is TONS of bugs (mayflies -- that DO NOT BITE!). Every white spot in the image is a bug... there are 1000's of them. I think that if you click the image will enlarge and you can see them a lot better.

Taking a rest on the side of the river

The picnic.

One of Kevin, getting pissed off that NOTHING is happening!

The crew and the raft

End of the day.

more interesting weather -- and a fishing/exploration day with Tobin and Cache

The broader area around GTNP (WY and ID) has, as has been blogged about here, is getting some interesting weather and more rain than normal.

We went back to Driggs to meet up with Tobin Kelley, who with Chris Paige are the homeowners of our previous sit in Driggs. Tobin was a former climbing guide and current fisherman, so we got along quite well. Cache, the young Golden chose to join us.  We had already decided to go fishing in various spots in the Teton River and, even though the forecast was for 70-80% chance of rain, we headed out.

What the heck!

It started out looking like this

But "improved" some

Got worse again

But we persisted 

We drove down a 2 track road to an interesting spot. Thankfully the road was not muddied up by the rain.

and got out to fish  -- all bundled up

Got to the river, started to fish and got caught in some rain -- yes, it is raining there.

Tobin wondering if we should pack it in and go back to the car -- Alicia is already at the car, being MUCH smarter than the men.

It ended up being a day of finding new places to fish in the Teton River, driving on some crazy roads,  and a fun time by all four participants!

Darby Cave

Darby Cave is a short hike -- 3 miles with 1800' of elevation gain.  The trail passes through some really nice wildflower meadows on the way to a massive cut in the rock wall. Darby Cave is a destination hike because of the cave and the chance to walk into the cave for a long distance.  One can walk in for about a mile and exit "around the corner".  It starts out real big but narrows to a small hole about 2'x3'. The temperatures in the cave can get REAL cold, enough that if you are hiking in a ways,  you need some winter gear.  You will also need a good headlamp and, as described in the guide, "Some caving experience" --- we brought some winter gear and headlamps, but left the caving experience at the car.

 Picture tease: Alicia inside the cave

 That's the cave between us in the back

More flowers
Hyssop

Daisies

??

Fireweed.

On the trail

Alicia entering the Cave -- crossing the stream.

Moving into the cave. Alicia in spotlight because of her headlamp.

Saxifrage flower at the mouth of the cave. A spring, inside the cave, pours out of the mouth

Returning

Last bridge before the parking lot