Day Five: Tuesday, July 24

There are two jewels in the crown on this trip: Yellowstone and the Going to the Sun road. Today is the first - Yellowstone.

We learned that the temperature on the Beartooth Pass was 37 degrees, and knew it would be a day of temperature extremes.

We left Red Lodge, Montana for Yellowstone. And to get there, we drove the Beartooth Parkway. The scenery far exceeded my expectations. The vistas were spectacular. Who thought that building the road over Beartooth Pass was a good idea? Whatever the logic, we are the beneficiaries.

We began a long climb to the top of Beartooth Pass.

We made many stops on our way to the top. It was too beautiful to ignore.

While at a lookout, what we thought was the summit, there was a path which went out to a point, where we could see across two valleys.

We parked our chariots:

We drank in the views:

We went out onto the point:

And we could not pass up the opportunity the ham-it-up for the camera.

Must of the higher elevations were above the tree and snow line. At the summit, it was 52 degrees. I was wearing a fleece jacket, and turned on my heated hand grips. It was cold. We even managed to play in the snow. On the valley floor, it was 80 degrees.

I thought we were going to lose Larry. He walked out onto a snow cliff at the summit - which didn't appear that it would end well because it is a long, long way down. But Larry is like a yo-yo. He came back and was smiling the whole time.

That began the drive down the far side of Beartooth Pass.

The mountain streams and mountain lakes were really cool:

While coming down the back side of Beartooth Pass, there were wildflowers everywhere - fields of them: while, yellow and a purple cone flower. All I could think of was the movie Sound of Music in regard to the mountain wild flowers - and of course "loose gravel" which we can't seem to avoid.

We drove through the forest until we reached Yellowstone National Park:

We entered Yellowstone from the northeast, driving between huge rock formations and open fields - where the buffalo roam:

The buffalo were so close, we could walk to them and touch them, though the signs warned that they are very dangerous.

This raises an interesting question: you drive your motorcycle around a corner and there in front of you is a huge buffalo - dumb as a box of rocks and as large as a Volkswagen. He is in the other lane walking toward you. What do you do? What is the buffalo etiquette? What would Emily Post do?

The options run through your head. Do you rev your engine, hoping he'll go away? But you don't want a stampede because someone might get flattened. Do you sit there and let him walk past you? Or do you drive by slowly - treating him like he was a squirrel or a chipmunk. Remember, the Harley can't go in reverse. Fortunately, as I am contemplating these options, the buffalo walked off the roadway into the meadow.

I wonder why they call it "Yellowstone."

Randal has been to Yellowstone before, and told me that the majesty of the Park is not necessarily the mountains, but the rivers, streams and valleys. And he was very right. The water and the valleys were spectacular.

We continued our journey to Yellowstone Lake. It was huge. I had no idea it was that big. Like everything in Yellowstone, the lake was on a grand scale.

On the way out of the park, we saw two elk - and bad traffic. It is unbelievable how many people are visiting Yellowstone.

We drove 212 miles today, and have our mileage from Wheaton at 1,825. Tomorrow, we drive through Idaho to Lolo, Montana.