Yellowstone entrances

Heading to Yellowstone in early june 09 wondering if we should enter from the east entrance, or drive a few extra hours and come in through the beartooth highway.

Yellowstone entrances

If you can spare the time, do the Beartooth. You could even come into Cody, then head northwest, taking the Chief Joseph to the Beartooth, making a right turn and going about 30 miles east to the Rock Creek Overlook before turning back and coming into Yellowstone through Cooke City. That gives you the best of the Beartooth without going all the way north to Billings before heading through Red Lodge.

Yellowstone entrances

I definitely agree with RM about the Beartooth and Chief Joseph! I especially like the route through Cody - worth a night%26#39;s stay if you have the time. The museum there is wonderful!

You didn%26#39;t say where you%26#39;ll be staying. If you don%26#39;t already have reservations, you should make them ASAP. Would hate to have you disappointed when you get here :-(

Just make sure its open when you get there. It was generally closed in early June last year.

Were staying at the yellowstone lodge in west yellowstone,has anyone been there?

The following website has an update on the opening of Beartooth Pass.

http://www.mdt.mt.gov/travinfo/beartooth/

The pass is still scheduled to be opened Memorial Weekend. Of course a spring snowstorm can delay it or even close it for a day or two after opening. The above website has some still pics from May 14th and lots of video clips (the latest from 5/12). If it is open next Saturday, my grandson and I plan on going over it. I%26#39;ll post a trip report if we go.

Last year, the pass was closed a few times after opening due to snowstorms. The closures were only for 2 days at the most. They work really hard on keeping it open because of the tourist aspect of the pass. Years ago we%26#39;d go over the top when they were running the extreme ski school at the top and people would be free skiing on the slopes beside the road. There was lots of snow but the roads were always kept plowed.

In all the years I%26#39;ve been going over the pass last year was the first year in a long, long time that there was that much snow in June. It was a very wet and very unusually cool spring with a very late runoff. The whole area had lots of snow. I had never seen Yellowstone River running so high at Fishing Bridge at the end of June like last year. During a lot of our hikes in the Beartooth Mts., my daughter and I had to put sandals on to ford creeks in late July that we normally rock hop across early July.

Like a previous poster suggested, going to Cody and then up through Chief Joseph Highway and taking Beartooth Hwy to Vista Point then turning around and going back to Cooke City is a good way to drive the pass without going all the way to Billings and then to Red Lodge. If you wanted to AND have the time, you could drive past Vista Point and drive the northside switchbacks. There is a campground at the base of the switchbacks where you could turn around and go back up. If you%26#39;ve never driven steep switchbacks they can be quite the adventure.

Deb

Instead of Chief Joseph Hwy we%26#39;re looking at 120 to Belfry, MT then 308 over to Red Lodge. Mostly because we want to make a stop in Red Lodge. It will be a short day anyway from Thermopolis to Chico. 308 looks OK on GoogleEarth and GoogleMaps but anyone with first hand experience to the contrary?

Also, with regard to GoogleMaps and Beartooth Hwy. due to seasonal nature GM won%26#39;t plot a route before about June 1. I submitted a suggestion to Google to allow entering a trip date for calculating seasonal routes but I don%26#39;t think it will happen. They did however suggest changing transportation method to ';walking'; and it will then plot the route and show the miles...but the time shown is on foot. 22 hours from Red Lodge to Cooke City for the 65 miles.

I took the 308 from Red Lodge to get to Cody a couple of years ago. It%26#39;s a fine 2 lane road without much traffic. I hesitate to recommend it to most visitors because it take you through a rather barren landscape, but for your purposes, it should be a fine route.

Also from Illinois, we%26#39;ve always come in via Red Lodge and the Beartooth and then exit the East entrance to Cody on our way home. I highly recommend the Beartooth if you have time but the ride between the East entrance and Cody is also beautiful.

%26lt;%26lt;They did however suggest changing transportation method to ';walking'; and it will then plot the route and show the miles...but the time shown is on foot. 22 hours from Red Lodge to Cooke City for the 65 miles.%26gt;%26gt;

LoL But if that is on snowshoes I imagine it would be even longer. ;-)