Beartooth & Chief Joseph

Here are some pictures from our bike ride this past Saturday over the Beartooth Pass and Chief Joseph Scenic Byway. There were five of us total... a friend of mine from work and her husband and one of Gil's coworkers, J. Yes, S and her husband, T, ride "crotch rockets" and yes they rode with us. We're not Harley snobs! A bike's a bike, right? Right... it's a little strange but this couple is just too cool not to hang out with! Anyway, there were fires burning on all sides of the area that we were riding through and we were fortunate to have "smokeless" air to breathe. The only time we really encountered it was on the east side of the Chief Joseph highway from a fire burning near Cody; it was raining ash but the smoke was high enough not to breathe. It was a beautiful day to ride, cool enough to keep our jackets on until we hit Belfry on the way back. We were gone about nine hours but we stopped frequently for pictures and lunch.

This picture was supposed to be at the end but this stupid uploading function won't allow me to place my pictures where I want them; it always places them at the top! Anyway, this is the smoke I mentioned on our way down Chief Joe.

Here's Gil and me at the first vista look-out on the Red Lodge side of Beartooth.

This is near the top of the Beartooth side, just across the border on the Wyoming side. The pass was delayed in opening this year due to excessive snow pack... about a month later than usual.

We always encounter Rocky Mountain goats in this area and we weren't disappointed this day.

While we were looking at the goats, this curious little marmot was checking out T's Suzuki Hayabusa.

The bistro where we ate lunch in Cooke City. Gil is standing by his bike, my bike is second from the left, T and S are by her Ninja, and J is in the back near his bike (the blue one).

Gil snapped this pic of me while we were at a rest stop getting ready to ride up the Chief Joseph switchbacks. (See, Mom, I do wear my helmet!)

Looking out over the west side of Chief Joseph Highway.

We had a really great ride. It was so good just to get out... riding is really therapeutic for me. Gorgeous weather, good company, hardly any traffic on the roads... what more can you ask for?