Day 3 of Lupe’s 2012 Dingo Vacation to the West Coast.
Lupe was somersaulting again against the door of her “tiny house”. She still hadn’t figured out that she couldn’t go through the tent door when it was zipped shut, but it had only been her second night ever in a tent. A squirrel was chattering away in a tree outside. Lupe wanted to go bark at it, but it was very early. Lanis was still asleep in the Honda Element, after his gear got soaked in a sudden downpour the previous evening.
Lanis isn’t much of a morning person. SPHP figured he would sleep for several more hours. This was an opportunity for Lupe to return to Bald Mountain (10,042 ft.). Lupe, Lanis and SPHP had climbed Bald Mountain the evening before, only to be almost immediately chased off of it by a brief intense rain shower. It wasn’t going to rain now, though. Lupe and SPHP left the squirrel and the campground in peace, and climbed Bald Mountain again.
After searching around on top of the mountain, SPHP had almost given up. Then, suddenly, there they were. Lupe had found the names that had been up there for a quarter century or more now. The names were just made out of loose rocks, but they were still easily recognizable. SPHP spent a little time repairing them.
SPHP wanted to add Lupe’s name to the mountain, but so much time had been lost looking around, it was probably best to get back down to the campground before Lanis awoke to find himself alone. It would take too much time to search around for some rocks to use. So Lupe and SPHP went down Bald Mountain enjoying the panoramic views, sunshine and fresh air.
(Just 11 months later, Lupe returned to spend a night on Bald Mountain and SPHP added her name then.)
SPHP needn’t have worried. Lanis was still sound asleep when Lupe returned. After having been responsible for getting Lanis’ gear wet the night before, SPHP wasn’t eager to further aggravate him by waking him up. Lupe and SPHP stayed busy in camp. Lanis eventually came to on his own. He was in a better mood than when he’d gone to sleep in the Element.
It was time for Lupe to leave the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming and head farther W. The sun was much higher now. Lanis and SPHP dried things out while Lupe sniffed around. Pretty soon things were dry enough to pack them back in the Honda Element, and Lupe, Lanis and SPHP were underway.
Lanis drove W out of the Bighorns on steep, windy Hwy 14A. The route continued through Lovell, Powell and Cody, WY. From Cody, Lupe went N on Hwy 120 to Hwy 296, the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway. The Chief Joseph Scenic Byway lived up to its name. The road wound high up over a lofty pass. At a pullout on the W side of the pass, Lupe, Lanis and SPHP got out for a look.
The view was most impressive, but there was a chilly wind. It looked rather stormy on the W side of the pass. Lupe hadn’t been at the pullout long when a cold rain began to fall. American Dingoes do have the good sense to come in out of the rain. Lanis and SPHP quickly joined Lupe in the Honda Element. Lupe’s journey continued down the winding highway on the W side of the pass.
The rain eventually stopped, but it was still pretty cloudy out. The St. Joseph Scenic Byway led to the Beartooth Hwy (No. 212). The Beartooth Highway goes NE over spectacular Beartooth Pass on its way to Red Lodge, MT, but Lupe wasn’t going that way yet. Instead Lupe, Lanis and SPHP headed W on the Beartooth Highway toward Cooke City, MT.
Lanis and SPHP were looking for a campsite along the way. There were some campgrounds, but SPHP was picky and found nothing that looked quite right before reaching Cooke City, MT. Along the way, Montana became the 3rd U.S. Lupe state!
Cooke City, MT is basically a one street tourist town strategically situated 5 miles from the NE entrance to Yellowstone National Park. After looking around town just a little bit, it was time to get more serious about finding a campsite. Lupe, Lanis and SPHP headed back E on the Beartooth Hwy. This time Lanis was driving slower to allow for a more complete reconnaissance of the possibilities.
Not long after entering Wyoming again, Lanis and SPHP saw a turn to a little parking lot just N of the highway. A pickup truck with a camper was parked there close to a bend in a very beautiful river just 200 feet from the highway. It looked like a great dispersed camping site. Lanis pulled in off the highway. Everyone piled out of the Element to check things out.
Unknown to Lupe, Lanis and SPHP at the time, the river was the Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone. This gorgeous site would become home base for the entire time Lupe spent in the Beartooths on her 2012 Dingo Vacation. The bend in the river offered a terrific view of the dramatic spire of Pilot Peak (11,699 ft.) and its neighbor Index Peak (11,240 ft.) to the NW. Just downstream of the bend, was a small waterfall or rapid with a nice pool of clear, cold water below it.
The reconnaissance downstream quickly met with the approval of Lupe, Lanis and SPHP. A walk upstream through a wooded area to a field next to the river followed. After being cooped up in the Honda Element a good part of the day, Lupe was so stirred up by the wild river and glorious surroundings, she got a crazed look in her eye. She pranced and growled and demonstrated just how ferociously prepared American Dingoes are for life in the wilderness.
Returning to the bend in the river, SPHP had a chat with the other campers there, who already occupied the best site right next to the river. They told SPHP about a waterfall worth seeing just a mile or two to the E. The falls were up a short trail on the N side of the Beartooth Hwy. Why not check that out, too? Lupe, Lanis and SPHP hopped back in the Element to go find the waterfall.
As promised, a short, but steep hike up a trail led to a roaring torrent on Crazy Creek. The stream was strewn with logs. The falls were large, but this wasn’t really a classic straight down over an edge type of waterfall. It was too steep to be just rapids either. A better name is Crazy Creek Cascade. Lupe, Lanis and SPHP followed the trail all the way up to the top of the falls.
Lupe, Lanis and SPHP played around on the rocks next to Crazy Creek just above the cascade until it started getting dark. Time to head back to the Element, and the great campsite on the Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone.
When Lupe returned, the sky was still overcast. In fact, the clouds were darker and denser than before. It looked like it would almost certainly rain overnight. It didn’t seem to make any sense to set up the tent, which would surely leak if it rained hard enough. Lanis was going to have company in the Element tonight. Outside the rain began.
Links:
Next Adventure Prior Adventure
Want more Lupe adventures? Choose from Lupe’s 2012 West Coast Adventure Index, Dingo Vacations Adventure Index or Master Adventure Index. Or subscribe free to new Lupe adventures.
