The Beartooths

Smoky conditions and soaring temperatures made a camping trip to the Beartooth Mountains a perfect solution. We loaded up the kayaks on the truck and headed northwest in search of fresh air and alpine forest a few hours drive from our small town in northwestern Wyoming. 

The road from Chief Joseph Highway to Red Lodge, Montana, is popular among locals for its stunning views. With every thousand-foot gain in elevation, the temperature dropped another five degrees and the beauty of the landscape unfolded. For a Sunday afternoon, there was little in the way of traffic. Only a few motorcyclists shared the road with us. 

We usually wild camp on public land, avoiding the crowds at designated campgrounds, but Beartooth Lake was worth it. Rolling in around two in the afternoon, my spouse and I snagged a spot close to the lake. Depositing the kayaks at the water’s edge, we popped up the camper and settled in for the afternoon. It was a comfortable seventy degrees outside. 

Beartooth Butte across the lake is a jagged monolith named for the grizzly bears that frequent this area. Signs all over the place warn of bear activity, reminding us to keep food stowed away. There are bear-proof garbage cans and safe food storage bins at each site. Luckily, we saw no bears on this trip. Keeping a clean camp makes all the difference.

After a light lunch, we grabbed our life vests and paddles and headed to the lake. The wind was calm, the water glassy and we had it to ourselves. Best of all, there was no smoke from the forest fires that are burning all over Wyoming and Montana right now. The trout were launching themselves out of the water in a frenzied food fest after an apparent hatch of aquatic insects. I spied a foot-long trout as he rushed in the opposite direction, no doubt on a mission to gorge. Most of the fish were smaller ones, five to six inches at best. They were bunched up near the spillway in the deeper water. 

There was a deer on shore curled up under a pine tree right beside the lake. If it weren’t for the kayaks, I never would have noticed her or the carpet of wildflowers that offset the vibrant green hillside. Purple lupine, red and pink Indian paintbrush, yellow western wallflower, and white onion weed reminded me of a Monet painting, the colors blending in perfect harmony. 

After a circuit around the lake, we dragged the kayaks up on land, ate dinner, and returned to the shore around sunset to search for critters. Rodeo grabbed the binoculars from the truck, set up two lawn chairs lakeside, and started scanning the mountain. It didn’t take long for him to locate a herd of sixty elk grazing on the hillside just as the sun slipped behind the peak. 

The next morning we returned to the same vantage point and watched as a red-tailed hawk swooped low along the eastern shore. She flew right past us on a morning hunt. It took my breath away. An hour later, that same hawk perched at the top of a pine tree near our launch spot. I had that odd feeling that we were standing in her living room, a couple of uninvited guests. She patiently waited for us to move along. 

I hated to leave the lake that afternoon, but we had a plan to find wild goats on Beartooth Pass, so off we went. The switchbacks provide a birds-eye view of the mountain lakes in this area. The Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness is just to the west. This stretch of road lives up to Montana’s nickname as Big Sky country. As we drove down the pass on a hairpin turn, a family of nine goats came into view, grazing on the hearty grass that grows on the tundra. Four youngsters trotted around the adults while they ate lunch together.

The Beartooth Highway ends in Red Lodge, a small town that we frequent for meals and occasional tax-free shopping trips. We made our usual stop to a top-notch wine shop, Babcock & Miles. Steve, the owner, recently opened a wine bar and restaurant next door so we meandered over there to sample a sparkling white wine that we ended up buying.

On Main Street, we ate at Prerogative, an excellent tapas-style restaurant, serving roasted Brussels sprouts and pesto broccolini among other tasty fare. When we finally headed home, we talked about returning to Beartooth Lake to share its magic with family. Three days later, we were back at altitude enjoying it all over again.