Day 12

Woke up early this morning at a KOA in Red Lodge, Montana. We were here for less than 12 hours, just enough to get some sleep before heading out early to get one of the first come, first serve sites in Yellowstone. On the way out of Red Lodge we pulled into a gas station for some coffee and breakfast and found that they had a pretty good selection of Montana craft brew. Sadly it was too early to by alcohol :(

We were not as close to Yellow Stone as the maps led us to believe, but that turned out to not be too bad. Instead of being right outside of Yellowstone we were right outside of Bear Tooth National Forest. There were gorgeous views on the treacherous drive up the mountain. Thank goodness for switchbacks... The road took us up Bear Tooth Mountain (the elevation of the pass was 10,947 feet) where we got out to take some pictures in spite of our rush. Up there we saw plenty of cute chipmunks and some weasel like creatures that we later learned were marmots.

About the time we hit Yellowstone it got gloomy and started to pour down rain on us. Turns out they were going through a bit of a dry spell and it just broke. We made it to Pebble Creek and were able to get one of their last three sites (even though the park host didn't believe that we could fit). Once we got set up (Boondocking again) we decided to brace the cold rain. It was in the 40s and the rain turned to hail for a bit. We checked out Slough Creek and then got lunch at the Roosevelt Lodge. The "grocery stores" were a joke and we decided we would have to go to town outside to stock up.

On the way to Tower Falls we got to see plenty of buffalo and chipmunks. No bear sightings yet... From Tower Falls we made our way to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. The weather started to dry up a bit but remained cold and overcast. On the way we saw a Gorgeous Elk Strutting his stuff. Both the upper and lower falls of the Yellowstone river were quite impressive. Time to head into town, back to our site, and get ready for the next day.