A Traveler's Experience

Beartooth Highway (MT, WY)

During my childhood my family traveled over many Colorado mountain passes as we went camping. Dad tried to pull a camper with a V-6 station wagon and we spent many an hour pulled over on the side of the road waiting for the overheated engine to cool. As a by-product of our trips I learned how to listen for various engine sounds that indicated distress. Eventually dad was able to get a car with a v-8 engine so that we could go over passes without difficulty.

I was about 13 years old when my family went to Montana from Colorado for a family event. On the way home, my parents decided to enter Yellowstone Park via Red Lodge, Montana by going over Bear Tooth Pass. Dad had already instilled in me a great love for the outdoors and for camping and driving over mountain passes.

That trip had a profound effect on me and is a memory I have always cherished. I looked in awe at the snow markers on the side of the road that were several feet taller than our car. My dad told me that the snow got that deep in the winter. As we were at the heights of the pass I remember looking far down below at sparkling pristine lakes. I fell in love with Yellowstone Park and the Grand Tetons on that trip as well.

As an adult my husband and I traveled over many states with our girls. I have seen many beautiful sights and have eagerly shared them with my family. But after all my traveling, whenever I need to think of a beautiful spot to center myself I think of those amazing views on Bear Tooth Pass. Even though our girls are adults now, I still hope to share these views with my husband. It is a legacy my deceased father left me and is one I cherish. Bear Tooth is truly one of the most magnificent scenes I carry in my memory.