Mountain Man Campout day 1

September 16, 2015 – Day 1 of the Mountain Man Campout

This is the second year I've attended this campout with friends up in the high country of Colorado.  Last year we camped near Taylor Lake and had a great time.  I nearly ruined my wife's new Toyota Highlander on an ill-advised but totally awesome drive through the back country.

This year we headed for the Ghost Town of Hancock, near St Elmo in the collegiate peaks.

I don't have a quad ATV to ride, and I can't bring myself to pay $400 to rent one for a day, so I planned to hang out around camp, or go on a few short hikes.  DaveB who organizes these trips also said that we'd be camping on a really rough road, so I asked another friend DaveW if I could ride with him.

DaveW recently injured his shoulder and had to have reconstructive surgery.  I didn't know it, but he sold his ATVs and bought a Can-Am side by side UTV instead.  So it turned out I could ride with him on the various trails and excursions.

I met DaveW at his house around 4:30 in the morning.  We loaded the last of my things in his Mountaineer and head to meet up with everyone else.  This was the first time he'd had the UTV on his new trailer, hitched to the Mountaineer and loaded with gear.  It looked like a lazy V with a pronounced sag at the rear end of the truck.   Several people offered to offload some of our stuff, but DaveW thought he'd be fine so long as he kept it slow.

We had a prayer, then loaded up and headed out about 5:10 am.  The Mountaineer was a little squirly and you could feel the bounce over any large bumps, but soon enough Dave thought it would be OK.

We took I-25 South to highway 24 and turned West.  There's a beautiful canyon just West of Colorado Springs that leads up past Pike's Peak to the town of Woodland Park.  It was still pretty dark as we headed up the canyon, but there was no traffic and it was very peaceful, other than the lugging engine of the poor Mountaineer.

We drove through Woodland Park and on West through several other small towns.  We crossed over Wilkerson Pass and dropped down onto what I call the Buffalo Plains.  There are often small herds of buffalo in the fields that line highway 24.  I didn't see any this time.

We finally arrived in the town of Buena Vista at about 7:00 where we met up with the others at Jan's Restaurant.  It's a small café in the middle of town that is a tradition for the Mountain Man.  It's good basic breakfast fare.  I got a couple eggs over easy, hash browns, and bacon.  I was pretty hungry by the time the food came and it didn't take long to finish my plate off.

After breakfast we headed to the City Market for some last minute shopping.  I had realized about half way here that I'd left a whole bag of groceries in my refrigerator.  I guess waking up at 4:00 am isn't conducive to clear thinking.

I ran into the store to buy bacon, ice, and a few munchies to snack on.  Then DaveW and I drove over to a gas station to top off his tank.  I guess the Mountaineer was really sucking the gas with it's load.  While DaveW gassed up, I ran in to look for my favorite beef jerky, Old Trader.  I can't seem to find it in large cities, I only see it in gas stations in small towns.

When he finished gassing up we checked all the tiedowns on the UTV and drove back to the City Market.  No one was there.

So we headed for camp, even though neither of us was sure exactly where camp was, we figured we'd run into the others somewhere along the way.

We drove South along the highway to the town of Nathrop, then turned West toward the mountains.  This set of mountains is often referred as the Collegiate peaks because it has Mt Princeton and Mt Yale.  6 miles in toward the mountains, right at the base of Mt Princeton is a set of hot springs.  I've always wanted to visit these hot springs but never taken the time.  At least I got to see them.

As it turns out, I was so busy looking at the hot springs that I didn't notice the others in our group pulled off the road and waiting for us.  We blew right past them and kept going.

Another 12 miles into the mountains we arrived at the town of St Elmo.  We didn't see our group there (obviously), so we back tracked a bit and took the road south toward Hancock Ghost Town.  We had been on pavement until the hot springs, then well maintained dirt until St Elmo, and now the road began to narrow and to have a few wash boards and pot holes.  We had to pull over to squeeze past a few other vehicles now and then, but still not bad.  We also began to see allot of fall colors.

The Aspens were bright yellow with a few deep orange.  Some leaves were just beginning to fall, and the mountains around us had whole carpets of aspens in various shades of colors.  It was beautiful.

7 miles south of St Elmo we reached the remains of Hancock.  There are just a few foundations left from the original town.  The road kind of stopped here, but rough trails lead south and west.  We took the south road/trail over some rough rocks.

The road was very narrow and rocks 4 and 5 inches high were all over the place.  A few 8 and 10 inch rocks stuck up here and there causing Dave to drive very slow and careful.  We had gone about 2 miles from Hancock when the road got even worse.  I suggested that DaveW offload his UTV and take it to search for our group rather than driving the Mountaineer up that nasty stretch.

Dave headed up the trail and only a couple minutes later I heard cars coming up behind us.  It was our group.  It also turned out that we'd unloaded right in the middle of the turnoff to camp.  I pulled the mountaineer up a bit to let everyone pass.  DaveW came back shortly after that and we followed the rest up path to camp.

We camped about 300 yards off the "road" in a small grass field.  We didn't have many trees around us, but we had some fantastic views.  We all set about unloading gear and setting up tents.  Last year I slept in a big tent with 7 other guys in a massive tent brought by Andrew.  It was a huge tent with a wood stove which Andrew kept running all night.  It was the warmest cold weather camping I'd ever done.

This year I was in my big 12 man (really 5 man) tent.  I'd forgotten to bring a pad to put under me, or an extra blanket to put over me.  I never really got cold, but I felt chilly a few times.

Once camp was setup we headed back down the trail a few hundred yards to cut some wood.  We cut down 3 trees and chopped them up.  While the others were using the chainsaws, Blake came running down to tell us there were moose right by our camp, fighting.  I huffed and puffed back to camp, and sure enough, 3 big moose were in a mud wallow about 50 yards from camp.

By the time we got there they were no longer fighting and had begun to lay down in the mud.  DaveB hopped on his quad and said he'd go down and spook them so we could get better pictures.  I didn't think it was such a good idea to anger 1500 pounds of moose on a 300 pound vehicle, but down the road he went.

He didn't have to go far though and the moose all stood back up.  They didn't stick around long, and soon we were back down by the tree cutting and loading up the truck.

It was barely past noon and camp was almost set up.  We prepped our fire pit, setup the kitchen area, setup a canopy in case it rained, and generally started to relax.

After we were done, Troy decided to go for a hike.  The hill/mountain/ridge just to our East has several old mines visible well up the slope.  It was a few thousand feet high, but the mines were only half way up.  The rest of us sat around chatting or working on our own projects.

After 30 minutes someone noticed that Troy was well up the hillside.  I pulled out a small telescope and mounted it on my tripod.  We took turns watching Troy cross some green stretches and scree fields.  As we continued watching, Troy drew near to one of the mines, but instead of crossing over to it, he continued to climb.  there was another mine above the first, but he didn't approach that one either.  Eventually we realized that Troy intended to climb to the very top of the  ridge.

Now we took turns keeping an eye on Troy in case something went wrong, so we'd be able to find him.  As he climbed higher, the slope got steeper.  The whole hillside seemed to be one massive scree field.  But through the telescope the "scree" turned out to be half ton boulders that nearly dwarfed Troy and he had to scramble on all 4s to climb the last few hundred feet to the top.  It was very cool to see him at the top of the ridge.

We again watched through the telescope as Troy began his downward journey.  He seemed to take it much slower and more deliberate than his climb up.  The sun was close to setting by the time he reached camp and it was time for dinner.

DaveB made fried chicken for dinner and it was delicious.  He also made homemade ice cream for desert.

We sat around the fire eating dinner and enjoying the beautiful sunset around us.  With mountain ranges to the east and west of us we had a very long twilight and could watch the shadows slowly climb the east ridge.  Then once the sun truly set we sat watching satellites and falling stars.

Sitting around a camp fire is one of my favorite things in the world.  We told lots of stories and jokes.  We solved most of the world’s problems if only the leaders would have been there to hear us.

One by one we began to yawn and head for sleep.  I managed to stay up until 9:30 before left the radiant warmth of the camp fire and crawled into my cold sleeping bag.  I fell asleep within minutes.

4:30 am we met up to start the trip



Breadfast at Jan's



360 Photo at Jan's Restaurant

Having breakfast at Jan's restaurant in Buena Vista Colorado. September 2015 on our way to a 4 day "Mountain Man" camp out with friends. - Spherical Image - RICOH THETA

Driving into camp. The trees started out green



Then they began to turn yellow



Until they became almost a dark orange



The hills around us also started to show allot of color



We setup camp in a clearing with beautiful views.
We were just below tree line. OVer 11,500 feet


Our camp with some of the view around us



DaveW's view from his tent



Cutting fire wood



He cut down that tree with that battery powered chain saw



Moose visiting our camp







The ridge above our camp



Troy climbing but still near the bottom



Troy at the top of the ridge



Troys view of our camp from the top of the ridge



DaveB making homemade ice cream



DaveB making dinner



Sitting around the camp fire



Eating dinner around the campfire

Having fried chicken dinner around the camp fire high up in the mountains of Colorado. The sun hasn't set, but it's dropped behind the western ridge and dropped us into shadow. The temperature dropped very quickly once it did. - Spherical Image - RICOH THETA

A video I produced for day 1 of the campout - Youtube



Slideshow of all photos

Heading Home

Days 7 & 8 - Driggs Id to Vernal UT to Colorado Springs

OK, so I lied.  I did have the energy for a few more photos and a final blog.

Sunday morning in Driggs Idaho, we all got up, ate breakfast, and headed to the local LDS chapel for church at 9:00.  We took up a whole pew for the 8 of us.  I don't think we were the only visitors this morning because they hurriedly opened the cultural hall curtains and setup extra chairs for the stream of people coming in.

As we sat there waiting for the services to begin, I felt my nose running just a bit and felt a tiny tickle at the back of my throat.  I coughed a bit, then a minute later I felt it again but stronger.  Within a few minutes I was coughing and hacking so bad I had to run out to my bike for some tissues.  I blew my nose, drank some water and headed back in.

But as I walked in, I noticed the walls were covered with a rough burlap like covering.  I had developed an allergy to a building in Colorado Springs a few years ago and it had the same wall covering.  I stood out in the foyer coughing and blowing my nose every few minutes as the opening hymn was sung and the sacrament was passed.  Several people asked me if I was OK and said my eyes were puffing up and my nose was bright red.

I stuck it out till after the sacrament, then dashed outside.  I texted the others saying I was heading back to the hotel.  My doctor had given me some nasal antihistamine when we met in the other building, but I had none of it here.

I figured since I couldn't stay for church I might as well get on the road and do some meandering.  I made myself a sandwich from yesterday's lunch leftovers, filled my water cup and headed off.

As I rode, I stopped at every historical marker and scenic overlook on the road.  Not so say the other guys are a bit road happy, but they never would have stopped every 10 miles to read a sign, and I enjoy doing that sometimes.

I crossed the Teton pass back to Jackson Hole, then took the highway South towards Rock Springs.  Once I left the mountains there weren't many scenic views.  I stopped for gas just outside of Pinedale, then sat on a bench to eat my sandwich and chips.  It was a bit warm and I'd hoped to find a nice park to eat in, but this would have to do.

I gassed up again in Rock Springs, then headed south along the eastern side of Flaming Gorge.  There were some nice scenic overlooks again and I stopped at them all.

Off in the distance I began to see a puff of smoke, and as I drew nearer it turned from a puff to a full billowing cloud of smoke.  Someone had thrown a cigarette butt from a car and it had lit the grassland on fire.  When I passed, it was several acres in size.

I stopped at the Flaming Gorge damn visitor center to read a bit about it and enjoy some air conditioning.  The temperature was in the 90s, and this heat wimp was certainly hot.

I arrived in Vernal Utah at about 5:30, but because I'd piddled along so slow, the read arrived within an hour of me.  We all went to dinner together one last time (for us).  We tried picking out all of our favorite things.

Favorite day was riding around the black hills.

Favorite hotel was in Deadwood where we had a veranda and a picnic table we could sit around and chat.

Favorite meal was in New Castle Wyoming where they had tomato and bacon soup.

Favorite joke was when Drew miss-remembered a 20 year old trip that he swore he drove to the top of Devil's tower.  That turned into a running gag where we talked about driving to the top of Rushmore and every other thing you can imagine.  Poor Drew.

Favorite surprise was Little Bighorn Battleground.  It was much more impressive and powerful than we all thought it would be.

Favorite road was Iron Mountain road near Rushmore.

After the meal they helped me load my motorcycle up on my collapsible trailer.  Tomorrow I would drive both Nan and I home so she could rest and recuperate from our vacation.

We hugged and said our goodbyes, then Nan and I left.  We stayed the night with my cousin Holly and her family.  We stayed up way too late catching up on whose kids were doing what and looking at old pictures.  It was a fun evening.

The next morning   we ate breakfast with them, then got on the road just after 7:00.  I drove pretty slow on the way home so that I wouldn't over stress the highlander on those steep mountain passes on I-70.

As we approached Denver, we were reminiscing about the whole trip and all of the fun, then we got to talking about Buffalo Bill and remembered that he was buried not far from us.  We left the freeway and drove up Lookout Mountain to Buffalo Bill's grave site.  We paid to go in the museum, watched the movie, wandered around, then went up to the grave.

It was a little disappointing because the view is now dominated by a massive radio tower.  But at one point it must have been a majestic view.

Now we've gotten home, unloaded the bike and all our gear.  I'm about done with this blog and Nan is off washing the car and buying some groceries.

If I could do anything different, I'd probably stay 3 days in the Black Hills.  Do Rushmore, Crazy Horse, and some roads one day.  Badlands one day, Custer state park and re-ride my favorite roads the 3rd day.  Going to Yellowstone felt rushed and very tiring although we got to see Little Bighorn.  We just blasted through Yellowstone without stopping at a single scenic view.

The famous antler arch in Jackson Hole



I followed the Bing car around for a while, so I might be in street view pictures on Bing



Beautiful view in Utah



Flaming Gorge



Fire by Flaming Gorge



Here's where the fire started



The damn



The water side of the Damn



The Vernal Temple



My bike all loaded up to tow home

Yellowstone

Day 6 - Cody WY to Driggs ID

This is probably the last blog I'll write for this trip because once I start heading home, I don't carry the camera as much, and what's a trip report without pictures?

We wound up playing cards in the lobby of the hotel until nearly 11:00 last night.  It was allot of fun, but it left us all a bit tired this morning.  In fact, Nan decided not to ride with us, but to get an extra 90 minutes of sleep.

We all met up at 8:00 for the morning discussion and prayer, then we gassed the bikes and headed back the way we'd come into Code yesterday.  We rode over the same Chief Joseph Highway, but we didn't turn right and go over Beartooth pass.  We kept heading west to Cooke City Montana and the Silver Gate entrance to Yellowstone.

The ride was beautiful once again.  Big sweeping hairpin turns and beautiful views of the surrounding mountains.  I got a 360 video on the way down which I hope will turn out good so I can post it with this blog.  It's processing in the background while I type this blog.

As we turned onto the Chief Joseph highway I told everyone that I was going to meander the road at my own pace so I could take pictures and work the  Ricoh Theta camera without having to make the group pull over all the time.  I stopped for a few shots at various signs, then as I was about to go over the top of the pass and start down the switchbacks I turned on the Theta and began riding with a purpose.  I didn't really ride fast, but I was trying to give a good show for the camera.

It felt so good to sweep along those turns and zip down the straightaways.  I glanced around at the views and tried to keep an eye on when the camera would stop so I could restart it.  As I got to the bottom, I found I had caught up with the rest of the group.  I don't think I outsped them, I think they stopped to put on their warm weather gear.  It was about 58 degrees and they were probably freezing.  I just turned on the grip heaters and felt just fine.

Once I had the video I stopped again and put the 360 camera away.  I think I'm done with it for this trip.  I caught back up with the group and enjoyed the rest of the ride to Cooke City where we gassed up.  The gas station didn't have a bathroom, they just had porta poties, and they kept them locked.  We had to ask for a key, then pass it from person to person.  I told my standard joke about the little sink barely having enough water to dampen my hands and face but the ladies didn't think it was very funny.

We headed on toward Yellowstone but stopped for pictures at the sign by the park entrance, then rode into the park.

Within a mile or two of entering the park we saw our first buffalo.  It was right beside the road and traffic was slowing down to take pictures.  I'm more cool than that, so I rode into the oncoming lane and got a picture of our group of bikes with the buffalo beside them.

We saw allot of buffalo in the open plains beside the road.  In a couple of spots we saw herds of upwards of 100 buffalo.  They weren't packed tightly together, but were spread over 5 or 6 acres and seemed to be gently cropping the grass.  It was inspiring to see the herds.

When we reached the grand loop road we turned south.  There were more buffalo and we began to see evidence of the 1988 fire.  In some spots there were 8 foot tall trees interspersed with the dead and burned 30 foot tall trees.  I'm not sure if they came in and planted trees, but there was allot of growth coming back in.

We rode down to the Upper Falls to meet up with Nannette.  It was nearly noon, and we had decided to do a picnic for lunch rather than buying expensive park food.  Nan slept in, then went to Walmart to buy fixings for sandwiches, then she came in the West entrance and turned North to meet us.

I started calling on the CB and the cell phone trying to reach her, and after 10 minutes we heard her on the CB.  We tried to call her back but she probably had the squelch too high and couldn't hear us.  We spent another 10 minutes calling on the CB before I heard her say she was nearly at Canyon Village.  With a destination in mind, I headed back up the road a couple of miles and found her at the gas station.  Then we looked around and realized we were missing 2 bikes.  John and Ron had turned down into the Yellowstone Falls parking lot and were stuck trying to get through the crush of cars.

Once we got back together we stared down the road looking for a picnic area.  I saw a turnoff and just as I entered, John came over the radio saying "That's the road we just went down", but it was too late.  Everyone followed me back into the crush of cars trying to park and hike down to the falls.  It took 10 minutes to get through and just as we were leaving, we spotted picnic tables.  It turned out to be a campground so we found an empty spot and setup our lunch.

Nan had brought rolls, lunch meat, drinks, chips, and even a table cloth.  We had a great lunch in the shade of the forest.  It was cool and pleasant.

After lunch Rob packed up all of his stuff and wished us all luck, then headed towards Salt Lake.  Now we are down to 8 people and 4 bikes.

We headed south down the grand loop toward the lake.  We had one traffic backup with about 50 cars backed up.  We were moving just over walking pace.  Eventually we could see the road ahead of us and realized that the no cars in our direction were going down the road.  But we were moving, so where were the cars ahead of us going?  It took a while but eventually we spotted the problem.  A buffalo was walking down our lane and the cars were following it.  We all kept following the buffalo for another 10 minutes until it finally wandered off the road.

By this time I was tired and had "beautiful view" overload so I put the camera away and just concentrated on staying awake and in my lane.  We made the long run from Yellowstone down to Jackson Hole with those beautiful Grand Teton mountains running beside us.  I tried to take a few pictures but the light was so bad they didn't turn out.

Nannette left us in Jackson Hole and drove on to Driggs Idaho to have dinner with a highschool friend.  The rest of us parked in Jackson and walked over to get pizza.  It was good pizza but we ordered way too much.  I had to leave half of my calzone and several wings which is very hard for me.  I hate wasting money and leaving uneaten food is like wasting money to me.  But I also need to loose weight, so if I order too much, it's good, but very hard to just leave that food rather than forcing it down.

After dinner we walked around town a bit and stumbled across a "shoot out" in the town square.  A group of shops sponsor a little melodrama in the street with allot of shooting and shouting.  I was too far back and couldn't hear, so I wandered the little park instead.  Once it was over, we mounted back up and headed towards Driggs Idaho where our hotel is.  The road climbed up over the mountain on a beautiful road that was completely unexpected.


Starting the Chief Joseph Highway



Shoshone National Forrest



Beautiful views on in the valley on Chief Joseph Highway



More views



How we try to appear to the world



How we really are



Our first buffalo



Wide open plains in the park



Yellowstone



Remains of the 1988 fire. The far mountain is bare of trees



Our picnic lunch



The road through the trees exiting the forrest



My 360 video riding down the Chief Joseph Highway. **NOTE** I intentionally shot it slightly off center because there's a flaw on the center of the lense. Just click and drag the video over a bit to see it more centered, or to look around.

Beartooth Pass and Chief Joseph Highway

Day 5 - Laurel MT to Cody Wy

We ate breakfast at the hotel, then gathered for our morning fireside.  Each day, we gather and talk about the things we're going to see that day.  Everyone was assigned one place to speak about throughout the trip, then on the day we'll see that place, we do a short presentation about it.

Nan and I had Sturgis and Nan did it so I got to skip it all.

This morning we're just headed to Cody Wyoming, so Drew did a presentation on the city and on Buffalo Bill himself.  They are always interesting and do add to the day.

Once we were all ready, we headed West toward Red Lodge where we would gas up.

Along the way we spotted a cool looking robot sculpture along side the road.  We flipped around to get a picture and found a whole series of artistic sculptures.  We all posed in front of our favorite sculptures for pictures.  My favorite was Mater from the Disney movie Cars.  They took an old tow truck and painted eyes on the windshield and a face on the grill.

We gassed up in Red Lodge, then drove into the touristy shops in town.  We walked around the shops and bought a few trinkets.  Its a typical collection of bakery, antiques, t-shirts, and other nick nacks.  There was even a T-shirt store that you picked your pattern, then picked a shirt and color and he actually silk screened it right then and there.  Nan got a shirt for her dad that's a John Wayne quote - "Live is hard and it's even harder when you're stupid".

After 45 minutes of meandering we got back on the bikes and headed up toward Bear Tooth Pass.  We climbed right up between some massive peaks and grand vistas.  It was a very cool ride, both in view, and in temperature.  The temperature dropped rapidly from 75 degrees down.

We started a betting pool on guessing the temperature at the top of the pass with guesses everywhere from 49 degrees to 63.  And whoever guessed the temp got their lunch paid for.

We stopped at a few scenic overlooks before eventually reaching the top at 10,947 feet and the temperature on the official bike was 52 degrees which no one had guessed.  Most of us had put on heavy coats and heated gear, except for Nan and I.  Nan cause she was in the car, and me because it just wasn't that cold.  I just turned on the heated grips.

Once we crossed the pass and started descending it actually got colder because the wind was blowing.  It felt like the low 40s, but because we were going down it got warm quickly, otherwise I might have regretted not putting on warm clothes.

On the ride up we didn't see that many wide vistas, but on the way down, we were looking across the valleys at more mountains, and the views were truly majestic.

When we reached the bottom of the road, we turned left onto the Chief Joseph Highway.  It's another spectacular road tha would lead us over to Cody Wyoming.

At first we meandered across the floor of the valley and up some wide canyons, then we began a series of wide hairpin turns.  I call them hairpin because they turned a full 180 degrees, but they were so big and wide that it just felt like a high speed sweeping turns, where most hairpins you have to slow way down for, these you didn't.

We stopped at a few more scenic overlooks for pictures but didn't linger long because we were going to ride the Chief Joseph again tomorrow when we head into Yellowstone.

The final few miles into Code didn't take very long.  It's a little disappointing to think that with all of those beautiful valleys, rivers, trees, and mountains around, they chose to build Cody out on a desolate looking plateau.  But there are probably good reasons for that, they just aren't scenic reasons.

We all checked into rooms, then met back outside to grab lunch at the BBQ place across the parking lot.  There was allot more teasing and joking around the table while we ate.  This has been a very fun group of people to travel with.

After lunch we returned to rooms with unspecified plans.  There had been mention of a Motocross race, the Code Museum, a County Fair, and naps.  Surprisingly the naps didn't win a unanimous victory. 7 of us headed for the Cody museum.

Admission to the museum was $19 each.   Nan and I paid, as did Ron and Karen.  But John and Angela left and went to tour the city instead.  Drew (whose wife was napping) was told to go on in for free because it was about to close anyway.

Nan and I walked through the section on the Plains Indians, then the section about Buffalo Bill, and finally the section about antique guns.  We were there over 2 hours and by the end, my feet were killing me.  It was pretty good, but I won't ever go again.

Back at the hotel again, we were all wondering what to do.  Eventually Drew and Penny texted that they wanted to go to town.  Even though John and Angela had just been there, the mention of Frozen Yogurt got their attention, and Nannettes.  As I write this, they're off shopping and possibly bringing some back for me.

Posing with the robot



Me and Mater



Mater



Parked in downton Red Lodge



Starting up Beartooth Pass



Views off of the East climb up Beartooth Pass



Drew and Penny near the top of the pass



John and Angela near the top



My Goldwing on top of Beartooth Pass



Crossing the pass



Turning onto Chief Joseph Highway



Crossing the valley



Looking down off the top of Chief Joseph



Ron and Karen on top of Chief Joseph Highway



Me at the top of Chief Joseph. Nan just kept going to Cody



Another view off of Chief Joseph



Nan and I by a statue outside the museum



The front of the museum and a statue of Buffalo Bill



360 View off of Beartooth Pass