Beartooth Highway Pass

The Beartooth mountains are some of the tallest in the Rocky Mountain range in the United States. In that mountain range, the Beartooth Highway Pass goes through to Yellowstone National Park. This pass opens only from May until the middle of October. So we decided to go to Yellowstone National Park using this pass before the pass closes.
アメリカ国内のロッキー山脈の中で一番高い山がBeartooth mountainだそうで、その山の中をBeartooth Highway Pass と言う道路が山頂を通りYellowstone National Parkまで続いています。この道路は５月から１０月中旬までの約５か月間しか通ることができず、閉鎖になる前にと思いこのパスを通りYellowstone National Park まで行ってきました。

From Billings, we drove to the town of Red Lodge which is about 50 miles (1 hour) away, and the Beartooth Highway begins from this town. The beginning of the pass starts from the valley floor and then goes up gradually. During driving, the view is so panoramic. But some parts of this pass are narrow and also looks dangerous because of falling rocks. Also there are several hairpin bends.
Billings からロッキー山脈の麓町　Red lodgeまで約５０マイル（１時間）そこからそのBeartooth Highwayに入って行きます。このパスは渓谷を走る所から始まり，次第に上へとのぼって行きます。走行中に見る景色は壮大ですが、かなり狭く岩が落ちてきそうで恐い所もあり、それでも上へ上へと続いて行きます。




The first stop is Vista Point observatory, at an elevation of 9190 feet.
最初に着いた所は"Vista Point",　標高９１９０Feet の展望台です。
As you see, the mountains around here are almost the same height.
ご覧の通り、回りの山々とあまり変わらない高さにこの展望台はあり、絶景です。


We kept going up from Vista Point. This photo is the parking lot of vista point from the highway on the way to the top of the pass.
この"Vista Point"から道路はまだ上へと続きこれはその途中で撮った展望台の駐車場。こんなに登って来てしまいました。

Finally we arrived at the top of the Pass. It was 2 and a half hours after we left our apartment.
ついにハイウエ−の最高地点に到着、家を出てから約２時間半。頂上付近から見る景色。

This is the Rocky Mountain range on the opposite side. The top of the Beartooth mountains is about 12,000 feet, and the top of this highway pass is at an elevation of 10972 feet (3344 m). So the top of this highway is almost the same as the 9th station (3500 m) of Mt. Fuji. From here we drove down to Cooke City.
山頂付近から見た反対側のロッキーの山々。Beartooth mountainsの最高峰は１２０００ftで、このハイウエーの最高地点は１０９７２ ft（３３４４m）だそうです。という事は富士山の９合目（３５００m）に近い高さになります。今度はここから反対側のCooke Cityまで降りて行きます。

This side of the road has a more gentle slope and snakes downward to the valley. We took 2 and a half hours for 60 miles of Beartooth Highway. The road condition was not so bad, however of course we could not drive faster. After all, this adventurous driving was so much fun even though it took us 2 and a half hours.
山頂から反対側はなだらかな斜面を蛇行した道路が続き、幾つかの大きな湖を見ながら下って行きます。このパス６０マイル全行程にかかった時間は約２時間半。舗装道路で道路状況も良いのですが、当然高速で運転する事はできず、まあ景色を見ながらの２時間半はそう長くは感じませんでした。