Follow Along our Travels!

Crazy Mountains, Beartooth Highway, Yellowstone National Park, Grand Tetons National Park and the Wind River Range

A summer roadtrip through Montana and Wyoming again? Yup. It is interesting because there are so many places left in this country to explore and we have plans to go to many new places (including later this summer and year), yet there are some places we come back to again and again. The wilds of Montana and Wyoming are one of them for us. The rugged beauty, isolation and vast landscapes still stun no matter how many times we’ve been. And while this is our 4th trip in this area, we still have yet to touch all of the ranges, towns and valleys that we want to see.

On this go around, we were mostly focused on hiking in new areas which took us to some tiny towns (my favorite kind), the Crazy Mountains, the Wind River Range and back to Yellowstone NP and Tetons NP for some bucket list hiking we missed on our last trips out there. We logged around 10 miles per day for 5 days in a row but treated ourselves to motels, AirBnBs and lodges instead of a camper van and tent.

Fair warning, this trip was in the summer which can be a beast with tourist and traffic, but we stuck (mostly) to lesser known towns/ranges, so we didn’t have to deal with it. On the days we did the National Parks, we started (real) early and that helped.

Even though it was summer (mid-June), there was still a ton of snow at the higher elevation hikes. Technically this is still early hiking season for this area so many of the hikes were not easily accessible due to snow, mud, or downed trees. In the itinerary, we have a lot of options listed and I highlighted to ones we ended up doing. What I found very useful was looking up recent AllTrails reports to see if anyone had done the trail recently and what the conditions were. This and trial and error (especially in the Beartooth Mountain area) is how we got to the trails we did!

Highlights from Hiking This Area of Montana/Wyoming:

• Crazy Mountains – Specifically the hike we did here. It was probably my highlight of all the hikes we did. If you’ve seen the show Yellowstone, you can guess where the inspiration for this trip started so it was great to actually be in this range. This hike took us along a creek to a beautiful lake in an amphitheater of other mountains. It was picturesque and remote. It is also at the end of a 14 mile dirt road so be prepared for that (and more on that later in the tips section).
• Red Lodge – This is such a cute little town right on a creek. It is right before (or after depending on which way you go) Beartooth Highway. It has some great restaurants, independent retail shops and galleries. We enjoyed the afternoon/evening walking around and perusing the shops. The hotel we stayed at there was very cute too!
• Our tiny home accommodations in Cooke City. THIS place was a highlight for many reasons. It was the cutest little space, well appointed with modern amenities. And it was right on the river. It was a perfect way to end a long day. Note that there is no cell service in this whole town which can be a benefit to some (me!) but also a drawback if you need to catch up on anything. Another benefit to this place is that staying in Cooke City makes the drive into Lamar Valley a tiny bit shorter at sunrise.
• Beartooth Highway: We’ve actually driven most of this on a previous trip but it was so iconic that we felt we had to do it again! This highway showcases the sheer number of mountains and ranges that make this area so memorable. At the top, you look around and see peaks for miles. It is a stunning road trip drive. We stopped and hiked to break up the drive, but even if you don’t, it is worth doing. Also in June there was still a ski lift running! The people dropping in had to be nuts (IMO) but pretty fun to see skiing at the beginning of summer.
• Sunrise hike in Lamar Valley. Absolutely worth getting up at the crack of dawn (actually before) to do. This is a must do trail if you are into seeing wildlife on their terms. We saw multiple herds of buffalo (and a lone male wandering) up close and personal. We saw 3 grizzly bears (luckily not up close but around 300 yards away) and a wolf! Yes, the whole point in doing this trail was to hopefully see a wolf and we saw one in the distance.
  • Funny story about this (well in hindsight): I found the wolf when I was scanning the landscape. We got the binoculars out since it was very far away. I noticed it was just staying in one place and it looked like it was staring at us. After commenting on this, I turned around and saw the crown of a grizzly bear up on a hill maybe 100 yards away from us — staring right at the wolf. This definitely kicked up the heartrate as we realized we were directly in the path between the two. We carefully and slowly backed away and once we were about a half mile away, I think I finally exhaled. Pretty cool experience but also terrifying.
• The Bear Den restaurant in Daniel, WY. One of the reasons I love staying in VRBO/AirBnB is the personal recommendations of the host. The house we stayed in was in the middle of nowhere outside of Pinedale. Rather than drive all the way into town, she recommended the local spot called The Bear Den so we decided to check it out. It turned out to be a delicious steakhouse where most people who walked in were greeted by everyone else — a true local gem. I highly recommend if you are in this area!

Tips about This Itinerary and Trip:

• Tip 1: A good car! Several of these hikes were at the end of dirt roads of various lengths. We ended up with not one but TWO popped tires because of this. (I’d like to point out that in all of our adventures off roading we’ve never even had one popped tire so this was an odd anomaly — almost funny until you are driving out on a tiny donut hoping you don’t pop that too!). The tip here is to spring for the full SUV and make sure you have a full spare tire (instead of a tiny donut).
• Tip 2: Do your research on all hikes! After years of hearing about it, we finally did the hike to Delta Lake at Grand Teton National Park. The view at the end of this hike is absolutely stunning and worth it — as long as you know what you are getting into. Most of the hike is a traditional trail through forest and then switchbacks on the side of the mountain. The end of the hike is a straight up scramble up a dusty dirt trail or on rocks. Make sure if you go, you have sturdy footwear and absolutely bring trekking poles because while going up is sketchy, going down is actually kind of scary. I saw many people sliding on their bottoms because they couldn’t get good footing. This trail is technically considered backcountry (i.e. not maintained by the park service) so just be prepared going into it. Thankfully I had read a comment to bring poles so we had them with us.
  • But this tip applies to all the hikes on this list. We had to audible on a lot of hikes we had planned because recent AllTrails comments made it clear what was possible/not. Also having an app like Gaia GPS is useful as it has recent satellite data so you can check snow coverage.
• Tip 3: Bear Spray and Be Bear Aware! The spray is a must if you do even part of this itinerary. On nearly all of the hikes we did, we were alone and in remote areas — in grizzly territory. Make all the noise while hiking (a loud “Hey Bear!” every few minutes does the trick or singing like I do) and have your spray ready. We actually saw many bears on this trip and I’m grateful that I am educated on how to approach this reality. Also, if you don’t want to buy bear spray (because you cannot fly home with it), you can rent spray in some towns and at some hotels/accommodations.