Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Montana BWPig*

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Amskeptic
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Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Montana BWPig*

Post by Amskeptic » Sat Sep 22, 2007 3:23 pm

*BWPig "Bandwidth Pig"

At the behest of Glasseye, a guy with a good photographic eye, I took his printed map and went forth into the mountainous wilds of our own country.
He said, "Go into the mountains or I will hate you forever and a pox on you besides." Such recommendations are not to be dismissed lightly.

I saw the mountains I was to conquer:
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But, I first spent an evening in Red Lodge at a red lodge. It rained cold rain. Next morning 7:30AM was colder still and drizzly but the sign said "road open" so I drove down the open road:
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The elevation was 6,100 feet at the lodge. It was closer to 8,000 feet here:
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Here I had enjoyed some serious switchbacks and could see my progress laid out below and below and below some more:
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Once above the tree line, the road opened up a bit as did the sky with some nasty little ice/rain/snow. This picture was taken after delicately disembarking from the vehicle in a lurid display of drunken staggering, "damn! it's like slippery or sumpin'."
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But the primordial newly released from the Ice Age look to the landscape was undeniably beautiful. Mosses and lichens and hardy little scrubby plants were wedded to the rocks. The ("scuttling" would be the self-conscious essayist's word) clouds were close enough ("to reach out only to find ephemeral vaporousness") to really feel chilly and damp (even with a real pair of pants and a real shirt and a real jacket, chitwnvw).
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Alas! What should I find on switchback #248, but a clot of tourists. "What are they so interested in? Looks like a typical SmokyBear sign turn-around. And like the many after me, I drove past only to see this:
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I slinked back to the clot, chastised. A fellow motorist deigned to lose some heat from his cozy interior as he cracked the window down, "road was closed fifteen minutes ago. I was the first one flagged to stop. They say it'll be closed all day." After a while a truck came from the other direction. Mr. Wyoming Ranger (that side of the gate was Wyoming) popped out of his Dodge and locked the road gate, "I almost lost it twice back there. We're closing the road until afternoon if then." A hard-charging Dodge Ram towing an enormous camper blasts past doing a kick-down downshift, whooooaaaaaaaa there is a stop sign and a gate right across the road! and yet another slinks back to the growing clot of indecisive travellers.

After my feet froze up good, I peg-legged the clutch and went back down the hill to Red Lodge and cut over to the valley floor and stared at the cloud-socked mountains I was just in and drove Montana 310 to Wyoming.
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
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Westy78
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Re: Itinerant Air-Cooled Greetings From Montana BWPig*

Post by Westy78 » Sat Sep 22, 2007 3:35 pm

Amskeptic wrote:The elevation was 6,100 feet at the lodge. It was closer to 8,000 feet here:
Image
That is worthy of framing. A beautiful shot. I think you may have some of that "eye" too. It's one of those shots that captures a moment. I can almost hear the crackling and pinging of cooling exhaust components.

Any way we can get the full resolution version of that picture?
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dingo
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Post by dingo » Sat Sep 22, 2007 5:11 pm

awesome country out there....which road were you on ?
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Post by glasseye » Sat Sep 22, 2007 8:28 pm

Yah, yah, Yah YAH, YAAAAAH! :cheers: He DIDDIT!

Those, my friends, are the Absarokas, and the road is Beartooth Pass. Looks like Colin hit it right at the end of the season. That road doesn't even open until late June and now it's closing up for the winter.

I've astounded myself several times along that piece of asphalt, one that Charles Kuralt called "The most beautiful highway in America." Given Kuralt's travels, it's tough to argue with.

It's a heck of a testament to these rolling antiques and Colin's adventurous spirit that they both made it to the top. =D>

Great images, Colin! I friggin' LOVE it! All's forgiven. :colors:
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Post by glasseye » Sat Sep 22, 2007 9:30 pm

Here are the switchbacks Colin photographed on the north end of the Beartooth Highway.


http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&g ... =addr&om=1
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Elwood
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Post by Elwood » Mon Sep 24, 2007 1:29 am

glasseye wrote:Here are the switchbacks Colin photographed on the north end of the Beartooth Highway.


http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&g ... =addr&om=1
I just knew that you would inspire our great one to travel into greater things :cheers: And look what happened? He not only found that he could take pictures to share but also wrote about it with eloquence as expected. Uncle Charles, that I miss more than my words on the internet can relay, was right about that area, is usually unexplainable, but Colin did a fair job.

Really glad you got to meet him glasseye and thanks for sharring.

B/E
'69 weekender ~ Elwood

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Post by hambone » Mon Sep 24, 2007 5:42 pm

The first 2 are National Geo quality. Good stuff man.
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spiffy
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Post by spiffy » Tue Sep 25, 2007 7:34 am

Montana is one of those places where everything has a majesty to it, I have never ben to Alaska but I am sure it would have the same qualities.

Driving through it in the summer with a fully loaded camper criss crossing the continental divide is a pucker fest unlike any I've dealt with before...
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