M&T Alpine-Tales: Continuing on to Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

We left Glacier on Sunday, traveling 243 miles to Butte for the night. The scenery was spectacular. We drove south along Route 83, the dotted scenic road on the map that followed the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. This area of Montana is a vast, open expanse, surrounded by mountains, dotted with lakes, interlaced with rivers, blanketed with trees. And the sky overhead is big and blue.
Harvested fields resembled golden carpets, many with rolls of hay bales ready for the coming winter.
Many homes and cabins are constructed with logs. They suit the landscape. Their steep metal roofs are a clue to the snowy winters.

Fishing is obviously a popular pastime. Along our route many signs marked fishing access roads:

fishing access road

Swan Lake

We passed Swan Lake and recalled that in the late 90's we spent several days there with our girls, guests of our neighbor across the street from us. It was beautiful then as it was today.
Shortly after Salmon Lake, the road connected with Route 200 then Route 141 until we reached I-90 which took us into Butte. The scenery continued to mesmerize, the spaces wide open. The horseback riders we saw along the way were a perfect adornment to the wide open prairie.

A quick stop to fuel up, and we pulled into the KOA and set up for the night.

The next morning we were off in a timely manner for our journey to Colter Bay Campground in Grand Teton, Wyoming. It was a long trip covering just 251 miles, but they were mostly slow, particularly the section through Yellowstone NP with 35 and 45 MPH speed limits.

Our trip took us through more riveting scenery in the Rocky Mountains. We climbed up to higher elevations, crested at the Continental Divide at 6,393 feet beyond Butte, descended into a valley at the mandated speed of 25 MPH for trucks, then crested again, eventually crossing the Continental Divide three times.
Probably the prettiest section of the drive today was along a 90-mile stretch along a gap in the mountains that followed the Gallatin River. And then the next stretch that took us through Yellowstone National Park until we reached Colter Bay on Jackson Lake in Grand Teton National Park.

cresting the Continental Divide outside Butte, Montana

wide open prairie lands, perfect for grazing

approaching the gap in the Madison Range along Rt 191

the road follows the Gallatin River as it winds through the ranges of mountains

small communities along the river advertised raft tours and I spotted one
group on the river

the fast-flowing Gallatin River

still more peaks in the distance along Rt 191

Entering Yellowstone we noticed haze and then smoke plumes in the hills. There are fires currently burning here too. Nature is downsizing and cleaning house it seems. The fires were far enough away and the scenery was still pretty.
Here are a few more photos of scenes as we drove through Yellowstone.