Beartooths Day 1: Friday Nite

Got out of work at 400
Raced home to pack and get ready for nights of camping and fun outside of Red Lodge, MT at the foot of the Beartooth Mountains. It is an annual Bozeman Ski Bum Rite of Spring to go attend the Beartooth Highway Opening Weekend every Memorial Day. Centered on Rock Creek Campground, hundreds of avid skiers and snowboarders congregate to access the sidecountry off the highway which remains closed all winter. I would say the focus is on celebrating spring with ancient Bacchanalian rituals involving consuming spirits and dancing into the wee hours rather more than the actual skiing part.

I was packed and on the road to pick up Stephanie at around 6 pm I think. I picked her up and we hit the road a little before 7pm. The little Toyota was loaded with snowboards, road bikes, camping gear, cooler, etc. The drive to Red Lodge is nice, about an hour on I 90 and then a beautiful drive through the foothills of the Absaroka Mtns all the way to Red Lodge.

We didn't pack any food figuring we would stock up at the grocery store in Red Lodge. We got to town around 930pm and found out the one grocery store, and most of the convenience stores were already closed! The only option left was one gas station store where we spent way too much on way too little and then headed up to find our buddies up Rock Creek somewhere.

It was dark driving up the dirt road, and I vaguely remembered where I was going from years before. A few miles up Rock Creek I saw a white Toyota truck looming out of the darkness, Meng's rig! We found them! A bunch of my friends had gone down Thursday and Friday and already secured a sweet camp spot. We pulled in and found the festivities in full swing with roaring fire, plenty of chairs, and tents arrayed about in the woods. Rock Creek was rushing in the background, and we hurried to set up the tent and get to relaxing.

Paul was cooking some concoction in his Dutch Oven, and there were various meats being roasted on the fire. Music was jamming from someone's car and everyone was having a great time, glad to be out in the woods away from it all.



The merriment continued, and Steph and I retired for the night, exhausted from a hectic week. We were going to be on vacation for the whole next week as well and had to make sure all our work stuff was squared away for our absence.



I fell asleep to the sound of the creek full with snowmelt rushing in the woods.....