The Tiny Road From Red Lodge. Rock Creek Canyon Down-Stream. View North
“a little path that takes us out to the edge of a cliff. “
Roadside Rest Area, Beartooth Pass Highway, MT. The views are indeed ‘breathtaking”! When I am at the edge of a high precipice, as happened here, I feel as if I am being drawn out of balance over the edge! So I hang tightly to the very solid secure railing, and just wait calmly as I can, until the queasy sensation gradually goes away. Where the road disappears in the distance, you see two humps. The nearer hump is, WayPt = 130w, where this U-shaped valley was first seen. .. The exposed rocks are part of the Narrator's “cliff“ The rocks are part of a major rock promontory that owes its existence to a side stream, Wyoming Creek, from the East (see previous photo). This stream cut its deep chasm (perpendicular) to the main N-S canyon of Rock Creek seen here. This cliff is formed by the projecting corner of the intersection of these two canyons. (These two respective “canyon cuts” will be seen more clearly in the 5th photo next or click on the WayPt below for a topo map.) Originally, this rock promontory no doubt was chosen to be a service & storage area during the original highway construction, because it was wide and already somewhat level. The parking lot here was probably originally leveled for a work-area plus a much needed place along these steep slopes to “park” construction machinery, temporary work buildings, dormitories, and materials. On these steep rockslide prone slopes, such needed places are hard to come by! The next photo shows more of these rocks to the left.
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(Photo = 106-0616 ...... ZMM Page = 110...... WayPt = 135m )