Experience Cody WY to West Yellowstone MT

[scottf200]

I'm looking to travel (X 100D) this summer out West and go through Yellowstone National Park. I was wondering if others have taken this section and if they have taken my similar route (multiple ways thru).

Google maps and tools that use them (i.e. MyScenicDrive) do NOT route nicely because of the winter closures. I've found the Rand McNalley site (Rand McNally Driving Directions and Maps), EVTripPlanner, and ABetterRoutePlanner to be useful.

I'm planning on charging in a campground in Cody, WY (dot 1). Heading up to Cooke City (dot 2) for part of the Beartooth road. Then over to Mammoth (dot 3), down to Old Faithful (south most dot 4), and end up at the West Yellowstone (ending flag dot)

 

[PLUS EV]

The best part of the Beartooth Highway is between Red Lodge and Cooke City, not west of Cooke City. So I would strongly consider changing your route. The Red Lodge Chamber of Commerce (or something similar) has multiple HPWCs that are pretty fast. There are restaurants within walking distance and it's more or less an old West tourist town, so not a bad place to hang out for a couple hours.

A couple years ago, I drove from the Billings supercharger, topped off at those HPWCs in Red Lodge, then drove to Cooke City and through to West Yellowstone and on to the Idaho Falls supercharger. Around Cooke City, I got a warning message that the West Yellowstone supercharger was out of service, so that was an unpleasant surprise. For this reason I took the most direct route possible through the park (bypassed Mammoth and Old Faithful).

This was not a huge deal as I had been to Yellowstone quite a few times and there was only so much daylight left anyway, but it would have been super annoying had I been travelling with other people. The supercharger was indeed not functioning. I met a guy there who said he plugged in and the entire parking lot went dark and all the electricity stopped working lol. There are many hotels in West Yellowstone with HPWCs so I could have stayed the night there, but I ended up having just enough juice to drive slow and make it to Idaho Falls with about 2 rated miles to spare. This was in a degraded S90D with about 280 rated miles on a full charge. Looking back the trip was 305 miles in between charges with a 900 ft drop in elevation, so it took some real hypermiling to make it. As it turns out, I was lucky that my food service was slow in Red Lodge and I ended up charging to near 100% when I was planning on leaving at 90% or so.

 

[Tdreamer]

I'm considering something along these lines myself, but it seems unlikely the road will be open mid-May when I'll be going through. I did the Beartooth Highway in an ICE a few years ago on July 4th and it was a beautiful drive.

 

[scottf200]

I'm considering something along these lines myself, but it seems unlikely the road will be open mid-May when I'll be going through. I did the Beartooth Highway in an ICE a few years ago on July 4th and it was a beautiful drive.

Memorial Day Weekend each Year [Monday, May 27, 2019]
The entire Beartooth Highway is generally open seasonally from the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend to mid-October depending on snowfall. To check road conditions and opening and closing dates travelers should call the Red Lodge Chamber of Commerce at (406) 446-1718.

First Weekend in May each Year
National Park road plowing crews arrive in Cooke City, Montana during the first weekend in May each year to being annual plowing of the Beartooth Highway from Cooke City, through the Wyoming section of highway, to the Wyoming/Montana border. Yellowstone Park’s northeast entrance, via the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway ( Wyoming Highway 296 ) is usually open to hearty visitors during or just after this first May weekend.

To check road conditions call the Cooke City Chamber of Commerce at (406) 838-2495.

Planning A Beartooth Highway Visit | Beartooth Highway | Montana & Wyoming Scenic Drives

 

[scottf200]

The best part of the Beartooth Highway is between Red Lodge and Cooke City, not west of Cooke City. So I would strongly consider changing your route. The Red Lodge Chamber of Commerce (or something similar) has multiple HPWCs that are pretty fast. There are restaurants within walking distance and it's more or less an old West tourist town, so not a bad place to hang out for a couple hours.

Thank you for that encouragement. I changed my plans because of it!!

I wonder how long the West Yellowstone supercharger were actually out of service. Something like that happened to me in Asheville, NC where the superchargers were next to a mall and I was staying at a Bed and Breakfast in Franklin IIRC. We ended up going out to dinner and that area of the grid and the superchargers were fixed (rerouting of the grid) in a few hours.

 

[PLUS EV]

Thank you for that encouragement. I changed my plans because of it!!

I wonder how long the West Yellowstone supercharger were actually out of service. Something like that happened to me in Asheville, NC where the superchargers were next to a mall and I was staying at a Bed and Breakfast in Franklin IIRC. We ended up going out to dinner and that area of the grid and the superchargers were fixed (rerouting of the grid) in a few hours.

If you're interested, you can read the thread here where I posted about it being down:

Supercharger - West Yellowstone, MT

IIRC it was out of service for 2-3 weeks.

 

[scottf200]

I'm considering something along these lines myself, but it seems unlikely the road will be open mid-May when I'll be going through. I did the Beartooth Highway in an ICE a few years ago on July 4th and it was a beautiful drive.

2019 Yellowstone National Park Opening and Closing Dates

2019 Summer Schedule
Here is the tentative 2019 summer schedule, with the following roads opening at 8 a.m. on these dates:

• April 19: West Entrance to Madison Junction, Mammoth Hot Springs to Old Faithful, Norris to Canyon Village.
• May 3: East Entrance to Lake Village (Sylvan Pass), Canyon Village to Lake Village.
• May 10: South Entrance to West Thumb, Lake Village to West Thumb, West Thumb to Old Faithful (Craig Pass), Tower Junction to Tower Fall.
• May 24: Tower Fall to Canyon Village (Dunraven Pass), Beartooth Highway

<snip>

 

[PLUS EV]

I'd be sure to check on the status of the Beartooth Highway separately as most of it isn't actually in the national park and much of it is at very high elevations, so high that it could snow just about any time of year, especially that part around the MT/WY border.

The snow any time of year goes for the national park too. Just because the road may open in spring does not mean that you don't need to follow the weather reports. And those opening dates could also change based on the weather.

As an example, it appears they try to open the full Beartooth Highway by Memorial Day weekend each year, but last year they were unable to get it open until a week after:

Full Beartooth Highway to Open Next Week, Not Memorial Day Weekend

 

[scottf200]

I'd be sure to check on the status of the Beartooth Highway separately as most of it isn't actually in the national park and much of it is at very high elevations, so high that it could snow just about any time of year, especially that part around the MT/WY border.
The snow any time of year goes for the national park too. Just because the road may open in spring does not mean that you don't need to follow the weather reports. And those opening dates could also change based on the weather.
As an example, it appears they try to open the full Beartooth Highway by Memorial Day weekend each year, but last year they were unable to get it open until a week after:
Full Beartooth Highway to Open Next Week, Not Memorial Day Weekend

For sure a good reminder. In the #4 post above I even included this from the URL page I listed:

"To check road conditions call the Cooke City Chamber of Commerce at (406) 838-2495."

 

[scottf200]

FYI,
WY DOT has a website (US212): https://www.wyoroad.info/pls/Browse/WRR.RoutesResults?SelectedRoute=US212
and phone apps: Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/...bile.android&rdid=info.wyoroad.mobile.android

Currently:

MT DOT phone apps: Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=gov.mt.mdt

 

[PLUS EV]

They were getting heavy snow in those parts as recently as a few days ago, so I would anticipate a late opening this year.

 

[scottf200]

They were getting heavy snow in those parts as recently as a few days ago, so I would anticipate a late opening this year.

It has been open already. It was closed because of snow recently but will be open again in the next day or so.

 

[scottf200]

Beartooth highway is open again. Here is similar graphic to above showing that:

From the WY DOT app I pointed about above this what it looks like *after* pressing the refresh circle in the app (hint).

 

[PLUS EV]

That box highlights the amazing part of that drive. Well, also the really twisty part just above the Wyoming border in Montana.

 

[scottf200]

That box highlights the amazing part of that drive. Well, also the really twisty part just above the Wyoming border in Montana.

Indeed. From a FB post to family a while back:

This picture is the little white box in above map. It was from google earth.

 

[PLUS EV]

So I just drove up the Beartooth again yesterday, partially inspired by this thread and partially inspired by the fact that I've driven I-90 far too many times.

I did the same thing I did back in mid-July 2017. Charged to 90% at the Billings supercharger, stayed the night at a nearby hotel, then drove up to Red Lodge where I topped off at the 72 amp HPWC while I had lunch. There are 2 HPWCs and there was another friendly Tesla owner plugged into the other one. His car apparently didn't have the dual on-board chargers and he was only drawing 40 amps, so beware of that limitation. At 72 amps, I was charging at a rate of 57 rated miles per hour. There are also two "high power" Clipper Creek L2 chargers in the same parking lot, so you shouldn't have any issue finding one of the 4 chargers available.

One of the reasons I went on this drive is that the weather reports looked decent. There were thunderstorms in the area but only something like a 25% chance of rain in the worst parts and Red Lodge was even warm ish as I left town. Well the weather deteriorated rapidly as I climbed above 9k ft. I experienced lots of hail, some drizzle and probably even some snowflakes mixed in. The lowest temp I saw was 39F near the top of the pass, but most of the drive above 9k ft was in the low 40s. This was in the afternoon. So obviously the pavement was wet and even a little icy with hail at times. The snow banks were still significant enough along the sides of the road that I'm under the impression that the pavement would have been wet from snowmelt even on a sunny day.

By the time I got into Yellowstone, the temps there had cooled off to around 50F. The rangers said they had gotten some unexpected hail and thunder earlier in the afternoon as well.

All in all, it was still a great drive, but it was nothing like I remember from my mid-July 2017 drive. With grey skies and snowbanks along the sides of the road, the vistas were not nearly as impressive and of course the drive was a little more stressful. On the 2017 trip, there were still some patches of snow but nothing that would obstruct your view and it was sunny and blue skies with temps in the 60s on top of the pass.

I'm not sure how much of this difference is caused by going one month earlier this year and how much of it might be caused by this winter having more snow pack than the one in 2017, but I would definitely recommend going later in the season if at all possible. The July 2017 drive had the look of an idyllic alpine spring (they basically don't get summer up there), while this one felt more like we were still coping with winter. Some of the rivers and lakes at around 9k ft of elevation on the Wyoming side of the pass were still frozen or partially frozen. Whatever small lakes exist above 9k ft (I do remember some from my 2017 trip) were indiscernible from the remaining snow cover, so they were obviously frozen over or perhaps didn't even have any liquid water in them at all. I also saw much more wildlife on the July 2017 drive. Yesterday I barely saw anything until I got all the way down to Yellowstone NP. Perhaps many of the animals had taken cover with the all the hail and rain.

 

[atwerk]

I stayed in Cody this week - charged at the Buffalo Bill Center for the West. Two chargers on one pole - they required a Credit Card and one of them was blinking as "Cash Only" which I can ensure you is not an option so effectively there was only one public charger. I was able to charge my Model 3 LR overnight but if someone else had been there I'm sure I would have had to go to KOA and get an RV hookup which I wasn't looking forward to sorting out. I'm interested to learn more about your logistics for hooking up at RV places. Do you call ahead? Buy a spot?

My trip from Cody was to spend a night at the Old Faithful Lodge and then take the Beartooth pass to Billings. This did not go as planned.

ABRP has the Lodges around Old Faithful as having a few chargers available. However the ones on the back of the Snow Lodge buildings are Bring your Own Wall charger. They are just dryer outlets - I think 240/32amp and I did NOT have the right attachment for my mobile adapter. There are also TWO 32 amp chargers down by cabins (past the Bus "only" road/parking). These are right next to a bathroom shared by the cabins and one of the chargers is technically aligned with a handicap spot.

Needless to say the charger situation at Yellowstone is very frustrating. They are not convenient, poorly marked, and SLOW charging. Plan accordingly. I was staying in the main lodge and this charging spot was probably near a mile away. Also there is no cellphone service in the area (or at least poor data connections) which means monitoring the car (or calling SOs to pick you up) is not dependable. With the amount of people and traffic in the area the entire experience was awful.

The next day we attempted to go from Old Faithful lodge to Red Lodge (Friday the 21st of June) but the pass to Tower Falls ended up being closed likely due to snow that we had Thursday (there was a blizzard on June 20th!). We had to back track then just went up to I90/94 through mammoth. Probably for the best as the elevation climb and 30* weather was already giving me range anxiety.

 

[PLUS EV]

I stayed in Cody this week - charged at the Buffalo Bill Center for the West. Two chargers on one pole - they required a Credit Card and one of them was blinking as "Cash Only" which I can ensure you is not an option so effectively there was only one public charger. I was able to charge my Model 3 LR overnight but if someone else had been there I'm sure I would have had to go to KOA and get an RV hookup which I wasn't looking forward to sorting out. I'm interested to learn more about your logistics for hooking up at RV places. Do you call ahead? Buy a spot?

My trip from Cody was to spend a night at the Old Faithful Lodge and then take the Beartooth pass to Billings. This did not go as planned.

ABRP has the Lodges around Old Faithful as having a few chargers available. However the ones on the back of the Snow Lodge buildings are Bring your Own Wall charger. They are just dryer outlets - I think 240/32amp and I did NOT have the right attachment for my mobile adapter. There are also TWO 32 amp chargers down by cabins (past the Bus "only" road/parking). These are right next to a bathroom shared by the cabins and one of the chargers is technically aligned with a handicap spot.

Needless to say the charger situation at Yellowstone is very frustrating. They are not convenient, poorly marked, and SLOW charging. Plan accordingly. I was staying in the main lodge and this charging spot was probably near a mile away. Also there is no cellphone service in the area (or at least poor data connections) which means monitoring the car (or calling SOs to pick you up) is not dependable. With the amount of people and traffic in the area the entire experience was awful.

The next day we attempted to go from Old Faithful lodge to Red Lodge (Friday the 21st of June) but the pass to Tower Falls ended up being closed likely due to snow that we had Thursday (there was a blizzard on June 20th!). We had to back track then just went up to I90/94 through mammoth. Probably for the best as the elevation climb and 30* weather was already giving me range anxiety.

Sorry your trip didn't go well, but that road can be closed due to snow any time of year, and you'd rather have it be closed than get stuck up there in the middle of a blizzard.

Also, I'm often surprised to hear many people (no offense but usually people that are not from the western states) complain about lack of cell service in extremely low population, mountainous areas of the West. This is the rule, not the exception, so you should have been prepared for that.

Also, you should always bring your UMC and all adapters when traveling. They are very easy to stow in the trunk or frunk. And in a case like this where you are planning a tricky route off the "supercharger highway," you should read comments on Plugshare and call ahead and inquire about the L2 chargers that you plan to use.

 

[DavidB]

…Also, I'm often surprised to hear many people (no offense but usually people that are not from the western states) complain about lack of cell service in extremely low population, mountainous areas of the West.…

None taken. There are areas of the east, such as Maine, where about half of the state is without AT&T cell phone service. Having a phone with a different company's cell phone service helps, but there will still be large swaths with no service. Always be prepared.

 

[mociaf9]

I'm interested to learn more about your logistics for hooking up at RV places. Do you call ahead? Buy a spot?

RV parks or campgrounds that offer electrical hook-ups, have what they call either 30 amp or 50 amp service. Or both. The 50A is a NEMA 14-50 receptacle giving 240V/50A (effectively between about 8-9.5 kW when charging) and something that basically all Tesla owners have a UMC adapter for as, until very recently, all Teslas came with one when you bought the car. The 30A is a NEMA TT-30 receptacle giving 120V/30A (effectively between 2.5-3 kW when charging). That's one that very few Tesla owners have a UMC adapter for as Tesla doesn't even sell one. But they are available through third party retailers. Also, as a last resort, many/most locations that offer electric hook-up will also have the normal 120V/15A (effectively ~1.4 kW when charging) wall outlets that all owners should also have an adapter for.

To find information on sites in an area, you can check out RVparky.com to see what amenities are offered (i.e. what type of electrical outlets they have) and reviews with people's experience. Obviously, that site is geared towards RV usage, so much of the info won't be directly applicable to EVs. And Plugshare.com to see if others have used it for EV charging and reported on the matter and their experience. I don't see how calling ahead to determine availability and options can ever hurt. Whether you'll have to fully buy/reserve a spot, just show up and pay a nominal fee, or be allowed to charge for free will obviously all be up to the owners/operators of the specific location and might be dependent on the season and how busy/full they are. So, don't just assume that the 3 year old check-in/comment on Plugshare is still valid or will apply to you when you want to visit.