The stunning vistas of Montana and Wyoming

Outside the van, we were surrounded by seriously stunning America. On this day, we were climbing the curvaceous Beartooth Highway, "the most beautiful drive in America," a 64-mile stretch of determined engineering through the mountains of Montana and Wyoming, heading toward Yellowstone National Park.
If you go

Austin-Lehman Adventures’ headquarters is in Billings, Mont., where Dan Austin lives with his family; his daughter Kasey, one of our two guides, grew up here and is as steeped in knowledge and enthusiasm about the area as her dad is. Their enthusiasm and love of this part of the country stoked us for every part of our trip.

A perennial winner of National Geographic Best Adventure Tour Operators awards, Austin-Lehman offers tours around the world, with many itineraries in Montana. Most visit Yellowstone, some include Glacier National Park as well. There are winter trips, family-oriented itineraries, hard and soft adventures, with activities that range from horseback riding, hiking, biking or, in winter, snowmobiling and dog sledding. Info: austinlehman.com.

Other things you should know:

* Don’t count on cellphone service in these parts.

* Elevation, elevation, elevation. It may be perfectly balmy where you live, but you can’t imagine what’s going on up in them there mountains. Some roads, hotels, park areas, attractions and services close in winter, and "winter" may be defined by the arrival of snow in early October and melting in May.

* You can definitely spend a week just visiting the places I’ve mentioned above. You can also put together a more extensive itinerary. Once you’re out here, there’s a lot more scenery to see.

Check out the wonderfully comprehensive The Real America website (rmi-realamerica.com) for ideas and tons of information about traveling in the Rocky Mountain states. What’s there to do? Here’s one paragraph from their welcome page: "Yellowstone National Park, Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Grand Teton National Park, Glacier National Park, Craters of the Moon National Monument, Sun Valley, Badlands National Park, Crazy Horse, Cheyenne, Jackson Hole, Devil’s Tower, Flaming Gorge, Buffalo Bill’s Cody Country, Coeur d’Alene, Little Bighorn Battlefield, Wild Bill’s Deadwood, Charlie Russell’s Montana, Ernest Hemingway’s Ketchum, Boise, Rapid City, dude and guest ranches, American Indians, rodeos, hiking, whitewater rafting, skiing, snowmobiling, snowboarding, boating, biking, horseback riding, camping, world-class fly fishing, golf, friendly people and America’s frontier heritage."

Switchback after switchback provided new, wait-stop-the-car! vistas: a drop-off to a river-scarred valley; jagged waves of mountain peaks rippling into a blue-black infinity; rockscapes of soft red lichen; and stands of spikey pines poking into a flawless blue sky – big sky, this being Montana.

By JILL SCHENSUL

Full Story: http://www.northjersey.com/travel/174068551_Photo_essay__The_stunning_vistas_of_Montana_and_Wyoming.html