We arrived in Billings Saturday morning. We bought gas for our stove (along with a "Curious George Goes Camping" book we couldn't resist) and made the ~ one hour drive to Red Lodge. We had a tasty brunch at Cafe Regis and then were off to backpack to Moon Lake. About eleven miles from Red Lodge we made the turnoff to the Forest Service campgrounds and continued on the gravel road. The book said that while a high clearance vehicle was preferred, the trailhead could be reached with any vehicle if going slowly. It didn't take long for us to realize this was a bunch of malarkey.

Having to get a tow truck on a backcountry road and dealing with car repairs wasn't really our idea of a vacation, so we turned around and went for plan B. We ended up getting a campsite at Beartooth Lake (one of several campgrounds still open after the grizzly attack).

When it came time for dinner we thought we might as well cook one of our meals, but the mosquitoes in the campground didn't create the most appealing dinner atmosphere. We drove up the Beartooth Highway to the summit and were pleasantly surprised it wasn't too cold (it's nearly 11,000 feet elevation!). And mosquito-less. Yay! We found our dinner spot.