I guess it is never too early. We are going to yellowstone and other places in mid august and sept. Has anyone drove hy.212 from spearfish to crow agency? Would like to get off of interstate for awhile.
Hi Mitch,
In late July 2010, I drove from Crow Agency to Belle Fourche, SD and back down to I-90 on US 212. Since it's shorter than staying on I-90, it gets some cut-through recreational traffic. But, be prepared: It's difficult to put into words the level and distribution of poverty seen along US 212 from west of Broadus back to Crow Agency. Lame Deer and Crow Agency were particularly shocking to an Easterner like me. It had been since the mid- 1970s that I'd so much as driven across a reservation, and I just wasn't mentally prepared to see what I saw that afternoon. The countryside is quite nice, what with the Custer NF lands along both sides of the highway, and some of the reservation lands are scenic, too, but it's tough to enjoy the scenery when you're troubled by how folks out there live. To be perfectly blunt about it, I don't think I'd want to camp anywhere from Broadus to and including Crow Agency.
Broadus, MT is a cool little cow town. I happened upon warm-ups for a local rodeo on the Friday evening I passed through, so I stayed for a while, ate some BBQ beef ribs, had a couplathree beers, slept in the truck, and headed off for I-90 at 00:dark:30 Saturday morning.
I second and third Red Lodge and the Beartooth Highway. Plus, entering Yellowstone at the Northeast Entrance by Cooke City brings you in through the Lamar Valley, off of the main loop and known for long views and much wildlife.
Have a look-see at the 2012 schedule for the Sturgis bike rally. It'll be breaking up around "mid-August" and campsites + motels will be jammed for many miles around, plus the aforementioned hordes of riders on each and every highway. Fun if you're riding, I suppose, but if you're not, not so much.
Foy