Beartooth Highway – A Summer Scenic Drive
Between Red Lodge and Yellowstone National Park
Looking over the beauty that is the Beartooth Highway, you will find a craggy granite pinnacle known as the Bear’s Tooth. In this high alpine mountainscape, you will find glaciers waterfalls, wildflowers, and some of the most amazing hiking in Montana.
The Beartooth Highway sprawls across the borders of Montana and Wyoming giving you a scene of beauty as far as you can see. This is one of the most beautiful drives in North America. Pack a lunch and head out on a full-day adventure to explore the Beartooth Mountains. This drive begins in the charming town of Red Lodge, Montana along Highways 78 & 212.
Red Lodge was settled in the late 1800’s as a coal mining town which has grown into a top year-round destination in Montana. Now, Red Lodge is a community with restaurants, art galleries, shopping, a Wildlife Sanctuary, and outdoor activities.
Once on the road, you will see why the late television commentator Charles Kuralt described this scenic drive as America’s most beautiful highway. Opened in 1936, this amazing 68-stretch of road begins with a series of switchbacks, and then climbs through Rock Creek Canyon. Continuing to higher elevations and driving through an area that averages more than 200 inches of snow per year! The road’s grade is about 4% and turnouts are available to pull over and capture the view in photos.
A steady climb of about 12 miles you will enjoy overlooks of the valley below which leads to Rock Creek Vista Point at an elevation of about 8,000 ft. This amazing drive takes you to the charming Cooke City which is a great lunch stop and enjoy a little shopping by local artisans. From here, the next stop is Yellowstone National Park entrance at the east entrance of Silver Gate. Entering here you will begin your YNP trip in the Lamar Valley where you need to keep on the lookout for bison, elk, wolves, antelope, coyote, and fox. If you see several people on a hill just off the road they are, most likely, viewing wolves. I recommend you have binoculars with you.
The next junction is Tower which will take you the Roosevelt Lodge, Tower Falls on the Upper Loop of YNP. You can also choose right to Mammoth Hot Springs, where you can spend the night at the Mammoth Hotel or travel through the famous Roosevelt Arch, which is the north entrance to the park at Gardiner where you have many choices for lodging and dining.