A few miles outside the northeast entrance of Yellowstone National Park is the Beartooth Highway – a National Scenic Byways All-American Road. This 68-mile byway winds its way through northwest Wyoming and southwest Montana to Red Lodge, Montana. The Beartooth Highway is considered by many to be the most beautiful drive in the US. It traverses one of the highest and most rugged areas in the lower 48 states, with 20 peaks reaching over 12,000 feet in elevation. In the surrounding mountains, glaciers are found on the north flank of nearly every mountain peak over 11,500 feet high. The highway is the highest elevation highway in the Northern Rockies. We drove from our campsite in West Yellowstone, through the park, across the Beartooth, to Red Lodge Montana and back in one day. Over 300 miles and 13 hours! We ascended (and descended) 5500 feet to the top of Beartooth Pass at 10,947 feet where the wind was fierce and it was a bit chilly. Numerous tight switchbacks and not nearly as many guardrails as we would have liked (especially Jane, since she was on the downhill side and would hit first if we rolled!). You get to see three different ecosystems on this trip.
First the shrub meadows, composed mostly of sagebrush with white pine and Douglas fir mixed in.
Index and Pilot Mountains are visible in the early part of the drive. At about 8000 feet you transition into meadows filled with beautiful wildflowers.
Beartooth Butte. Many different layers and lots of fossils. You see this Butte for many miles of the trip.
Sticky Geraniums in a meadow above 8000 feet.
Top of the World Store. The only place to get food and drink along the Beartooth Highway.
Above 9500 feet you enter the alpine tundra ecosystem, with low growing vegetation and many glaciers. The only trees are about knee high and lots of snow remained on July 21 when we were there.
Alpine tundra ecosystem above 10,000 feet elevation.
Alpine tundra area with some glaciers.
The Beartooth for which the highway is named is in the photo above (the tiny, pointed peak toward the left).
Down to Red Lodge, Montana. You can see a few glimpses of the switchbacks in this picture.
This drive is well worth your time when in the Yellowstone area. The views are beautiful and the area is pristine. Red Lodge is a great place to grab a late lunch or early dinner before heading back if you do a round trip. Otherwise, there are several places to spend the night in Red Lodge. There are vehicle length restrictions and the road is closed in the winter.