Beartooth Highway
US-212, Beartooth Pass
Red Lodge, MT
A switchbacking climb into alpine tundra over a 10,947-foot pass, once called the most beautiful drive in America.
The Beartooth Highway is the stretch of U.S. Route 212 that climbs from Red Lodge, Montana, over Beartooth Pass and down toward Cooke City and Yellowstone's Northeast Entrance. Completed in 1936, it tops out at 10,947 feet, one of the highest paved roads in the Northern Rockies, and the television traveler Charles Kuralt famously called it the most beautiful roadway in America.
It is less a shortcut than a destination in itself. The road switchbacks up an enormous mountain wall, then runs for miles across a treeless alpine plateau studded with lakes and lingering snowfields, before dropping into the forests at Yellowstone's back door. On a clear day you can see across a hundred miles of the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness.
What Guests Love
- Switchbacking up open mountainside to a pass nearly 11,000 feet high
- Walking out onto real alpine tundra, with wildflowers and often snow in July
- The chain of glacial lakes and the chance of mountain goats and marmots
- Rolling straight into Yellowstone's uncrowded Northeast Entrance at the end
Worth Knowing
- The road is only open roughly late May into October, and snow can close it any month
- Weather at the top turns fast and cold; bring a warm layer even in summer
- It is a slow, winding drive with big drop-offs, so allow far more time than the miles suggest
- Fuel and services are sparse; fill up in Red Lodge or Cooke City
Details
Red Lodge, MT
Learn about Beartooth Highway
A Depression-era road across the sky
The highway was pushed through in the 1930s to give Red Lodge a link to Yellowstone and a lifeline after its coal mines faded. Building a paved road up and over this kind of terrain was an audacious act of engineering for the era, blasting a route across ground that stays frozen much of the year.
The result opened in 1936 and has awed travelers ever since. It carries the All-American Road designation, the top tier of national scenic byways, and remains one of the great mountain drives on the continent, a genuine event rather than a way to get somewhere.
The climb and the alpine world on top
From Red Lodge the road gains thousands of feet in a series of dramatic switchbacks up an open mountainside, with pullouts that look back down the valley you just left. Near the summit the trees give out entirely and you emerge onto alpine tundra, a fragile world of low wildflowers, cushion plants, and rock that only thaws for a few weeks a year.
The Beartooth Plateau holds dozens of glacial lakes and permanent snowfields, and even at the height of summer you may find yourself throwing snowballs at the pass. Watch for mountain goats on the crags, yellow-bellied marmots sunning on boulders, and pikas darting through the rockslides.
The surrounding Beartooth Mountains carry twenty peaks above 12,000 feet, including Granite Peak, the highest point in Montana. Much of it lies inside the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, so the views from the road are of country almost entirely without roads.
Seasons and the short window
This is a summer road. It generally opens around late May, once crews clear enormous snow drifts from the pass, and closes with the first heavy snows in October. Even in the open season a storm can shut the top for a day, so it pays to check conditions before committing.
July and August are the reliable months, when the tundra flowers and the lakes thaw. Mornings are best for calm weather and wildlife; afternoon thunderstorms build fast at altitude. Whenever you go, carry warm clothes, because it can be sunny in Red Lodge and snowing at the pass on the same day.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Things to Do Near Red Lodge
Red Lodge
At the north end
A walkable historic mountain town with a broad main street, the gateway and best base for the drive.
Cooke City and Yellowstone Northeast Entrance
At the south end
A tiny high-country town and the quiet back door into Yellowstone's wildlife-rich Lamar Valley.
Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness
Alongside
Nearly a million acres of glaciers, high lakes, and Granite Peak, Montana's highest summit, reached on foot from the highway.
Chief Joseph Scenic Byway
Junctions near the top
A second spectacular byway (Wyoming 296) that drops toward Cody, often driven as a loop with the Beartooth.