Detour #252: Braving the Beartooth Highway, Montana/Wyoming, USA
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The greater the effort, the sweeter the reward. It’s a phrase that couldn’t be more true of braving the Beartooth Highway.
This All-American Road, which means that it counts as a unique tourist attraction in its own right, requires a good bit of planning and preparation before any attempt is made to make the 68-mile mountain crossing between Red Lodge, Montana and Cooke City on the edge of Yellowstone National Park in neighbouring Wyoming.
For starters snowfall makes the Beartooth Highway impassable from October to May, when the National Parks Service finally decides to break out the plows. Yet even in the summer blizzards can sweep in causing chaos. Travellers are well advised to check the weather forecast and the local Rangers for unexpected closures.
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Red Lodge sits at fairly elevated 1,697 metres (5,568 feet) and US 212 just goes up and up from there. It’s around 30 miles east of the start that the real fun begins with the road accelerating its ascent through a sequence of tight turns, each one opening up ever-more amazing views over the mountains.
Alpine sports enthusiasts might be able to stop for a ski at Beartooth Basin, but there’s only a small annual window in the summer when it’s actually open.
By the time you reach the road’s summit at 3,658 m (10,974 feet) you’ll be still be lower than the 20 other peaks that tower over the Beartooth Highway. You’ll definitely want to pause and catch your breath, both figuratively and literally as the air is thin at this altitude.
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The Beartooth Highway has been described as the most beautiful drive in America and as you follow the route that takes in rich green pine forests, stunning blue glacial lakes and thundering waterfalls, it’s easy to understand why. Eventually heading across the state line into Wyoming you’ll descend to Cooke City, where more driving adventures in Yellowstone Park await.
Even in ideal weather the road poses a challenge, with its continuous curves and perilous drops, but the rewards will always outweigh the effort.
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