Absaroka–Beartooth Wilderness was created from existing National Forest lands in 1978 and is located in

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

and

Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the s ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. The wilderness is partly in Gallatin,

Custer George Armstrong Custer (December 5, 1839 – June 25, 1876) was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars. Custer graduated from West Point in 1861 at the bottom of his class, b ...

and

Shoshone National Forest Shoshone National Forest ( ) is the first federally protected National Forest in the United States and covers nearly in the state of Wyoming. Originally a part of the Yellowstone Timberland Reserve, the forest is managed by the United States ...

s and is composed of . The wilderness encompasses two distinct mountain ranges, namely the Beartooth and Absaroka ranges. These ranges are completely distinct geologically speaking with the Absarokas () composed primarily of

volcanic A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates a ...

(or

extrusive Extrusive rock refers to the mode of igneous volcanic rock formation in which hot magma from inside the Earth flows out (extrudes) onto the surface as lava or explodes violently into the atmosphere to fall back as pyroclastics or tuff. In contra ...

) and

metamorphic rock Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock to new types of rock in a process called metamorphism. The original rock ( protolith) is subjected to temperatures greater than and, often, elevated pressure of or more, caus ...

, while the Beartooths are made up almost entirely of

granitic A granitoid is a generic term for a diverse category of coarse-grained igneous rocks that consist predominantly of quartz, plagioclase, and alkali feldspar. Granitoids range from plagioclase-rich tonalites to alkali-rich syenites and from quartz- ...

rocks. The Absarokas are noted for their dark and craggy appearance, lush and heavily forested valleys and abundant wildlife. The highest peak in the range, located in Wyoming, is

Francs Peak Francs Peak, elevation , is the highest point in the Absaroka Range which extends from north-central Wyoming into south-central Montana, in the United States. It is in the Washakie Wilderness of Shoshone National Forest, and the peak is also the ...

at . The Beartooths are more

alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National Pa ...

with huge treeless plateaus and the highest peak in the state of Montana ( Granite Peak ). The wilderness contains 30 peaks over . The wilderness is an integral part of the

Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) is one of the last remaining large, nearly intact ecosystems in the northern temperate zone of the Earth. It is located within the northern Rocky Mountains, in areas of northwestern Wyoming, southwestern M ...

and borders

Yellowstone National Park Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowst ...

. Wilderness areas do not allow motorized or

mechanical Mechanical may refer to: Machine * Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement * Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations of ...

equipment including bicycles. Although

camping Camping is an outdoor activity involving overnight stays away from home, either without shelter or using basic shelter such as a tent, or a recreational vehicle. Typically, participants leave developed areas to spend time outdoors in more na ...

and

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

are allowed with proper permit, no roads or buildings are constructed and there is also no logging or

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic ...

, in compliance with the 1964

Wilderness Act The Wilderness Act of 1964 () was written by Howard Zahniser of The Wilderness Society. It created the legal definition of wilderness in the United States, and protected 9.1 million acres (37,000 km²) of federal land. The result of a lon ...

Wilderness areas Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...

within National Forests and Bureau of Land Management areas also allow

hunting Hunting is the human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products ( fur/ hide, bone/tusks, horn/antler, ...

in season. There are of trails in the wilderness, hundreds of

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

s, a few dozen streams and a similar number of small

glacier A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as ...

s can be found in the wilderness. The forests are dominated by various species of spruce, fir and

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accepts ...

while in the Beartooth Mountains, due to the altitude,

tundra In physical geography, tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. The term ''tundra'' comes through Russian (') from the Kildin Sámi word (') meaning "uplands", "treeless mou ...

conditions often prevail. The Beartooths have the largest unbroken area of land in excess of in

altitude Altitude or height (also sometimes known as depth) is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum and a point or object. The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context ...

in the U.S. outside of

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...

. Animals found in the wilderness include bald eagles and

yellowstone cutthroat trout The Yellowstone cutthroat trout (''Oncorhynchus clarkii bouvieri'') is a subspecies of the cutthroat trout (''Oncorhynchus clarkii''). It is a freshwater fish in the salmon family (family Salmonidae). Native only to a few U.S. states, their ...

and the

threatened Threatened species are any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which are vulnerable to endangerment in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensa ...

grizzly bear and lynx as well as the gray wolf. Access to the wilderness is difficult but can be achieved via the

Beartooth Highway The Beartooth Highway is an All-American Road in the western United States on a section of U.S. Route 212 in Montana and Wyoming between Red Lodge and the Northeast entrance of Yellowstone National Park. It crests at Beartooth Pass in Wyom ...

US 212 from

Red Lodge, Montana Red Lodge is a city and county seat of Carbon County, Montana, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 2,257. History On September 17, 1851, the United States government signed a treaty with the Crow Nation, cedi ...

. There are also some forest access roads from the west off of US 89 south from

Livingston, Montana Livingston is a city and county seat of Park County, Montana, United States. It is in southwestern Montana, on the Yellowstone River, north of Yellowstone National Park. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 8,040. History T ...

. __NOTOC__

Highlights

The Absaroka–Beartooth Wilderness is full of beautiful landscapes. Below are some of the highlights: * East Rosebud – Many avid hikers say that " East Rosebud is the most scenic

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams ove ...

of all." It is filled with

s and

waterfalls A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in several w ...

that would be major

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mor ...

draws anywhere else. In fact, there are so many different waterfalls and lakes within this valley that many of them have yet to be named.Schneider, Bill. Best Easy Day Hikes: Absaroka–Beartooth Wilderness. 2nd ed. Guilford: Falcon Publishing, 2003. 21-23 Slough Lake is found within the East Rosebud valley. Slough Lake is accessed by following the Phantom Creek Trail, which can also be used to access Granite Peak, which has an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Ver ...

of above sea level, and is the highest peak in

. * Mystic Lake – the deepest

in the

Beartooth Mountains The Beartooth Mountains are located in south central Montana and northwest Wyoming, U.S. and are part of the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, within Custer, Gallatin and Shoshone National Forests. The Beartooths are the location of Granite Peak, ...

. It has the largest sandy

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc sh ...

in the Beartooths and is a wonderful destination for a day hike. The Montana Power Company does utilize the power of this large lake, and they do have a

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use ...

present, but they do as much as possible to maintain the wilderness. Mystic Lake supports a rainbow trout fishery, and the fishing is usually great when the fish are feeding. Hiking the trail up to Mystic Lake provides great views of

West Rosebud Valley West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...

and a few other lakes.

Beartooth Panic

Regretfully, many visitors to the wilderness area are ill-prepared for hiking through wilderness areas. "Beartooth Panic" often comes to people who like the idea of wilderness exposure, but are unprepared for the lack of Cell site and

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wav ...

. Many people give up and expect helicopters to be sent out to them to pick them up and take them back to their cars. Others become disoriented, and helpless, when their

Global Positioning System The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of the global navigation satellite sy ...

, cell phones and laptops don't work. Many carry maps and a compass, but don't know how to use them. "Traditionally, wilderness has been used by those individuals willing to test the very substance of their body and soul. In the wilderness, humans are still at the mercy of natural forces. If you do not have innate survival skills, combined with the right training, you can be eaten by a bear or die in a storm. These risks were understood and accepted in the past. But that spirit seems foreign to a new breed of "outdoorsmen" who embrace the appearance but not the substance of adventure."Vines, Tom.
"No Easy Fix for The Beartooth Panic".
March 20, 1997. Wall Street Journal.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness Protected areas of Carbon County, Montana Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem IUCN Category Ib Protected areas of Park County, Montana Protected areas of Park County, Wyoming Shoshone National Forest Protected areas of Stillwater County, Montana Protected areas of Sweet Grass County, Montana Wilderness areas of Montana Wilderness areas of Wyoming Gallatin National Forest Custer National Forest 1978 establishments in Wyoming 1978 establishments in Montana Protected areas established in 1978

Highlights

Beartooth Panic

See also

References

Further reading

External links