The Beartooth Highway is an

All-American Road A National Scenic Byway is a road recognized by the United States Department of Transportation for one or more of six "intrinsic qualities": archeological, cultural, historic, natural, recreational, and scenic. The program was established by C ...

in the

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

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 territorie ...

on a section of U.S. Route 212 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 Columbi ...

and

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, 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 south ...

between Red Lodge and the Northeast entrance of

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 Yellowston ...

. It crests at Beartooth Pass in Wyoming at above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...

, and was called "the most beautiful drive in America," by late

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 48 H ...

correspondent

Charles Kuralt Charles Bishop Kuralt (September 10, 1934 – July 4, 1997) was an American television, newspaper and radio journalist and author. He is most widely known for his long career with CBS, first for his "On the Road" segments on '' The CBS Eveni ...

. Because of heavy snowfall at the top, the pass is usually open for about five months per year, from mid-May to mid-October, weather conditions permitting.Beartooth Highway Points of Interest
Red Lodge Montana Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved 2010-08-25.

Route description

The Beartooth Highway is the section of U.S. Route 212 between Red Lodge and Cooke City, Montana. It traces a series of steep zigzags and switchbacks, along the Montana–Wyoming border ( 45th parallel) to the Beartooth Pass in Wyoming. The approximate elevation rise is from to in in the most daring landscapes. When driving east to west, the highest parts of the Beartooth Highway level off into a wide plateau near the top of the pass, then descend to the junction with Wyoming Highway 296 (Chief Joseph Scenic Byway) near Cooke City, the northeast gateway to

. On the way one passes numerous lakes typical of the

Absaroka–Beartooth Wilderness Absaroka–Beartooth Wilderness was created from existing National Forest lands in 1978 and is located in Montana and Wyoming, United States. The wilderness is partly in Gallatin, Custer and Shoshone National Forests and is composed of . The w ...

which borders the highway along much of its route. The highway officially opened June 14, 1936. At this elevation and latitiude, snowstorms can occur even in the middle of the summer, and the pass is also known for strong winds and severe thunderstorms. Drivers should plan on a driving time of at least two hours for the trip from Red Lodge to Cooke City, and it is advised to check with the Red Lodge Chamber of Commerce or the Beartooth Ranger District beforehand in case of road closures. Montana Traveler Information and Wyoming Travel Information Service both provide online information on Beartooth Highway travel conditions for their respective portions of the highway. The Beartooth Highway passes through portions of

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 ...

Shoshone The Shoshone or Shoshoni ( or ) are a Native American tribe with four large cultural/linguistic divisions: * Eastern Shoshone: Wyoming * Northern Shoshone: southern Idaho * Western Shoshone: Nevada, northern Utah * Goshute: western Utah, easter ...

, and Gallatin national forests, and near the Absaroka–Beartooth Wilderness. Despite this, and the

U.S. highway The United States Numbered Highway System (often called U.S. Routes or U.S. Highways) is an integrated network of roads and highways numbered within a nationwide grid in the contiguous United States. As the designation and numbering of these h ...

number, and also connecting to state highway 296, it is not maintained by the

Wyoming Department of Transportation The Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) is a government agency charged with overseeing transportation infrastructure for the U.S. state of Wyoming. WYDOT's stated mission is “to provide a safe, high quality, and efficient transportatio ...

or even the

U.S. Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency in ...

, with WYDOT stating it does not meet standards for

Wyoming state highways The state highway system in the U.S. state of Wyoming consists of a series of numbered routes; usually known as WYO X, where X is the route number. __TOC__ List ...

. It is instead maintained by the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...

, despite not being part of the park (like the

Foothills Parkway The Foothills Parkway is a national parkway which traverses the foothills of the northern Great Smoky Mountains in East Tennessee, located in the southeastern United States. The 72.1-mile (114 km) parkway will connect U.S. Route 129 (U.S. ...

Skyline Drive Skyline Drive is a National Parkway that runs the entire length of the National Park Service's Shenandoah National Park in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, generally along the ridge of the mountains. The drive's northern terminus is a ...

) or being its own unit (like the

Blue Ridge Parkway The Blue Ridge Parkway is a National Parkway and All-American Road in the United States, noted for its scenic beauty. The parkway, which is America's longest linear park, runs for through 29 Virginia and North Carolina counties, linking Shenand ...

and Natchez Trace Parkway). The

Montana Department of Transportation The Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) is a governmental agency in the U.S. state of Montana, responsible for numerous programs related to the construction, maintenance, and monitoring of Montana's transportation infrastructure and operati ...

does maintain its portions in Custer and Gallatin national forests at the east and west ends of the highway, respectively. Neither MDT nor NPS perform

snow removal Snow removal or snow clearing is the job of removing snow after a snowfall to make travel easier and safer. This is done by both individual households and by governments and institutions. De-icing and anti-icing De-icing is defined as removal ...

except for once in the spring, typically in May, but sometimes not until June if there has been heavy snowfall. Once the road opens,

Beartooth Basin Ski Area Beartooth Basin Ski Area is a ski area in the Western United States, western United States in northern Wyoming, located at Beartooth Pass in the Shoshone National Forest near the Montana border. It is the only ski area in North America that i ...

opens near the state line at Beartooth Pass, for a short summer-only season that lasts until July.

History

In August 1872, the pass was crossed by

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

General

Philip Sheridan General of the Army Philip Henry Sheridan (March 6, 1831 – August 5, 1888) was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War. His career was noted for his rapid rise to major general and his close as ...

and 120 men returning from an inspection tour of

. Rather than take the long detour down the

Clarks Fork Yellowstone River The Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone River (sometimes called the Clark's Fork River) is a tributary of the Yellowstone River, 150 mi (241 km) long in the U.S. states of Montana and Wyoming. It rises in southern Montana, in the Gallatin N ...

to return to

Billings Billings is the largest city in the U.S. state of Montana, with a population of 117,116 as of the 2020 census. Located in the south-central portion of the state, it is the seat of Yellowstone County and the principal city of the Billings Met ...

, Sheridan took the advice of an old hunter named Shuki Greer, who claimed intimate knowledge of 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, ...

. When the road was opened in 1936, it essentially followed Sheridan's route over the pass.

2005 closure

During the spring of 2005, several large

mudslide A mudflow or mud flow is a form of mass wasting involving fast-moving flow of debris that has become liquified by the addition of water. Such flows can move at speeds ranging from 3 meters/minute to 5 meters/second. Mudflows contain a significa ...

s and

rockslide A rockslide is a type of landslide caused by rock failure in which part of the bedding plane of failure passes through compacted rock and material collapses ''en masse'' and not in individual blocks. Note that a rockslide is similar to an avalanc ...

s on May 19–20 damaged or destroyed the Montana side of the Beartooth Highway in a dozen places between mile markers 39 and 51. The road was closed for reconstruction, and a $20.4 million construction contract issued which stipulated an October 2005 completion date. Construction was completed ahead of schedule however the highway did not reopen for a year. An estimated of rock was removed from a section of the highway near the top of the switchbacks, and construction crews drilled down to solid bedrock to create new supports for the road.

Major intersections

Gallery

References

Current ConditionsNational Scenic Byways Project: Beartooth Highway
US Department of Transportation: National Scenic Highways Program.

External links

Beartooth Highway website
*

Historic American Engineering Record Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) is a division of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) responsible for administering the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), and Historic American Landscapes ...

(HAER) documentation, filed under Cody vicinity, Park County, WY: ** ** ** ** ** {{Montana All-American Roads Shoshone National Forest National Forest Scenic Byways Transportation in Carbon County, Montana Transportation in Park County, Montana Transportation in Park County, Wyoming Historic American Engineering Record in Montana Historic American Engineering Record in Wyoming