Beartooth Highway

Charles Kurault once called the Beartooth Highway, "America's most beautiful highway." The Beartooth Highway covers about 69 miles along US Highway 212 between Red Lodge and Cooke City, Montana. This is some absolutely spectacular countryside among the Absaroka and Beartooth Mountains near the northeastern corner of Yellowstone National Park. The route travels through the Custer, Shoshone and Gallatin National Forests. The stretch of highway between Red Lodge, Montana, and Wyoming Highway 296 (the Chief Joseph Scenic Highway) is closed in winter by snow. But when that road is open, this is an incredible way to make the drive to the northeastern entrance of Yellowstone National Park. For many miles along the road you'll have the Absaroka-Beathtooth Wilderness to the north and the North Absaroka Wilderness to the south. This is high mountain country with lots of wildlife out and about.