The Beartooth Highway is an All-American Road 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 i ...

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 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

on a section of U.S. Route 212 in

Montana Montana () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West List of regions of the United States#Census Bureau-designated regions and divisions, division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North ...

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 sou ...

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 Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is border ...

. 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 standardise ...

, and was called "the most beautiful drive in America," by late CBS News 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 Even ...

. 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

switchback Switchback may refer to: Transportation * A hairpin turn on a road * A horseshoe curve * A zigzagging pedestrian or cycling ramp * A roller coaster, or a roller coaster-like road * A zig zag (railway) * The Switchback, a former railway line in ...

s, 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 Wyoming Highway 296 (WYO 296) also known as the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway is a state highway in the U.S. state of Wyoming. It follows the route taken by Chief Joseph as he led the Nez Perce out of Yellowstone National Park and into Mont ...

(Chief Joseph Scenic Byway) near Cooke City, the northeast gateway to

. On the way one passes numerous lakes typical of the Absaroka–Beartooth Wilderness 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,

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, e ...

, 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 hi ...

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 transportat ...

or even the

U.S. Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 United States National Forest, national forests and 20 United States Nationa ...

, with WYDOT stating it does not meet standards for

Wyoming state highways The state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. ...

. It is instead maintained by the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government within the United States Department of the Interior, U.S. Department of ...

, 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 ...

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 at a ...

) or being its own unit (like the

Blue Ridge Parkway The Blue Ridge Parkway is a National Parkway and National Scenic Byway, 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 cou ...

and

Natchez Trace Parkway The Natchez Trace Parkway is a national parkway in the southeastern United States that commemorates the historic Natchez Trace and preserves sections of that original trail. Its central feature is a two-lane road that extends 444 miles (715 ...

). 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 operat ...

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 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 polic ...

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 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 Metro ...

, 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 Pe ...

. 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 signific ...

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