The Beartooth Highway
A candidate for the most scenic highway in America? I think so. When planning our 2016 Yellowstone vacation we hadn’t originally intended to continue north into Montana, but when I read this claim in Lonely Planet I knew we had to travel the Beartooth Highway. 64 miles of mountain pass from Cooke City to Red Lodge – what’s not to love?
Cooke City
We still had a large and beautiful chunk of Yellowstone to drive through before reaching the Northeast Entrance Gate, so by the time we got to Cooke City. Montana, we were ready for an early lunch and a wander. It’s not exactly what I would call a city, but just look at those vistas!
We discovered that the town had a lovely little museum dedicated to the early miners in the area, Cooke City being the major camp for prospectors from 1869, so we looked at that too before heading back onto the highway to continue the adventure.
Clay Butte
After Cooke City, the road dipped back into Wyoming. These two peaks beguiled us all the way and we paused in several places to photograph them. Our next major stop was Clay Butte Tower which involved a three-mile drive on a gravel road. The tower used to be a fire lookout but now functions as a visitor centre.
Top of the World
Back on the main highway, we made slow progress because there were just so many beautiful places to stop, for example Beartooth Lake followed by a welcome visit to Top of the World Store for coffee.
After this, the road began a serious climb, until we reached Beartooth Pass, the highest point on the road at 10947 feet. It was blowy!
Summit to Red Lodge
Then it was all downhill with another couple of stops at Gardner Lake and our second Montana State Line of the day. This one claims to be the highest state welcome sign in the US.
At the end of the day we arrived in Red Lodge, another charming old town, which was to be our base for the next couple of nights. More about it next time!
The Glasgow Gallivanter 
We went to Yellowstone & Grand Tetons in September, 2019. I’m still writing about it. Bear Tooth Highway was on our original plan, but we chose to do it on a trip on its own at a later date because we wanted to get to Grand Teton. Great photos! I’m ready to go back, but will have to wait a bit to do that. 🙂
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Those are fabulous places! I hope we can all get travelling again soon.
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Me too. We did some last week. The wildlife refuges are still open in Florida and Georgia and not many people there. State and local parks are closed. Beaches are closed. We stay home except to the grocery store, but we may venture out again to a refuge this week. If for nothing else, just to drive and look at nature for a bit.
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We’re not allowed to do that 😟. Exercise has to be done by walking from your own house.
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Jacksonville is a little big city. We can get away from people by going to the country. We are doing that right now. In search of a red-cockaded woodpecker. 😊
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Have fun!
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oh i remember this post – wonderful to revisit it.
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I know, I hadn’t looked at it for years and it brought back good memories.
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Thank goodness for memories!
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So many fabulous things to see in that part of the country. What a trip. You did and saw a lot. (I’ve added the things you listed to my own list!)
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It really looks amazing!
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Thanks – it was!
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Fantastic views. Isn’t it wonderful when the road you should drive anyway going from one place to another turns out to be worth in itself? (I might have said something phylosophical here… unwittingly 😉 )
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Yes, I think you have hit on a metaphor for life!
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How beautiful landscapes. Your photos re wonderful. Thank You.
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Thank you for visiting and commenting!
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So beautiful! I am glad to have you to show me around my own country! I have so many national parks yet to see. Yellowstone is for sure on the short list. so many places to visit. Thank you for sharing, the photos are great!
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Thanks Diane – too many places, too little time.
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Gorgeous! I’ve never done the Beartooth, but I think next time we are out there I will have to remedy that situation!
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It’s well worth it! Such a beautiful road.
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Such a beauty! Love your pictures.
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Thank you!
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Nice
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Thank you!
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No problem
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Only one million people in Montana for such a large state so not surprised the roads were empty and the views expansive. Glasgow was voted a Lonely Planet top city recently- cant really see that myself considering all the worldwide competition on offer and the state of the city centre right now :o)
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Oh, I don’t know, I’ve been living here over 30 years and I’m still finding new things to enjoy. For its size, I think that’s amazing!
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Happy to see you’re writing about your American road trip again! I’ve got a pretty extensive Google map full of places I still need to visit in the States (since I don’t seem to make it much farther than Ohio these days), and your posts are useful for filling out the West. I’ll definitely be adding that miners’ museum!
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Such a pretty place! I have quite a list of posts still to do about that trip, I just never quite get round to it.
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oh my . . . . what a glorious highway and looks like you had much of it to yourselves. Despite lots of family in the USA we are not keen to visit the country at the moment, feels to divisive. Then when I see glorious vistas like this, I think to myself how can I stay away.
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Yes, it was very quiet – surprisingly so. America is a beautiful country but it’s off my agenda at the moment too.
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I’m from Montana and I love seeing people post about it, or even Wyoming. I can’t believe how pointy Pilot peak is, it reminds me of the mountain from the Grinch if it was droopy. Beautiful pictures!
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Thank you – I’m so pleased to have a comment from somebody from Montana!
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I think Charles Kuralt said this was his favorite stretch of road in America. Great photos…thanks!
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I think it became mine too! Thanks for commenting.
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Thanks for the information and the photos! Montana is yet another place I haven’t been but hope to go to. The more I read about other people’s travels, the more I am ready to pack my suitcase and go.
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I could certainly do that today as I look out at grey skies and rain!
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The backdrop to Cooke City is wonderful, isn’t it? Life sounds good right now, Annabel 🙂
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It’s a tiny place but we wished we could have stayed at least a night there. Plenty of trails roundabout but because we did the whole highway in one day we didn’t have time for walking.
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Lovely vistas, Anabel. We loved our Yellowstone road trip. We started at Jackson Hole and must have gone a different route. Many roads weren’t open because of the snow. Maybe next time we’ll try the Beartooth Highway. 🙂
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We came from Jackson too and just assumed we’d go back that way until I read about this.it sounded irresistible!
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Ah now, this is a place I have actually driven and ridden my motorcycle through. It is beautiful and serene. Everyone must visit our Parks and enjoy them and this one can’t be missed.
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I’m not surprised – we met a lot of motorcyclists and it was obviously a great road for them. Apart from the poor guy we met at Top of the World whose bike had broken down…..
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Driving in the US is a dream away from the cities. Always places to stop and admire the view, unlike our highways where you can never stop. And how can anyone resist a place with the name Beartooth – I guess that comes from the shape of the peak? You had a fab road trip Anabel, I am quite envious. So Canada beckons next – which part?
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And the views are so amazingly big to us from our fairly small island! Yes, one of the peaks is Beartooth. We’re off to the Canadian Rockies this summer, can’t wait for that.
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So, Banff, Lake Louise and Jasper? I was going to do a road trip around there from Vancouver on our last Canada trip, but decided on another visit to the Island as it was October and I didn’t know what the weather would be like. A road trip is no good if you can’t see the views!
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Roughly! Plus a bit more.
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Fab scenery, and the sky looking down the road at Cooke City looks gorgeous 🙂
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It was a beautiful day!
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Stunning! Would love to visit, but perhaps not in the next four years.
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Which is why we’re going to Canada this year…..
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🙂
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Beautiful images and details! Feel like I’ve just been on a trip!
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Oh good, so do I! It was nice to relive it.
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I love the scenic highways in the US, especially out west and especially when there are a lot of places to pull over and enjoy the views! Great photo of the two of you, Anabel!
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Thanks Liesbet! This highway was amazingly scenic, Lonely Planet was right.
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Hi Anabel – what a wonderful trip – beautiful part of the world … stunning … lovely to see and read … cheers Hilary
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Thanks Hilary, glad you enjoyed it.
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Wow…now this looks amazing and I want to drive there myself! It looks so picturesque. This further confirms why I would love to visit Montana
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It was amazing, Birgit. Hope you get a chance to go there some day!
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Love the picture of the two of you. America doesn’t do quaint villages as good as you guys do, but the wow vistas seem to be everywhere. 🙂
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We were lucky that another couple came up just as we were leaving so they took our picture and we took theirs! Wow vistas, yes, quaint villages, maybe not – but I do like these little western towns.
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Absolutely stunning views and I love the name ‘Bear Tooth Pass.’ Embarrassingly, I have a list of places to visit solely based on place names alone (Hot Coffee, Mississippi, Two Egg, Florida, Saint-Louis-du-Ha-Ha, Quebec, etc., etc.) I can now add ‘Bear Tooth’ based both on the recommendation of “most scenic highway in America”, as well as its cool sounding name!
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Ooh, Hot Coffee and Two Egg sound good!
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It is indeed a beautiful road. We did it from the other side (from Montana to Yellowstone) and in October with snow on the ground. It is nice to see what it looks like in summer. (Suzanne)
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I bet it was really beautiful in snow too – though I’m not sure I’d have liked it as a drive in the snow!
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Actually, we took a chance because 12 miles before the highway started there was a sign indicating that the road was closed but when we arrived it had just reopened. The driving wasn’t very difficult (though I must admit that being Canadian we are used to driving on snowy road). I will post a few pictures on the blog shortly to show you what it looked like. I have posted one picture so far if you are interested to see it but it doesn’t show the road.
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Gorgeous photos Anabel of some stunning scenery.
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Thanks! It was just one wonderful view after another.
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There’s nothing like a wonderful view to make a road trip amazing. Fantastic photos!
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Thanks -it was a great day!
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That looks gorgeous!
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Yes, great views. Really glad we added this onto our schedule.
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It is beautiful!
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It absolutely is!
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