The Beartooth Highway is 68 miles of US 212 between Red Lodge and Cooke City, Montana — the back door to Yellowstone's Northeast Entrance — and it crests at 10,947 feet on Beartooth Pass in Wyoming — high enough that the road only exists about five months a year. Snow closes it from around mid-October until Memorial Day weekend, and even then the plows sometimes lose. Charles Kuralt called it the most beautiful drive in America. What that description leaves out is that it is also one of the most demanding: switchbacks stacked up a wall of rock, an alpine plateau above treeline where summer snow squalls are normal, and no services for most of its length. This guide covers how the ride actually breaks down, when the gate opens, and what to plan for.
The ride in one paragraph
From Red Lodge the road runs flat and unremarkable up Rock Creek for a few miles, and then it stands up. The climb gains roughly 5,700 feet — from about 5,200 feet to the 10,947-foot pass — in about twelve miles of switchbacks, which is the kind of math that makes a loaded touring bike feel every pound. At the top the terrain flattens into a treeless plateau of lakes and snowfields that looks nothing like the valley you left twenty minutes earlier. Then it drops west past the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway junction, over Colter Pass at 8,048 feet, through Cooke City, and into Yellowstone's Northeast Entrance. Two hours is the honest minimum for the Red Lodge to Cooke City run, and nobody who rides it does it in two hours.
Route at a glance
| Length | 68.3 miles (110 km) of US 212, Red Lodge to Cooke City, Montana |
| Highest point | Beartooth Pass, 10,947 ft (3,337 m), in Wyoming |
| Second summit | Colter Pass, 8,048 ft (2,453 m), east of Cooke City |
| Season | Generally Memorial Day weekend to mid-October, weather permitting |
| Cost | Free; a Yellowstone entrance fee applies only if you enter the park |
| Minimum drive time | About 2 hours Red Lodge to Cooke City without stops |
| Opened | 1936, now designated an All-American Road |
Open the Red Lodge to Cooke City route in Google Maps — send it to your navigation before you leave town, because cell coverage on the plateau is not something to plan around.
The three parts of the road
Red Lodge to the switchbacks
The eastern approach is the deceptive part. US 212 leaves Red Lodge — the last real town with fuel, food and beds on the Montana side — and runs up the Rock Creek valley on easy sightlines. Riders who have not looked at an elevation profile assume this is the road. It isn't. The switchbacks begin where the valley walls close in, and from there the highway starts folding back on itself up the mountainside in a sequence you can see stacked above you before you ride it.
This is the section that punished the road in 2005, when mudslides and rockslides on May 19 and 20 tore out the Montana side in a dozen places between mile markers 39 and 51. Reconstruction ran to a $20.4 million contract and moved an estimated 100,000 cubic yards of rock, and the highway stayed shut for a full year. It is a useful reminder of what the mountain does to this road when it feels like it.
The plateau and Beartooth Pass
Above treeline the character changes completely. The road levels onto a wide alpine plateau scattered with lakes, and the summit at 10,947 feet sits near the Montana–Wyoming line. Snowbanks stand beside the pavement well into July in a heavy year, and the Beartooth Basin ski area operates near the state line as a summer-only hill that usually closes sometime in July — a fair signal of how long winter lingers up there. Corners are open and fast by the standards of the climb below, but the surface is exposed to freeze-thaw damage every single night of its short season, so patched pavement and frost heave are normal rather than exceptional. For a higher paved crossing on the same pattern, our Colorado guide covers Trail Ridge Road at 12,183 feet.
The descent to Cooke City and Yellowstone
Going west, the road drops off the plateau, passes the junction with Wyoming Highway 296 — the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway, which is a legitimate ride in its own right and the standard alternate when the pass is shut — and runs through forest past Beartooth Lake and over Colter Pass into Cooke City. Cooke City is small, and Silver Gate smaller still, but between them they cover fuel and a bed. From there it is a short run to Yellowstone's Northeast Entrance and the Lamar Valley, which is why so many riders treat the Beartooth as the approach road to the park rather than a destination on its own. Both readings are defensible. The road passes through parts of the Custer, Shoshone and Gallatin national forests and skirts the Absaroka–Beartooth Wilderness on the way.
The practical details that decide the trip
The season is the whole story. This road is not plowed through winter — the pass is cleared once in the spring, typically in May, sometimes not until June after a heavy year. The general rule is open around Memorial Day weekend and closed by mid-October, and the actual closing date is weather-dependent, sometimes as early as September. Check the Montana DOT and Wyoming travel information services the morning you ride, not the week before. Utah's Mirror Lake Highway over Bald Mountain Pass is gated the same way every winter.
Weather at 10,947 feet obeys no forecast. Snow can fall on the pass in the middle of summer, and the plateau is known for strong wind and hard afternoon thunderstorms. The temperature difference between Red Lodge and the summit routinely runs twenty degrees or more. Pack layers you would consider excessive for the valley, and pack rain gear you can put on quickly, because there is nowhere to shelter above treeline. Our notes on riding out a squall on cold, wet pavement apply directly up here.
Fuel and services. Red Lodge on the east, Cooke City on the west, and effectively nothing in between for 60-odd miles. There are no gas stations on the pass. Fill up in town, both directions, every time — the cost of being wrong here is a long wait at 10,000 feet.
Traffic and wildlife. RVs and towed trailers take the switchbacks slowly and there are limited places to pass safely. Bears, moose and deer are present at the lower elevations on both ends, and the Lamar Valley just inside Yellowstone is one of the densest wildlife corridors in the country — which is wonderful from a saddle and dangerous at dusk.
Gear notes for high-altitude riding
Two things about the Beartooth stress a setup in ways flatland touring never does. The first is the altitude swing itself: you start around 5,200 feet and finish above 10,900, and cold tires set in a Red Lodge parking lot at dawn are a different tire an hour later on hot, exposed alpine pavement. Our guide to what a 5,700-foot climb does to your cold pressure covers what temperature and elevation actually do to the reading, and a Bluetooth TPMS sensor puts the live number in front of you instead of leaving you to guess on a road where a slow leak means a very long wait. The second is that this is a phone-hostile environment — glare above treeline, cold that kills batteries, rain that arrives in minutes, and dead cell coverage for most of the pass. A sunlight-readable handlebar riding display with the route cached beforehand keeps the phone sealed in your jacket where it belongs. The JADO S6 combines both jobs on one 6-inch screen and keeps front and rear cameras running, which matters on a road this photogenic and this exposed.
FAQ
When does the Beartooth Highway open?
Generally Memorial Day weekend, and it generally closes around mid-October. Both dates move with snowfall — the road is cleared once each spring, usually in May but sometimes not until June, so an early trip is always a gamble worth checking the morning you ride.
How long does it take to ride?
About two hours for the 68 miles between Red Lodge and Cooke City if you never stop, which nobody does. Plan on half a day if you want to stop at the overlooks, and a full day if you are continuing into Yellowstone's Northeast Entrance afterward.
Is it hard to ride on a motorcycle?
The switchbacks are tight and continuous rather than technically difficult, but the combination of altitude, wind, cold and unpredictable weather makes it demanding. Riders with limited mountain experience should do it in good weather and early in the day, not late in the afternoon when storms build.
Are there gas stations on the highway?
No. Fuel in Red Lodge on the Montana end and Cooke City on the west end. There is nothing between them.
What is the alternative when the pass is closed?
Wyoming Highway 296, the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway, meets US 212 west of the pass and offers a lower route toward Cody. It is a fine ride on its own and the standard fallback when the Beartooth gate is shut.
