Montana's two famous roads are Going-to-the-Sun Road through Glacier National Park and the Beartooth Highway on US 212, and both are worth the trip. But they are seasonal, crowded and hundreds of miles apart, so a Montana trip built only around them is mostly interstate. The roads that hold the rest of it together are MT 1, the Pintler Scenic Loop between Anaconda and Drummond, and the Kings Hill Scenic Byway on US 89 through the Little Belt Mountains. Below is what each gives you, what the season actually allows, and where the current park rules stand for 2026.
Montana's riding season is short and specific
The high roads here open late and close early, and that is not a detail you can work around. Going-to-the-Sun Road is generally open from early June to mid-October, and its latest opening on record was 13 July 2022 — later than the road's original 1933 dedication date. The Beartooth is usually open about five months, mid-May to mid-October, and its actual closing date each year is weather-dependent and can fall as early as September. The lower roads, MT 1 and the Kings Hill byway, run year round but stop being pleasant well before the calendar says so.
The other thing to check is park entry rules, which have changed repeatedly. For 2026, Glacier is not requiring vehicle reservations anywhere in the park — the reservation system that governed Going-to-the-Sun Road access in recent seasons has been suspended, with the park piloting a ticketed shuttle arrangement instead. That is the current position rather than a permanent one, so confirm it on the park's own page in the week you travel. You still pay the entrance fee.
Top motorcycle roads in Montana
| Road | Length | What it is | End to end |
|---|---|---|---|
| Going-to-the-Sun Road | About 50 miles | The only road across Glacier National Park; crosses the Continental Divide at Logan Pass, 6,646 feet | West Glacier to St. Mary |
| Beartooth Highway (US 212) | 69 miles | All-American Road of switchbacks to Beartooth Pass at 10,947 feet, on the Montana–Wyoming line | Red Lodge to Cooke City and Yellowstone's northeast entrance |
| MT 1 (Pintler Scenic Loop) | 63.65 miles | Pintler Veterans' Memorial Scenic Highway past Georgetown Lake; both ends drop onto I-90 | Anaconda I-90 junction to Drummond |
| US 89 (Kings Hill Scenic Byway) | 71.4 miles | Through the Little Belt Mountains and the Lewis and Clark National Forest; the pass is kept open in winter | US 12 near White Sulphur Springs to US 87 near Armington |
Open the Beartooth Highway in Google Maps — Red Lodge to Cooke City over the pass, ready to send to your navigation.
Going-to-the-Sun Road
Roughly 50 miles across the width of Glacier National Park, and the only road that traverses it. Construction started in 1921, finished in 1932 and the road was dedicated on 15 July 1933. It is the first road registered as a National Historic Place, a National Historic Landmark and a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, and once you see how the upper section is carved along the Garden Wall escarpment you understand why.
The high point is Logan Pass on the Continental Divide at 6,646 feet. The road is two narrow lanes with hairpin turns, especially west of the pass, and the restrictions reflect that: vehicles longer than 21 feet or wider than 8 feet are banned between the Avalanche Creek and Rising Sun picnic areas, and anything over 10 feet tall may not clear the rock overhangs heading west between Logan Pass and the hairpin called the Loop. Speed limits are 45 mph at the lower elevations and 25 mph in the alpine sections. None of that constrains a motorcycle, but it tells you exactly what kind of road it is.
What the road does constrain is your timing. Up to 80 feet of snow can sit on Logan Pass, with more just east of it at the drift known as the Big Drift. Clearing takes about ten weeks with equipment capable of moving 4,000 tons of snow an hour, and crews can still average as little as 500 feet of road per day. On the east side there are few guardrails, because late-winter avalanches keep destroying them.
Practical advice: ride it early in the morning. Logan Pass parking fills before nine on a summer day, and a bike between two lines of stationary traffic on a 25 mph alpine section is not the ride you came for.
The Beartooth Highway
US 212 between Red Lodge and Cooke City is 69 miles of switchbacks climbing from about 5,200 feet to Beartooth Pass at 10,947 feet — most of that gain inside twelve miles — before levelling onto a plateau and dropping toward Yellowstone's northeast entrance. It opened on 14 June 1936, it is an All-American Road, and Charles Kuralt famously called it the most beautiful drive in America.
Allow at least two hours for the 69 miles and treat the altitude seriously: snowstorms happen in midsummer up there, the wind is strong, thunderstorms build fast, and the elevation gain is quick enough that altitude sickness is a real possibility for susceptible riders. The pass generally opens on Memorial Day weekend and closes around mid-October, though it can shut in September. Neither the state nor the Park Service plows it except once in spring. We have a longer piece on riding it end to end in our Beartooth Highway guide.
MT 1, the Pintler Scenic Loop
This is the one to ride when the famous roads are jammed. MT 1 is officially the Pintler Veterans' Memorial Scenic Highway, informally the Pintler Scenic Loop, and it runs 63.65 miles from the Anaconda junction with I-90 west and north through Anaconda and Philipsburg to Drummond, where it rejoins I-90. Because both ends land on the interstate, it works as a detour rather than a commitment — you can pick it up mid-transit and lose only about an hour of clock time.
It was one of the first Montana roads to be paved end to end, and it gains real elevation in places as it winds between mountain landscapes, open meadows and the Philipsburg Valley. Georgetown Lake sits along the route and is the obvious stop. Philipsburg is an old mining town with its main street still standing, and it is the natural place to break the loop.
MT 1 carried the US 10 Alternate designation until US 10 was decommissioned in Montana in 1986, which is why older maps show it differently.
US 89 and the Kings Hill Scenic Byway
US 89 runs about 400 miles across Montana, from Yellowstone's north entrance at Gardiner to the Canadian border, and it is the thread that connects Yellowstone to Glacier. The designated byway is the 71.4-mile section between US 12 and US 87, running through the Little Belt Mountains and the Lewis and Clark National Forest by way of Neihart and Monarch.
It is a quieter road than anything else on this list and it crosses Kings Hill Pass, which snow crews work to keep open through the winter season — one of the few high crossings in Montana you can count on outside summer. Sluice Boxes State Park sits along it. If you are moving between the two national parks and want to avoid the interstate, this is the way to do it.
Fuel, weather and altitude
Fuel. Montana distances are the real hazard. There is no fuel on Going-to-the-Sun Road itself, nothing between Red Lodge and Cooke City on the Beartooth, and long empty stretches on US 89 through the Little Belts. Fill at every town on the high routes rather than at every other one.
Weather. Above 10,000 feet on the Beartooth, snow and hail in July are normal rather than remarkable. Logan Pass can go from sun to sleet inside an hour. Carry a layer you would consider excessive at the bottom of the climb, because you will want it at the top.
Traffic. Glacier in July and August is genuinely busy, and Logan Pass parking fills early. The Beartooth is busier on the Cooke City end because of Yellowstone. The Pintler loop and the Kings Hill byway are the two you can ride at your own pace.
Wildlife. This is bear, elk and bison country, and the animals use the roads. Dawn and dusk on the park roads and along the Yellowstone River stretch of US 89 north of Gardiner are when it matters most.
Surface. Freeze-thaw at altitude is brutal on pavement. Expect patched sections, frost heave and gravel washed into corners, particularly on the Beartooth in the first weeks after the spring plow.
Gear notes for Montana
Altitude is the thing that quietly changes your bike here. Climbing from 5,200 feet to nearly 11,000 in twelve miles takes the ambient temperature down sharply, and cold tires on cold pavement at the top of a pass behave nothing like they did in the valley. Our tire pressure guide covers how much that swing actually moves your numbers, and a valve-cap TPMS sensor shows the change happening rather than leaving you to work it out at the summit pull-off. The second issue is that there is no signal on most of this. Logan Pass, the Beartooth plateau and the Little Belts all drop out entirely, so download the maps before you go and put them somewhere you can read at a glance — a bar-mounted riding system keeps your phone in your pocket on roads with no shoulder to stop on. The JADO S6 runs navigation and live tire data together and keeps front and rear cameras recording, which matters on roads where wildlife walks out and traffic stops without warning. We build one of these, so read that with that in mind.
FAQ
Do I need a reservation to ride Going-to-the-Sun Road in 2026?
No. Glacier National Park is not requiring vehicle reservations anywhere in the park for the 2026 season, and is piloting a ticketed shuttle arrangement instead. Entrance fees still apply, and the park has changed this policy several times, so confirm on the park's own page before you travel.
When is Going-to-the-Sun Road fully open?
Generally early June to mid-October, but plowing the alpine section takes about ten weeks and the record late opening was 13 July 2022. The lower sections at each end open much earlier than the pass.
How long does the Beartooth Highway take?
At least two hours for the 69 miles between Red Lodge and Cooke City, and more if you stop, which you will. It climbs from roughly 5,200 feet to 10,947 feet at the pass, with most of that in a twelve-mile stretch of switchbacks.
What is the best Montana road that is not in a national park?
MT 1, the Pintler Scenic Loop. It is 63.65 miles between two I-90 junctions, so it costs you almost nothing in transit time, it climbs past Georgetown Lake, and it carries a fraction of the traffic of Glacier or the Beartooth.
Can I ride Montana's high roads in September?
Often, but not reliably. The Beartooth's closing date is weather-dependent and has come as early as September, and Logan Pass can shut on short notice. September riding here means checking the state's traveler information the morning you go, not the week before.
