Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Beartooth Highway Drive
Route
Red Lodge to Cooke City
Distance
68 miles (3 hours)
Speed Limit
Officially 70 mph, but more like 35mph
Summary
From its starting point at Red Lodge, the highway climbs Rock Creek
Canyon's glaciated valley before dramatically ascending the valley wall via a series of
spaghetti-loop switchbacks, gaining an amazing 5000ft in elevation in just a few miles.
A parking area at
Rock Creek Vista Point Overlook
(9160ft), 20 miles from Red Lodge,
has toilets and a short walk (wheelchair accessible) to superb views. The road continues
up onto the high plateau, past 'Mae West Curve' and into Wyoming.
In another 7 miles the road passes
Twin Lakes
, where a parking area offers good
views of the cirque and the ski lift that carries the daring to an extreme spring ski run, es-
tablished by Austrians in the 1960s. Another 1.3 miles further below the road is
Gardner
Lake
. After 0.7 miles, at the start of a series of switchbacks, look northwest across Rock
Creek for views of the Hellroaring Plateau and the jagged
Bear's Tooth
(11,612ft; 'Na