2021 Southwest Circle Tour-June 15, The Beartooth

Billings,Montana Tuesday June 15,2021

(In honor of the Beartooth, we will insert numerous pictures at the end of the blog post.)

Today there was only one item on the agenda. Drive the Beartooth Highway. The Beartooth is a legendary scenic highway that opened on June 14, 1936. Technically it is U.S. Highway 212 and runs from Cooke City Montana (its western terminus), dips down southeasterly into Wyoming towards Cody, and then resumes its northeastward journey to Red Lodge, Montana. It is only 68 miles in total.

Almost exactly 8 years ago, on June 7, 2013, we took the westernmost portion of the highway as we were leaving Yellowstone National Park. The highest and curviest section of the road we passed by; it was out of our way and the road had just opened for the season. (The Beartooth stretch we took today is normally closed from November to early June due to snow.)

The road was even more spectacular than I had hoped. Chris was blown away by its rugged beauty. Deep canyons, alpine lakes and waterfalls, more switchbacks than one could count, and a variety of landscapes from wildflowers, green valleys, brown valleys, steep valleys, and snow capped mountain peaks. To top it off, there was a section of construction that narrowed the road even more and a forest fire was raging just over the next mountain peak.

Lest I forget it, we did make a driving mistake. Before we got to the Beartooth, we missed a turn-off and drove 15 miles in the wrong direction before we caught ourselves. I know, basic mistake for people who have driven over 100,000 miles on these trips. In our defense, the turn off was not marked well and was right in the midst of another construction zone. At that point, the landscape was still flat high desert plains and we started wondering, when does the good stuff start?

The highest point on the Beartooth is 10,947 feet above sea level. Just a few days ago we were at Cedar Breaks National Monument. The parking lot at Cedar Breaks is at 10,460 feet. But the two drives are like night and day. At Cedar Breaks the ascent is gradual and on a wide road. On the Beartooth, the road is narrow and steep drop-offs line much of the ascent/descent.

We took windshield pictures and also stopped frequently at scenic overlooks and informal pull-offs. We might even have stopped right in the roadway once or twice when no cars were in sight. I scared Chris once when I made a quick turn into an informal pull-off that she did not realize was there. Of course, it was not on the rock side of the road but the steep drop-off side.

It took us four hours to reach the beginning of the Beartooth from our Airbnb lodging along the Wind RIver in Thermopolis. We did take a mid-morning breakfast stop in Cody. The scenery was pleasant; the last portion before the Beartooth was along the Chief Joseph scenic byway we took back in 2013 instead of the Beartooth.

Our lodging tonight is a Hampton Inn in Billings Montana. They are completely booked up and turning away callers who had not made an advance reservation. Our future plans have changed. In this heat, it was 107 degrees today in Billings, wildlife refuges in North and South Dakota are not particularly exciting. We are going to re-route ourselves further north to see the Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site and the Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site in North Dakota. We should still arrive home on Friday June 18.

In honor of the Beartooth, we are pleased to present numerous pictures of today’s scenery.

Ed Heimel, Chris Klejbuk Billings MT June 15