Trip Overview
- Duration: 10 days
- Activity: Scenic drive, day hiking, optional backpacking
- Route: Billings, MT → Red Lodge, MT → Beartooth Pass → Cooke City, MT → Yellowstone NE Entrance → Lamar Valley → Mammoth → Red Lodge return (loop)
- Difficulty: Easy to Strenuous depending on hikes selected
- Permit: $35/vehicle Yellowstone entry (7-day pass)
- Best months: July–September (Beartooth Highway closed October–May)
- Start city: Billings, MT (airport access)
About the Beartooth Highway
US Highway 212 from Red Lodge, Montana to Cooke City at Yellowstone's northeast gate is 68 miles of switchbacks, tundra plateau, and views that stop traffic. The road climbs from 5,555 feet in Red Lodge to 10,947 feet at Beartooth Pass — the highest highway pass in the Northern Rockies — crossing 25 miles of above-treeline plateau where granite lakes sit in basins scraped by glaciers 12,000 years ago. It typically opens Memorial Day weekend and closes at first major snowfall, usually October.
The Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness flanking the highway contains 12 peaks over 12,000 feet and over 950 lakes. Most are accessible on foot from pullouts directly on the highway — no long approach required.
Days 1–2 — Billings to Red Lodge
Fly into Billings Logan International Airport and drive 60 miles to Red Lodge, Montana — a restored mining town with a walkable main street, excellent restaurants, and the Carbon County Historical Society museum. Red Lodge is the east gateway to the Beartooth. Two nights here allows time to acclimatize before the pass.
Day 2 afternoon hike: West Fork Rock Creek Trail (8 miles round trip, 1,800 ft gain) from Red Lodge — follows Rock Creek into the Absaroka-Beartooth above the ski area. Wildflowers in July, golden aspen in September.
Days 3–4 — Beartooth Highway Day Hikes
Drive the highway. Stop every few miles. The key pullouts and hikes:
Rock Creek Vista Point Overlook — 0.4 mile walk, 1,200-foot drop view back toward Red Lodge. The highway climbs visibly below you in a series of switchbacks.
Island Lake Trailhead (Beartooth Plateau, 9,518 ft) — Island Lake to Night Lake loop (4 miles, 400 ft gain) across the plateau through granite basins. Island Lake has a forest service campground ($10/night, first-come) and a boat launch for canoes. AllTrails: 4.7★ (623 reviews).
Beartooth Lake — campground, picnic area, and easy shoreline walk. Good for spotting Clark's nutcrackers and rosy-finches above treeline.
Top of the World (pullout at 9,985 ft) — a general store open July–August, spectacular views north to the Beartooth Plateau escarpment.
r/roadtrip▲ 4.1k upvotes"I've driven this highway three times. It never gets less impressive. Pull over every chance you get — the lakes are everywhere up there."
Day 5 — Cooke City & Northeast Yellowstone
Cooke City (pop. 75) is the last town before Yellowstone's northeast gate. It has a handful of outfitters, a good diner, and an atmosphere that hasn't changed since the 1970s. The northeast entrance to Yellowstone is 4 miles west.
This entrance is the only Yellowstone gate open year-round and the least crowded. The drive west from here into Lamar Valley is the most reliable wildlife corridor in the lower 48 outside of Alaska.
Days 6–7 — Lamar Valley (Wolf & Wildlife Watching)
Lamar Valley is where Yellowstone's wolf reintroduction happened in 1995, and wolves are regularly visible from the road with binoculars or a spotting scope (10x minimum, 20–60x ideal). The Lamar Canyon pack and Junction Butte pack are frequently active in the valley. Pull into any of the roadside pullouts at dawn or dusk.
Beyond wolves: bison herds of 200–500 animals are common crossing the road. Pronghorn sprint across the sagebrush flats. Grizzly and black bears appear on the slopes. The Lamar Valley hike to Trout Lake (1.2 miles round trip) gets you away from the road and into the forest above the valley — otters live at the lake.
Days 8–9 — Mammoth Hot Springs & Northern Range
Drive west to Mammoth Hot Springs for the travertine terraces — hot spring mineral deposits that build layered white and orange formations constantly changing. The Mammoth to Tower Junction road passes through the Northern Range, Yellowstone's driest section, where elk winter and bighorn sheep cling to the canyon walls above the Yellowstone River.
Hike the Yellowstone River Picnic Area Trail (4 miles, viewpoints into the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone from the north rim). Less crowded than the Artist Point overlooks on the south rim.
Day 10 — Return via Beartooth (Reverse Direction)
Drive the highway east back to Red Lodge — the reverse direction reveals entirely different views. Stop again at Island Lake, pack out, and return to Billings for departure.
Backpacking Add-On: Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness
From Island Lake Campground, a wilderness backpacking loop through the Beartooth Plateau (3 days, ~25 miles) requires no permit. The plateau above 10,000 feet has dozens of unnamed lakes, loose granite terrain, and almost no other hikers once you leave the highway corridor. Bear canister recommended (grizzlies active on the plateau).
Gear Notes
- Binoculars (8x42 minimum) — mandatory for Lamar Valley wildlife
- Rain gear — Beartooth Plateau afternoon thunderstorms daily in July–August
- Layers — plateau temps drop to 35°F at night even in August
- Bear spray if day hiking off-trail in the Absaroka-Beartooth
