Beartooth Highway

Been there done that last year in June. We actually found a spot in a campground in Yellowstone without reservations!!! We were on motorcycles and tent camping. We left out of Yellowstone at daylight with frost on the bikes. When we got to the top of Bear Tooth we were in the middle of a freaking ice storm!!!!!! I think there is still a permanent wrinkle in the seat of my motorcycle!!!! We could only go in first gear due to riding them like dirt bikes so we kind of held up traffic. I think I would not be comfortable taking our fifth wheel and truck over that one..

We spent ten days in the Yellowstone area some time back. Camped in Livingston, which is just outside the north entrance. Took day trips in our Jeep all over the park, including the Beartooth. Would not want to try it in a MH.

GM

We went across the Beartooth two weeks ago in a Ford Explorer from Red Lodge to Yellowstone. I'll tell you right up front that I hate heights. Nobody told us about this bastard in advance. I think my fingerprints are permanently imbedded in that rental's steering wheel. The road is barely wide enough for two cars. If there's any wind, rain, or snow it would be a real nasty character. To sum up, my feelings, if the Beartooth had been the only way for me to get home, I'd probably still be in Yellowstone.

Fred.

trailertraveler wrote:
My suggestion is to do a loop without the RV of the Beartooth Highway and the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway. Cooke City, Red Lodge or Cody are potential starting points. The loop of WY-296, US-212, MT-308, and MT-72/WY-120 is about 180 miles. Cooke City and Red Lodge are interesting small towns and Cody has the Buffalo Bill Center, Old Trail Town and the nightly rodeo.

There are several nice NF campgrounds on Rock Creek just below the switchbacks on the Red Lodge side. We camped at one and took the toad over the pass. Had Lunch in Cooke City. Took the Chief Joseph scenic byway over to WY120 to MT72. At MT308 cut over to Red Lodge then south on Hiway 212 to the campground. There is a not bad gravel/dirt road that follows Rock Creek up the valley that a Subaru Forester/Outback could handle OK.

My suggestion is to do a loop without the RV of the Beartooth Highway and the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway. Cooke City, Red Lodge or Cody are potential starting points. The loop of WY-296, US-212, MT-308, and MT-72/WY-120 is about 180 miles. Cooke City and Red Lodge are interesting small towns and Cody has the Buffalo Bill Center, Old Trail Town and the nightly rodeo.

I encountered snow flurries up there mid-September about 10 yrs ago (the same storm dusted Chief Joseph and the Big Horns).

I have done iit 5 or 6 times, mostly in Suburbans or pick up trucks. The last time I went over the Beartooth was two years ago in a 36ft diesel pusher pulling a Jeep. It helped that I had been over the pass before so I knew what to expect. I did not need to use the brakes much, mostly just geared down and used the engine brake to slow down.

The only time I had any trouble getting over the pass was on a crossing I did one September about 20 years ago, ran into heavy snow near the top and had to drive in 4 wheel drive for about 10 miles.

TexasShadow has it just right, except if I was doing it, I'd try to drive the highway from the Red Lodge side up to the top. I'd unhook down near Red Lodge and drive the Subaru up (maybe all the way to Cooke City) and return to the bottom. There's a USFS campground at the bottom not far from Red Lodge, stay there and enjoy the drive to the top, stop at the overlook for a great view.

If you're doing it because you like scenic roads, you won't see much of it because there are very few pull outs to stop and take a breather.
If you're going DOWN to Red Lodge, you'll like it more if you unhook at the top of the pass and take your toad down and back up.
If you're going UP from Red Lodge, be prepared for a long, hard pull to the top... not quite as bad going down to Cooke City.

IF it was me, I would be ok towing up from Redlodge...but wouldn't be too excited going the other way. I saw plenty of folks doing it, and they didn't look real happy. It is most definitely steep and winding.

Not sure I'd do it either way in a gasser though.