Beartooth Highway Self-Guided Driving Audio Tour

There’s a nice picnic area coming up in a few moments with up-close view of the Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone River.

Note: The tour is over 63 miles long, with more than 44 audio stories, and takes about 2-3 hours to complete.

Buy once, use for one year! Ideal for extended visits and return trips over the next 12 months.

Our tour begins just outside the Yellowstone Trading Post, located at 207 Main St, Cooke City. To continue the tour, head east on Beartooth Highway.

Coming up in about a minute is a pull-out with a pretty cool sign that says “You’re Standing on the 45th Parallel.” The 45th Parallel is the circle of latitude that marks the halfway point between the Equator and the North Pole.

So let’s talk a little bit about the Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone River, whose Upper Fork parallels much of the Beartooth Highway from Cooke City to its junction with the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway.

Coming up in a few minutes is a small parking area for Crazy Creek Falls. The parking area is right across the highway from the Crazy Creek Campground but it’s easy to miss, so I'm going to point this one out when we get closer.

As we're soon to see, the Beartooth Highway crosses some of the wildest and most scenic landscapes in all of America. Due to high snowfall and wild winds, it's impossible for road crews to keep the roads safely open in winter, so it's only typically open each year from the Friday before Memorial Day through early October, we can expect to see some new snow lingering in the higher elevations until early to mid July, and snowstorms can happen at any time. I've even seen them in the middle of summer.

It’s definitely worth a stop for the views of Twin Lakes from here and if it’s early in the summer, we can watch some diehard skiers dropping into the basin.

The Beartooth Highway crosses some of the wildest and most scenic landscapes in all of America. Due to high snowfall and wild winds, it's impossible for road crews to keep the roads safely open in winter, so it's only typically open each year from the Friday before Memorial Day through early October, we can expect to see some new snow lingering in the higher elevations until early to mid July, and snowstorms can happen at any time.

I highly recommend making the three-mile drive to the lookout tower if we have the time available. The road is unpaved and a lot of turns in places so it’s not suitable for RVs or trailers but it should be easily navigable for most passenger cars.

we start really getting into our climb up to Beartooth Pass and many of our grandest views are still ahead of us.

It’s definitely worth a stop for the views of Twin Lakes from here and if it’s early in the summer, we can watch some diehard skiers dropping into the basin.

Like many small western mountain towns, Red Lodge was built around mining. James George, also known as Yankee Jim, discovered huge coal deposits while looking for gold in upper Rock Creek back in 1866.