Beartooth Highway, Scenic route through Wyoming and Montana, United States.
Beartooth Highway is the 69-mile (111 km) section of U.S. Route 212 between Red Lodge, Montana, and Cooke City, Montana, just outside Yellowstone National Park's northeast entrance. It climbs from about 5,200 feet to Beartooth Pass in Wyoming at 10,947 feet, with steep switchbacks along the Montana–Wyoming border. The road crosses a wide plateau near the pass and passes lakes of the Absaroka–Beartooth Wilderness.
Construction began after federal legislation supported access roads to national parks in 1931. The route opened to traffic in June 1936.
The road earned recognition in the National Register of Historic Places in 2014 as the Red Lodge - Cooke City Approach Road Historic District.
The road usually stays open from late May to mid-October and reaches elevations above 10,900 feet (3,300 meters). Anyone planning to drive should check weather ahead and bring layers for cooler temperatures.
A military expedition led by General Philip Sheridan used this pass in August 1872 on the return from Yellowstone country. A hunter had suggested the shorter mountain route to the troops.
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