Day Trip from Billings MT: Up the Beartooth Highway

I think it was TV person Charles Kuralt who is usually given credit for calling attention to the Beartooth Highway in one of his CBS travel programs: "the most beautiful drive in America."

If any person takes the drive from Red Lodge to Cooke City he doesn't have to be a celebrity to be impressed. Our grandsons wondered along with us on this trip into Yellowstone Park last summer.

We have not been here for some years. Whatever the problem was in 2005 or so it apparently has been fixed. If it hadn't I'm sure Cooke City and Red Lodge would have dried up and blown away by now.

There is an interesting couple of articles on the highway here and here. That is grandson Zac Mazzuca above hanging on to the railing because of the wind.







The little creatures are fearless at this altitude, in contrast to us big folk. We get a little short-winded up here, and the hands tend to grip the wheel a little more firmly than usual.

The highest point in both Wyoming and Montana on this highway is very close to 11,000 ft!






In addition to mountains, more than you can count, there are some beautiful lakes as well. It is difficult to describe the beautiful blue-green color of these alpine lakes.

Though it is only 64 miles from Red Lodge to Cooke City, the curves and switchbacks and scenery mean that it takes at least a couple of hours to get there. And of course