Beartooth Highway - trip report

[gregr]

According to the AMA's survey, the Beartooth Highway is the #1 best motorcycle road in the country (ref http://www.americanmotorcyclist.com/...ing_roads.aspx). So a few days ago, on my way out to the coast, of course I made some time to see what this road was like.

I came up through Cody up 296 (this is the lower leg in the first map) - I wasn't planning on doing this part, but I had a little extra time so I thought what the heck, so I took 296 and 212 up to Red Lodge. It was in the afternoon, and the weather didn't cooperate even a little - it was raining, and even small hail at one point. That, combined with creeping traffic up at the summit, just made it a long day.

But the next day, the weather was cool (50's) but clear. I left from Red Lodge and went to Cooke City (and beyond) - and OMG, I do love this road. It's twisty up to its 10,900 foot summit...but the cool thing, and the thing that's different from the usual mountain passes, is once you're up at the top, it just cruises around for a while. It's not an up and down thing - it's an up, cruise around, and then down.

Combine that with the fact that the speed limit over most of it is 70 (this is on the Montana side), and it's something. In Colorado, this would probably have a 45-ish speed limit, but Montana apparently likes to let you make your own decisions about speed. It was something, cruising around on a road over 10,000 feet, with no traffic, at 70+ mph, and knowing I wasn't even speeding.

I didn't see a lot of sportbikes up there - actually, my Multistrada was the closest thing to a sportbike I saw on the whole road.

Anyway, if you get up that way, definitely recommended! I'm not sure I'd call it the #1 road in the country, but it was definitely fun and worth the ride.

Here's a map:



And a zoomed out version to give you a better idea where this is:

[Generic]

Maybe it's time I go visit my friends in Sheridan and Cody again

[LivingPools]

For a shorter-distance rider like myself, this looks like a bear to get to. However, I could see this as a destination if I visited Yellowstone too. Thanks for posting up the info and your thoughts!

Any good routes to suggest for getting there ?

[Generic]

If I were to do it, I'd take the highways across Co to Utah and go up through Idaho, into Yellowstone, then over to this. That's the more scenic, less trafficed route. If you just wanted to get to this section, I25 North then West from Sheridan. That's a long ride on the interstate though.

[gregr]

Here's the route I took to get there; I stayed in Riverton the first night, then Red Bluff (marker G) the second.

[LivingPools]

Nice route ideas, I appreciate it! I definitely want to ride some routes in UT next year.

gregr, how was the ride on your route? Looks like Laramie to Rawlins and around Sheridan could be good, hard to tell about the rest.

[gregr]

gregr, how was the ride on your route? Looks like Laramie to Rawlins and around Sheridan could be good, hard to tell about the rest.

Laramie to Rawlins (C to D) looked like it should be fun, over the Snowy range, but it was disappointing. I mean, it was scenic and all, just not super entertaining for someone spoiled by Colorado's roads.

E to F would have been ok - I was stuck behind traffic there, but nice sweepers if you had it to yourself. Not worth going out of your way for.

The stretch on 14 over towards Sheridan and back was fun - it went over a pass (whose name escapes me), and the road was entertaining. Again not worth going out of your way for, but if you're routing through the general area, it's the most fun way I found to get through.

And then finally, 296 and 212 were totally worth it - especially 212 is a don't miss road if you're up there. It is worth noting that if you go west on 212 through Cooke City, the next thing you hit is Yellowstone, and you have to pay to continue. You could turn around if you wanted, or I just paid and drive through the north edge of Yellowstone. Which, incidentally, was a nightmare with traffic and a 45 mph speed limit, with Rangers seemingly everywhere. Nothing against Yellowstone - I'm sure it's nice! - but I was just trying to pass through it.

[Generic]

There's no good route out of Laramie to anywhere that is much fun. Laramie to Wheatland through the Canyon is about the only good road, except it's populated with Deer and Elk and then you hit I25 with no other options.