Question about Beartooth Highway
 

We are planning a 9-10 day trip in August. We have the nights of August 25-28 at lodges in Yellowstone so we are planning around that. Right now we are planning on flying into Bozeman and spending 4 nights at the Rainbow Ranch Lodge before our 3 nights in Yellowstone and then spending 2 nights in Jackson Hole afterwards. My question: should we leave a day earlier and fly into Billings and drive the Beartooth Highway to Cooke City and stay there (or thereabouts) for a night and then drive to Big Sky the next day, stopping in the park along the way, In other words, is the drive on the Beartooth Highway worth it? The guidebooks make it sound spectacular and a little off the beaten path which appeals to us. Any advice or suggestions about our itinerary generally appreciated

The Beartooth Highway is fabulous.

I would definitely spend more time doing that and Yellowstone/Tetons than staying 4 nights at Rainbow Ranch Lodge.

Thanks for this. I will try to add 1-2 nights for the Beartooth Highway (maybe one night in Red Lodge and one mor night in the park if I can get it) and one less night for Rainbow Ranch.

Just drove this in early June (first day it was open), pretty fabulous, felt like we were driving through snow tunnels and the scenery was amazing.

We stayed in Billings the first night (our flight wasn't getting in until late pm and did not want to drive), then drove to Red Lodge the next day, had lunch and wandered the town, then drove BT highway to Yellowstone for our two night stay in the park.

Hope this helps.

This is very helpful. Could you estimate how long the drive was from Billlings to Cooke City/Yellowstone?

Beartooth is very much worth the time!
1 hour Billings to Red Lodge, 2 hours or more to Cooke City depending on stops, and there are many places you might want to stop.

Last year we did Yellowstone and Grand Tetons, and stayed 2 nights in Cooke City, at the Super 8 (had a really good experience). We did not do the whole Beartooth Hwy because it snowed on the other end and it would have taken forever and we didn't start out as early as we should have. Absolutely do it, it's as fabulous as everyone says.

Thank you for this. I have booked my flight to Billings and think I will spend the first night in Red Lodge (the day we arrive) and then one night in Cooke City.

Have fun in Red Lodge. We enjoy walking around that town and seeing the sights. See my Red Lodge page at...

http://strayertravels.wordpress.com/...lodge-montana/

Have a great trip...wish we were going in September.

We drove the Beartooth last week. Just a spectactular drive and it took 2 hours to go from Red Lodge to the bottom of the pass.


We stayed in Red Lodge and found a great meal at a little wine shop/restaurant right in the middle of town.... there is only one so it can't be missed.

Yes, Beartooth Highway is a very much worth a detour, Red Lodge is a delightful town, and the NE corner of Yellowstone is extremely scenic and comparatively quiet.

In Red Lodge we stayed at Rocky Fork Inn. We had a large, comfortable room with a deck and our hostess gave us the lowdown on all the local restaurants (of which there are a few
good ones).

HTTY