what is worth seeing near Beartooth Pass? | GTAMotorcycle.com

what is worth seeing near Beartooth Pass?

wonderings

Well-known member
Planning out a trip next summer and thinking of heading west again. This time I would be heading towards Beartooth pass, hear nothing but good things about it. I would only push as far west as Yellowstone Park and even that is a maybe as I have heard it can be very busy, especially when I would be planning to go sometime in July.

So what I have tentatively is:

Beartooth Pass
Yellowstone Park
Chief Joseph byway
Custer State Park / Mt Rushmore

Any suggestions for places to ride or things to see? Not super into touristy stuff, the trip is basically a time for me to get away and unwind on my own.
 
Hwy 12 Missoula, Montana to Kooskia, Idaho. Then explore Idaho, lots of great quiet riding.
 
Highway 14 or 14A across the bighorn pass was one of my absolutely favourite roads of all time when we were out there in 2008.

The Tetons are also quite nice - if you're in Yellowstone anyways, go south around Grand Teton. Hit Devils Tower as well on the way west, and if you're in Yellowstone anyways, you might as well stop and see Old Faithful - it was kinda cool. Mount Rushmore as well if you're into that sorta thing.

Planning a trip out that way this summer as well with a friend. Here's the tentative plan through Yellowstone and the Tetons at this point.

yellowstone.jpg
 
Planning out a trip next summer and thinking of heading west again. This time I would be heading towards Beartooth pass, hear nothing but good things about it. I would only push as far west as Yellowstone Park and even that is a maybe as I have heard it can be very busy, especially when I would be planning to go sometime in July.

So what I have tentatively is:

Beartooth Pass
Yellowstone Park
Chief Joseph byway
Custer State Park / Mt Rushmore

Any suggestions for places to ride or things to see? Not super into touristy stuff, the trip is basically a time for me to get away and unwind on my own.

Crazy horse memorial south of Mount Rushmore is good. Film and story is worth the price of admission.

Sent from my LG-H831 using GTAMotorcycle.com mobile app
 
There was a really nice knife in the Mt.Rushmore gift shop that I wish I had bought, beautiful etched blade and bone handle. :I wonder if it's still there. When you see something you really like you should never hesitate, it's like mushrooms, pick em when you see's em.
 
Won't be heading into Idaho, if I had more time I would love to explore more. Basically as far west as I will probably go is Yellowstone. I have Mt Rushmore on the list and plotted, I figure why not while I am out there. Not huge on these destinations but I will give it a quick gander.

Will give Big Horn Pass a look.

Devils tower is on the list as well

Don't see any image PrivatePilot, is the link broken?

This is what I have so far for out west:

 
whoops, I didn't move the file to my server correctly. Image above fixed, here it is again.

yellowstone.jpg
 
you are a days ride from Glacier National Park ( both in Canada and the US )

North and slightly west and a nice ride in between ...you likely do not have to track into Yellowstone to get there.
 
I’ve travelled in the area 4 times in the last 6 years

I agree with what all has been said so far
I’ll try to add to all of that.
Mac is right…Glacier really is worth seeing but if you’re not going that far west maybe another time.
The Grand Tetons are also amazing and so is Jackson Hole…you may want to re think missing this.
We stayed at Jackson Lake Lodge as it was the most reasonable for the area
I’d skip the whole Bozeman MT thing and if it aloud insert something else.
Your map indicates going to Bozeman so you can do roads 89n and 191s
Dong get me wrong…there nice roads but better ones around.
There’s great accommodations in West Yellowstone…Red Lodge (The Alpine) and Cody but I found Cody a little pricy
I never book ahead of time but those 3 places fill up fast so keep that in mind.
Cooke City is a must for lunch along with Ten Sleep if you decide to take 16 across to Buffalo WY
Deadwood SD is a must see and don’t miss on The Badlands.
Most of these parks you have to pay to get in…around $10usd
Avoid Rapid City but try to see Hill City…Custer and Keystone.
 
x2 on 14A Bighorn pass. A beautiful stretch of tarmac.

Devils tower was pretty neat.

and though I enjoyed Crazy Horse memorial, Custer park I felt underwhelmed.

I know of a great Airbnb place very close to the eastern entrance/exit to Beartooth in RedLodge if you're interested.
 
I ended up adjusting my route and removed the loop down through the Tetons. As much as I wanted to do it, it pushed the average mileage for our "touring" days in the black hills too high. We're aiming to do 500KM or less per day through the Bighorns, Yellowstone, and Beartooth pass - we are both on the same page that we want to have time to stop and take in the scenery, take photos, etc. Plus, having been out there before, I know that the average speed in many sections will not be high.

We have some 1700+KM days on the to and from stretch, I'm quite happy doing that simply to keep the trip into the 7-8 day time window, but both of us going want to keep the pace much slower once we are actually there. We are only doing a total of about 24 hours or so in Sturgis itself.
 

Back
Top Bottom