Montana & Wyoming - August, 2003 (Re-run)

 If you are old enough, you may remember Charles Kuralt, a CBS newsman who became famous for producing the "On The Road" segment for the Sunday Morning TV show.  (He later became famous for having two wives and two families, but that's not relevant to my story.)  Kuralt traveled all over the country reporting on the interesting and scenic things he found along the way.  As one who saw much of the country, his expert opinion was that the Beartooth Highway in Montana and Wyoming is the most spectacular highway in the country.  Maybe he never saw those highways in Colorado, Utah or the Coast Highway in California and Oregon.  Regardless, I would agree with him that Beartooth Highway is among the most spectacular roads in the country.

The 68 mile highway runs between the Northeast entrance of Yellowstone National Park and the charming western town of Red Lodge, MT.  It rises some 5000 feet through a series of switchbacks and tops out at roughly 11,000 feet.  Travelers on this highway are treated to mountains, valleys, waterfalls and nearly 1000 alpine lakes.  Open (weather permitting) between Memorial Day and Columbus Day, breathtaking views of wildflowers are available much of that time.  The highway is named for Beartooth Mountain, as is Beartooth Butte, Beartooth Falls, Beartooth Lake and the entire Beartooth Mountain Range.

                                      

Of course, the Missouri River runs through Montana, which makes it Lewis & Clark Country, and those intrepid explorers are properly honored here.  The "mighty" Missouri has been tamed somewhat since those days by the construction of six dams to provide electricity and water for drinking and irrigation, but also to control the catastrophic flooding that once occurred.  It's easy to see why the Lewis & Clark expedition had to make long portages around what were violent falls at that time.

Eastern Montana is a huge wheat-growing region.  Coming into the state from the East, I've speculated that a person could travel some 200 miles without ever leaving a wheat field except to cross a river or a road.  It seems to go on forever.