Pic: Twin Lakes Headwall, Beartooth Highway, Custer Gallatin NF, WY. Larger image
It had been a while since I got excited about a road, but it wasn’t every day that I could take “the most beautiful drive in America”.
While the Beartooth Highway doesn’t tunnel a mile through the side of a mountain, this Depression-era engineering marvel has a colorful history combining public access to newfangled “National Parks”, congressional legislation that built a single road, and a splash of resource extraction.
Pic: No trip to Big Sky Country is complete without a July snow storm. Beartooth Highway, Custer Gallatin NF, WY
I took in the sights from 11,000 feet: row upon row of craggy ridges, countless blue-gray mountain lakes, and… a ski lift? What was this doing here? I decided I’d better climb the lift tower and look around. Y’know, for science.
Pic: Coverage looks a little thin. Beartooth Basin Summer Ski Area, Custer Gallatin NF, WY
Danger Beyond This Point 
