I rode the Beartooth Highway today. I entered the West entrance of Yellowstone NP at 0600 and worked my way to the Northeast entrance/exit which is where the Beartooth Highway starts. As I passed the arms they bring down across the road when it's closed, the sign said "Beartooth Highway is OPEN". I thought "Cool". My assumption was that if the highway was open it would be safe to ride. I think thats a natural thing to assume. Ummm, not so much. The highway was just spectacular. The ride was great. That said, when I got above the tree line I started seeing patches of snow on the road. Remember, it's very early in the morning. Still around 32F. As I got higher the snow patches got closer and closer together till they were continuous. They were still frozen and thus very dicey to ride across. I came as close to going down as I ever have. I felt the front tire sliding in a turn and somehow got it corrected. I guess deep in my goofy brain I was able to bring up my dirt bike days, where sliding is part of riding. At the summit I saw another motorcycle. Abandoned. Just sitting on the side of the road. Judging from the ice on the bike it had been there overnight. Nice bike. Fully loaded for traveling as was I. Never saw the rider. I have to assume he tried to make it across and didn't. He must have just gotten spooked. It was very squirelly riding but easier on the descent. I would pull in the clutch and just roll across the ice.
I got a few more photos on the way out of the park which I will post.
I'm going to paste a description of Beartooth Highway I found on a website:
The first 15 miles out of Red Lodge takes you from the canyon floor and climbs almost 4,000 feet in elevation, taking you past Precambrian rock slides and red and yellow rock outcroppings. Expect hairpin curves, U-curves, and sinuous S-curves in the road as you climb to the canyon rim past forests, rugged cliffs, pristine lakes, mountain peaks, alpine tundra, and snow banks even in August. At 45 miles in length, you will cross the highest point in the Beartooth Highway at 10,974. Here, you leave Montana and enter Wyoming. The descent takes you along switchbacks which meander through rolling hills saturated with lakes, forests, and wildlife.
The Beartooth Mountains boast some of the highest elevations in the lower 48 states, and have 20 peaks over 12,000 feet in elevation. Glaciers are abundant in the Beartooths and can be found on the north face on almost every mountain peak over 11,500 feet. Hundreds of lakes, forests, and an eclectic array of wildlife such as grizzly bears, elk, bison, mountain goats, marmots, and mule deer can be found in the 900,000 acres that make up the Absaroka-Beartooth wilderness.
