Beartooth Pass (Surrounding rides)

[Baz]

Hi Everyone:

A small group of us are planning a trip to Beartooth Pass this July. (We are Riding from Edmonton AB)  

I was wondering what any of you might suggest for other rides to explore in the area. I have explored a bit of Utah and really loved that area. We are sort of looking at rides which would place us about two or three days away from the Beartooth pass area. (Some of the people in our group are only good for about 300 miles a day)

Any suggestions?

[notarian]

Beartooth, Chief Joseph and Yellowstone pretty much sum up that area. Yellowstone will be crowded and slow going. Next closest large riding areas I can think of are Colorado (Red Lodge to Walden = 430 miles) and Idaho/Montana (Red Lodge to Missoula and Lolo Pass = 330 miles).

Idaho is very good for canyon carving (such as Challis - Stanley - Lowman - Boise (and the roads off Hwy 21 to Banks and Horseshoe Bend)

So is the area northwest of Spokane, the roads up around Republic and it gives way to a mighty fine return journey to Edmonton via BC (Keremeos, Merritt, Douglas Ranch, Vernon, Faquier, Kalso, Kimberly, etc...).

[zer0netgain]

Without trying to plan a route for you....

On the way down, you could take a long way via Cardston, AB and hit Glacier National Park.  From there, there is nothing great until you get to Beartooth, and once there, you have Yellowstone, but it will be long and slow as it's a national park.  You could head east to US-14 (Shall to Dayton, WY).

US-12  (Kooskia, ID to Lolo, MT) is to the west.

Some nice roads, but a lot of somewhat dull riding to get to each of them.  

[Gun Slinger]

You could make yourself welcome to Colorado  
Some of the greatest roads in North America can be found here with cool mountain temps and awesome views. Lots of ski towns that are great stopping points for food and lodging.

[birdrunner]

Hi Everyone:

A small group of us are planning a trip to Beartooth Pass this July. (We are Riding from Edmonton AB)  

I was wondering what any of you might suggest for other rides to explore in the area. I have explored a bit of Utah and really loved that area. We are sort of looking at rides which would place us about two or three days away from the Beartooth pass area. (Some of the people in our group are only good for about 300 miles a day)

Any suggestions?

Gee Baz,  for beer money I'd take you with me next July after the BBBBQ.
How long are you planning to travel?

suggestions .Going to the Sun Road.  Swan Lake Hwy to Missoula, Lolo Pass,  Back over Lolo to Salmon, ID. ( or keep on to Boise, Sun Valley),  West Yellowstone, / Old Faithful.  Cody, Wy.  (Visit the  Blackhills, home of my favorite riding),  Back to Cody crossing Bighorns over different pass.  Chief Joseph, Lunch in  Cooke City,  back to Beartooth,  good eats in Deerlodge.  Glacier NP then home.  Trailering to Glacier is not a bad idea.

Of course that's what I'd do if I had a 4 day weekend     If you have a week,  we can talk about Colorado and Utah.  

[Baz]

Oh I should have mentioned that Utah & Col. are of the most interest. Our ride through Montana will of course be part of the round trip.  

We are planning a Max. of 9 days, 3 there, three back and 3 days of riding near Beartooth.

I did a car trip through Wyoming & Col a couple of years back, and found a most excellent 2 lane highway in Colorado running N/S that I am trying to recall. It was a high mountain pass littered with open range cattle, but man I would love to do that on the FJR.

Bird... You going to be at the bike show this year? All of us who will be doing the trip will be in attendance and you might even get a free beer for your advice!

The people I met in Wyoming were so friendly I started getting suspicious after a while.  

[notarian]

Baz,

Unless you want to purposely see Yellowstone, 3 days riding the Beartooth area will consist of 2 roads. Beartooth Pass and Chief Joseph Scenic Byway. For the roads, one day will do for all of you.

Edmonton - Red Lodge (Beartooth Pass base) - Walden, Co is 1200 miles using Google Map and not much shorter bypassing Red Lodge. With your friends wanting to do 300 miles max, that's 4 days just to get to Colorado. 90% will be dead boring. Throw in Beartooth and Chief Joe for a day and that's 5 days. Even if you do more than 300 miles/day, it will be 4 of the allotted 9 days. All that for one day in Colorado? Southern Utah is even further.

Sorry Mate, it doesn't seem like 9 days is nearly enough time to do Colorado any justice. I think 2 weeks minimum if you can stretch it. Personally, I'd be looking at another riding area such as Lolo, Idaho, eastern Washington and back through BC. Glacier Park is very good, but road work on the Sun road is down right awful (the Hell road) = wait until they finish it in a couple of years.

[mtrider16]

I'll make the case for staying in Montana.    However, I'm not sure if your looking for sightseeing or curvy roads.

The major attractions are Glacier, Eureka, Lolo Pass, Dillon, Yellowstone, Beartooth and Red Lodge, Dead Indian Pass to Cody.

Sights to see are numerous:

Cody - Bill Cody Museum - Guns, Bill Cody, and Native American exibits

Redlodge - good place to stop and eat, for a change take the highway to Belfry and then come back to Cooke City over Dead Indian Pass (Chief Joseph Highway).  Going north out of Red Lodge, go to Absaroka and take 419 out to Nye and down the Stillwater valley.

Bozeman Area:  Museum of the Rockies, Missouri Headwaters, Hwy 86 past Bridger Bowl, Lewis and Clark Caverans.

Dillion Area: Virginia/Nevada City Ghost Towns, Beaverhead Rock, Bannack State Park Ghost Town, Big Hole Battle Field

Butte and Anaconda: Butte Mining Museum, Anaconda Smelter Stack, Philipsberg and Granite Ghost Town, Skalkaho Pass (if you don't mind some gravel)

Helena: Lots of attractions in the old section of town, Flesher Pass on Hwy 279, Marysville GT, Gates of the Mountain boat ride at Exit 209 on I-15 upper Holter Lake

Great Falls:  Lewis and Clark interpretive center, Charlie Russel Museum, Great Falls of the Missouri (5 total), Fort Benton River Front, Upper Missouri Breaks Interpretive Center Fort Benton.

If you go by Martinsdale, there is the Bair Family Museum.

Kalispell area has a number of touristy sites especially around Flathead Lake, Hungry Horse Dam,

Eureka/Libby: stop by Yaak for kicks, Ross Creek Ceder Grove

David

[Baz]

Baz,

Unless you want to purposely see Yellowstone, 3 days riding the Beartooth area will consist of 2 roads. Beartooth Pass and Chief Joseph Scenic Byway. For the roads, one day will do for all of you.

Edmonton - Red Lodge (Beartooth Pass base) - Walden, Co is 1200 miles using Google Map and not much shorter bypassing Red Lodge. With your friends wanting to do 300 miles max, that's 4 days just to get to Colorado. 90% will be dead boring. Throw in Beartooth and Chief Joe for a day and that's 5 days. Even if you do more than 300 miles/day, it will be 4 of the allotted 9 days. All that for one day in Colorado? Southern Utah is even further.

Sorry Mate, it doesn't seem like 9 days is nearly enough time to do Colorado any justice. I think 2 weeks minimum if you can stretch it. Personally, I'd be looking at another riding area such as Lolo, Idaho, eastern Washington and back through BC. Glacier Park is very good, but road work on the Sun road is down right awful (the Hell road) = wait until they finish it in a couple of years.

I had not yet done any googling as for distances. I may have to have the boys rethink this trip. I suspected that we may run into time restraints.

Oh, and all of us have spent a lot of time in Montana. I personally love the place!

I will have to have a hard look at this on google maps.

[birdrunner]

The trailering option would get you about 5 days to tour S. Colorado/Utah.

Utah has the single most memorable ride I've ever done.  (Utah 12).  But it'll be hotter than northern boys like us would be able to handle.  (Seriously,  I hit 100 plus degrees in early June).

[Sputnik]

...We are planning a Max. of 9 days, 3 there, three back and 3 days of riding near Beartooth. ....

Does this mean you want a "home base" near Beartooth for the 3 days?  If so, you might consider Bozeman, MT. Lovely town, great food, pubs, motels, etc.  It is also easy to plan 3 terrific single day loops around Bozeman as a base.

[mtrider16]

I had not yet done any googling as for distances. I may have to have the boys rethink this trip. I suspected that we may run into time restraints.

Oh, and all of us have spent a lot of time in Montana. I personally love the place!

I will have to have a hard look at this on google maps.

It might be that you just have to pick your final destination, CO or UT and head that way, and if you have a couple of nice stops in MT all the better.

David

[Gun Slinger]

I did a car trip through Wyoming & Col a couple of years back, and found a most excellent 2 lane highway in Colorado running N/S that I am trying to recall. It was a high mountain pass littered with open range cattle, but man I would love to do that on the FJR.

I think you might have been on HWY 131 from Haden to I-70.

[notarian]

Red Lodge, Montana to Walden, Colorado is 430 miles of which 370 miles will look like this. But obviously you can 3 digit speed for hours. If your tyres aren't square by the time you reach Red Lodge, they will be by the time you reach Colorado!



FYI if you decide on Walden as your jumping off point for Colorado its important to know that there is only one petrol station between Riverton, Wy and Walden, Co at Muddy Gap (Hwy 287 and 220 junction).

[Baz]

Red Lodge, Montana to Walden, Colorado is 430 miles of which 370 miles will look like this. But obviously you can 3 digit speed for hours. If your tyres aren't square by the time you reach Red Lodge, they will be by the time you reach Colorado!



FYI if you decide on Walden as your jumping off point for Colorado its important to know that there is only one petrol station between Riverton, Wy and Walden, Co at Muddy Gap (Hwy 287 and 220 junction).

Looks a lot like Alberta!

[vulcanbill]

Beartooth, Chief Joseph and Yellowstone pretty much sum up that area. Yellowstone will be crowded and slow going. Next closest large riding areas I can think of are Colorado (Red Lodge to Walden = 430 miles) and Idaho/Montana (Red Lodge to Missoula and Lolo Pass = 330 miles).

Idaho is very good for canyon carving (such as Challis - Stanley - Lowman - Boise (and the roads off Hwy 21 to Banks and Horseshoe Bend)

So is the area northwest of Spokane, the roads up around Republic and it gives way to a mighty fine return journey to Edmonton via BC (Keremeos, Merritt, Douglas Ranch, Vernon, Faquier, Kalso, Kimberly, etc...).

Stanley    21 into Stanley and 75 out (north (left)) of Stanley are dreamy.  The trip over Galena pass (the other way on 75) would be a hoot but either side of it is blah.  

[Guy]

Cody, WY is not a bad spot for a central location for a couple days of riding. Dead Indian Pass (Chief Joseph Scenic Highway) and Beartooth Pass are both phenomenal roads and are worth riding at least once. The Big Horn mountains are only 100 miles away and you can go through them on US14 to Dayton, and then return on US 14 Alt over the same mountains. These are also great roads and fun riding. Of course Yellowstone's East entrance is only 45 miles away, and well worth passing thru, but be forewarned, you will get little chance to be a hooligan in Yellowstone, too much traffic

[Justin]

but be forewarned, you will get little chance to be a hooligan in Yellowstone, too much traffic

and there are some places it's OK to just SLOW down - and Yellowstone is one of them. I'm normally a get there as fast as you can rider, but even I didn't mind riding slow through the park - so much to take in.

[Guy]

and there are some places it's OK to just SLOW down - and Yellowstone is one of them. I'm normally a get there as fast as you can rider, but even I didn't mind riding slow through the park - so much to take in.

+1. Too many things to do and see to get any high speed antics

[vulcanbill]

+1. Too many things to do and see to get any high speed antics

Am I the only one who has actually had a buffalo walk beside / around / infrontof my car while there?  How bout the elk and cyotes?  Grizzleys and mule deer?  I'd be terrified to ride through there at the speed limit much less anything above that.  Keep it.  I have pics and videos if'n you wanna see what peril there is.  Definitely not the place or the pace.

[Justin]

Am I the only one who has actually had a buffalo walk beside / around / infrontof my car while there?  How bout the elk and cyotes?  Grizzleys and mule deer?  I'd be terrified to ride through there at the speed limit much less anything above that.  Keep it.  I have pics and videos if'n you wanna see what peril there is.  Definitely not the place or the pace.

I had a grizzly walk out of the woods when I was first in line leaving the park on 14 to the east (Absoroka area). Traffic was held up for miles when they were doing road work, and would only let traffic through in one direction at a time with a pilot car. I was a *tad* concerned, revving the bike, ready to make a quick departure back the other way lol

[zer0netgain]

Am I the only one who has actually had a buffalo walk beside / around / infrontof my car while there?  How bout the elk and cyotes?  Grizzleys and mule deer?  I'd be terrified to ride through there at the speed limit much less anything above that.  Keep it.  I have pics and videos if'n you wanna see what peril there is.  Definitely not the place or the pace.

Frankly, I find the other drivers to be the bigger peril...especially when they veer all over to gawk at something in the field.  

[vulcanbill]

It's not Yellowstone, but this post might be relevant to this post...  

http://vulcanbill.blogspot.com/2010/11/october-30custer-state-park-day-3.html

[bikerfish1100]

if you have never been to YStone, its pretty amazing.    not a great riding area, due to high traffic volume matched with low traffic speeds, and aggressive troopers. however, it is very much a "one of a kind" place, and well worth the time to spend exploring.
is this a riding trip, or a touristing trip?

[Baz]

I have been to Yellowstone before, and have seen most of the sights by car. I got pretty frustrated with the traffic however. I vowed that my next visit would be the "off" season.

Of course I once had this as my back yard so mountain settings are ok, but not real exciting to me. Kind of why the desert is like a breath of fresh air.

[Nitro]

Baz...I think I have hit most roads along your projected route over the last 5 years..check out my trip pages, http://www.bcsnowcat.ca/
Usually always  hit part of your route every year  as  either went from MB, or now meet  up with guys from there in MT. This maybe give u some good ideas..2009 trip seems close..and  U can certainly do  what you want in 9 days easy if you want to wack on the miles, We never have a problem covering those miles   on those roads as never want to quit for the day!
Planning a couple  trips this summer, and  I always either go down from Red lodge to Colorado as most years have a new guy coming from MB and can't NOT take hime over the Beartooth and Bighorns on the way ..

Have fun,

[Baz]

Nitro:

Thanks for the link my friend. Nice pictures BTW. (I am drooling right now)

I have sent this along to the guys. So far everyone is still in.