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>> [Music] There's something about mountains that challenges the human spirit.
They have a special way of drawing people to them.
The Alpine light.
The open sky.
And the sheer wildness of the landscape inspire our sense of adventure.
Curiosity And wonder [music].
In southern Montana and northwestern Wyoming,
a dramatic group of mountains called the Beartooths,
stands out as one of the most challenging mountain landscapes in the lower 48 states.
During the ice age, glaciers gouged and carved these peaks.
Leaving behind steep, glistening granite.
Pristine snow fields.
And a myriad of lakes that dot the landscape as far as the eye can see.
Unique to this area is the Beartooth Plateau.
A massive stretch of land so high that no trees can grow on it.
It towers above rich timbered valleys.
Yet sits below the mighty peaks of the Absaroka Beartooth wilderness.
All winter long, storms pound the Beartooth Plateau with wind and snow and ice.
But in the summer, fragile Alpine wildflowers flourish from June through September.
Abundant wildlife, big and small, make this plateau their home.
It is here, high on the plateau, that a road travels across the Alpine tundra,
nearly 11,000 feet above sea level.
This is the Beartooth Highway.
A 69 mile road running from Red Lodge, to Cooke City, Montana.
And eventually the northeast entrance to Yellowstone National Park.
The Beartooth Highway is one of our nation's national forest scenic byways.
A series of roads chosen by the United States Forest Service as the most beautiful
and interesting drives across the nation's 156 national forests.
More people travel by car to reach national forests then
by any other means of transportation.
The National Forest's Scenic Byway System is designed to help travelers make the most
of their journey's through America's forests.
Found along the scenic byway system is the best that the national forests have to offer.
In outdoor recreation.
Cultural history.
And beauty [music].
The Beartooth Highway passes through three national forests.
The Gallatin and Custer National Forest in Montana.
And the Shoshone National Forest in Wyoming.
And like all of the roads of the scenic byway system,
it passes through land of spectacular beauty.
A team of 129 explorers travelled over the Beartooths in August, 1882.
They were the first recorded white travelers to meet the challenge of the Beartooth Mountains.
These men were under the command of Lieutenant General Philip H. Sheridan of Civil War fame.
Sheridan was sent by the US Army to the West to explore parts of Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana.
Toward the end of their month long journey, Sheridan and his men traveled
through the world's first national park, Yellowstone.
And arrived in Cooke City, Montana.
From there they needed to find a route over the mountains to Billings, Montana.
A trapper led Sheridan and his men over the Beartooth Pass.
And with their passage, a new route over the Beartooth was born.
A route that would remain nothing more than a dirt trail for nearly half a century [music].
About 25 years after General Sheridan's team climbed over Beartooth Pass,
a young man named Dr. John Carl Fredrick Siegfried settled near Red Lodge, Montana.
Siegfried, a mining camp physician, was a visionary who dreamed of building a road
for automobiles over the Beartooth Pass, from Red Lodge to Cook City.
In the early 1900s, the coal mines in Siegfried's home town --
mines that had long supported the areas frontier economy -- were declining.
Siegfried knew that a scenic road could help bring travelers through Red Lodge.
The travelers would bring money.
Money that Red Lodge needed to survive [music].
In July of 1919, Siegfried and a crew of 7 men and 6 teams
of horses began building a road over the mountains.
The men worked their way up 2,100 feet of steep terrain.
Although Siegfried's original route was eventually abandoned in favor
of the present route today, his dream was not forgotten.
6 years later, the Forest Service commissioned a reconnaissance team
into the Beartooth High Country.
The task? To figure out where a road could be built.
And how much it would cost to do the job.
The Red Lodge community rallied behind the proposed road.
And Siegfried continued to lobby for it.
Gathering citizen's support as he went.
Finally, the editor of the local newspaper travelled to Washington DC
to ask the Federal Government to build the road.
Montana Congressman, Scott Leavitt responded.
Leavitt introduced legislation for building roads to the nation's national parks.
The Beartooth Highway would head straight for Yellowstone National Park after it dropped
from the mighty plateau to Cooke City.
In fact, the Beartooth Highway was the only proposed road
to fit the requirements of Congressman Leavitt's bill.
That year was 1931.
The nation was in the throws of the Great Depression.
And Herbert Hoover was President.
When the bill funding the Beartooth Highway was signed into law, work began almost immediately.
Construction of the road was a feat that some engineers of the day said could never be done.
It would rise in the span of just one mile, over 5,000 feet from the valley floor to the summit.
Once completed, the road would reduce the driving distance from Billings Montana,
to Yellowstone National Park by 50 miles.
On June 14, 1936, Siegfried's dream became reality.
The Beartooth Highway from Red Lodge to Cooke City,
Montana was officially opened at a cost of $2.5 million.
Built in just 4 years, the Beartooth Highway remains among the highest roads in the world.
Today, the Beartooth Highway is one of the premiere drives in North America.
Let's travel the highway together.
We'll get a taste of the rich history of explorers, trappers,
and miners who once travelled this mountainous passage.
Feel the forces of nature that carve the tremendous landscape.
And have a chance to spy on some of our nation's most precious wildlife.
It'll be a journey you won't forget soon.
We begin at Red Lodge, Montana.
An old mining town.
And now a small resort community.
From Red Lodge, we drive 12 miles up Highway 212.
Gradually ascending a wide, U-shaped valley that extends directly in front of our path.
As far as the eye can see.
[Sounds of bubbling water] next to us, Rock Creek tumbles along.
Running free from Glacier Lake.
Which perpetually releases water into the creek from miles above us.
It was only about 10,000 years ago
that a massive glacier travelled this same route, gouging out the valley.
It was the glaciers that left behind the lake that feeds Rock Creek.
The glaciers that left the steep walls of granite above us.
And the glaciers that made this landscape what it is today.
Up top, we'll see other signs of glaciers.
And more geologic history as well.
No matter how we do it, climbing up over 4,000 feet from the Rock Creek valley floor
to the east summit of Beartooth Pass is a challenge [music].
The road snakes along.
Nearly doubling back on itself four times in a series of long, steady switchbacks.
Though the route is safe, unseasoned mountain travelers may be in for a few frightful moments
when they gaze over the edge back down to the valley below.
At Rock Creek Vista Point, a perfect place to get out.
Stretch. And enjoy the scenery.
Only about 1/5 of the Beartooth Highway has passed beneath us.
But standing at the lookout, we're 75% of the way to the top of the world.
That's quite a climb.
The peaks to the north were gouged on all sides by glaciers.
Leaving only the steep-sided pinnacles behind.
The road winding up the rocky slope to the west was built
by miners during World War 2 to serve as a chromite mine.
The chromite was needed for steel production.
Today, this road provides access to the wilderness [music].
These skiers are attending the Red Lodge International Summer Ski Racing Camp.
Just after the highway opens, when 20 foot snow drifts still line the road, ski racers from all
over the country come here to train on the steep head wall above Twin Lakes.
Some of these skiers may one day compete in the Olympics.
The tremendous snow banks that blanket the pass are a refreshing relief to the summer's heat.
But beware.
The snow often has a pink cast to it.
A sign that algae is growing on its surface.
Anyone who eats this snow, or drinks melt water running
out from beneath it, risks unpleasant illness.
What's happened to the trees up here?
The stately forests that blanketed the Rock Creek Valley below are gone.
At this elevation, the only trees we see have twisted trunks and half-filled branches.
These stunted trees are known as Krummholz vegetation.
They literally have to fight for their lives in this high altitude climate.
All winter long, ice, snow, and wind tear at their branches.
The point where the Krummholz vegetation stops
and the alpine country starts, is called "Timberline".
We find it here at 9,800 feet in elevation.
The Beartooth Highway is one of the few roads in America to pass above Timberline
into the high alpine country [background wind sounds].
Timberline points the way to the top.
Up the road a bit further.
Where there are no trees at all.
There we'll see the tundra and the wide open plateau.
We're standing at 10,947 feet above sea level at the west summit of Beartooth Pass.
Here, the wind blows almost constantly.
And even in the summer, one gets the sense that this is alpine country.
Where the weather can take over at any moment.
That's why travelers come across the Beartooth Highway prepared.
With warm clothing and rain gear.
It may be 88 degrees down in Red Lodge, but up here the mercury can drop below freezing.
While the wind kicks up to 30 miles per hour or more.
But when the weather cooperates, we can look out over 75 miles of high alpine terrain.
We see the stunning Beartooth plateau.
The highest continuous stretch of land in North America.
And the Absaroka Beartooth Wilderness.
The third largest wilderness in Montana and Wyoming combined.
Encompassing nearly 1 million acres.
The granite rock of the Beartooth mountains is over 3 billion years old.
Making it among the oldest rock anywhere in the world.
It was pushed up from within the earth some 75 million years ago
when the mountains were formed.
The rock has a history behind it that boggles the mind.
First, the granite was at the bottom of an ocean.
Through countless millennia, sedimentary rocks formed on top of the granite; burying it.
When the ocean that once covered the Beartooth mountains receded,
the sedimentary rocks overlaying the granite were exposed.
Thousands of years of wind and rain washed most of the sedimentary rocks away.
Leaving the ancient granite exposed.
There are only two places along the Beartooth Highway
where remnants of the sedimentary rocks remain.
The Beartooth, and Clay Buttes.
Beartooth Butte, with its yellow and orange bands of sediments, towers over Beartooth Lake.
West of the Beartooth Pass summit.
Buried in the sedimentary rocks of the butte are ancient fossils
from the sea that once washed over this land.
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Now that we're on top of the world, let's find a place to camp and go exploring.
13 forest service campgrounds lie within the Beartooth corridor.
Two sit atop the pass.
Both are next to prime fishing spots.
Beartooth Lake and Island Lakes.
From small boats, or from the shore, fishermen catch rainbow, cutthroat, and brook trout.
Mackinaw, and occasionally grayling.
Away from the highway, scores of lakes await us.
Each one was left behind when the glaciers receded from this region about 10,000 years ago.
But if the fish aren't biting, we can put on our sturdy walking shoes.
Grab a raincoat and sweater just in case, and take a hike.
Over 50 miles of trails traverse the Beartooth plateau.
Every one leading past a series of ice blue lakes.
We don't have to go far before we'll see signs of wildlife.
But don't get too close.
Wild animals can be dangerous.
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When it's time for a break, we can relax on the trail next to the rich, alpine tundra.
A carpet of delicate wildflowers grows on the Beartooth Pass.
Some will grow for years before putting on a bloom for the first time.
Visitors must treat these beauties with care.
The alpine tundra is fragile.
To protect it, vehicles are prohibited from any unmarked road.
As for the flowers, everyone can enjoy them.
But please, don't destroy them.
Ready to start down the other side?
Watch these two prominent peaks that tower over the Clark Fork River Valley.
These mountains, Pilot and Index Peaks, have been travelers beacons for over 100 years.
They'll be our guides today.
Notice their changing faces as we begin our descent.
No matter where they appear, these are picture perfect mountains.
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As we draw closer to Yellowstone National Park, we begin to see the remnants of the forest fires
that burned here in the summer of 1988.
Nearly 100 years before, General Sheridan noted
that his men had trouble passing because of a forest fire.
Forest fires are a natural part of the forest ecosystem.
The lands changed by forest fires along the Beartooth Highway are
in no way diminished because of them.
We're near the end of our journey, here in Cooke City, Montana.
Though once a struggling mining town, Cooke City, with a permanent population
of 75, flourishes as a tourist town.
Horse packing, hiking, fishing, and in the winter, snowmobiling
and cross country skiing are all accessible from Cooke City [music].
Just 4 miles down the road from Cooke City, lies the northeast gate to Yellowstone National Park.
Another great place to tour.
Some travelers will want to continue on into the park.
But others would just as soon make the trek back again over the beautiful Beartooth Highway.
The Beartooth Highway is just one of many national forest scenic byways.
But it's one many will want to drive over and over again,
any time travel plans include the northern Rocky Mountains.
Every trip reveals a new face reflected in a new light.
The Beartooth Highway, in every sense, embodies the essence of a scenic byway.
It will take you through a landscape that will always be a beacon
to those who are challenged by mountains.
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