Every spring, the same question shows up in trip-planning forums: "Is the Beartooth Highway open yet?" The answer is usually some version of it depends, check back closer to your trip. That's not a dodge. The Beartooth doesn't open on a fixed date, and treating it like it does is the most common planning mistake people make when routing a Yellowstone trip through the Northeast Entrance.
At a Glance
What the Beartooth Highway is, and why timing matters
The Beartooth Highway is the stretch of US-212 that runs between Red Lodge, Montana and the Yellowstone area near Cooke City and the park's Northeast Entrance. It's about 68 miles end to end, and most people take roughly three hours to drive it with stops. Designated the Beartooth All-American Road, the route climbs out of forested foothills into above-treeline alpine terrain, crests Beartooth Pass at roughly 10,947 feet, then drops back down toward the Clarks Fork valley near Cooke City.
A few things are worth being precise about up front. The Beartooth Highway is not a road inside Yellowstone National Park. It's a separate scenic byway: the Montana Department of Transportation maintains it up to the Montana–Wyoming state line, and the National Park Service takes over the Wyoming portion from there. Travelers often combine it with a Yellowstone trip because it feeds directly into the Northeast Entrance corridor. Plenty of people drive it as a spectacular approach or exit route without realizing it's technically outside the park boundary.
The reason timing matters so much is simple: a road that crests near 11,000 feet holds snow for most of the year. Drifts on the upper switchbacks can run many feet deep well into late spring, and the pass has to be plowed, often multiple times, before it's safe to open. Because snowpack and melt rates differ every winter, there is no fixed calendar date for when the Beartooth opens or closes. It shifts year to year, sometimes by weeks. For a broader look at how snowpack affects road access across the region, see our guide to Yellowstone snow risk and road closures by month.
Typical opening window
In a normal winter, the Beartooth Highway generally opens for the season somewhere in the stretch from late May to early June. Crews often have it ready around Memorial Day weekend, which is why that long weekend has become the informal marker for "Beartooth season." In 2026, for instance, the planned opening was the Friday before Memorial Day, and a late-spring storm bumped it a day to Saturday. That's the pattern in miniature: close to the usual window, but pinned down by the weather, not the calendar.
In heavy snow years, opening can slip well into June. Deep drifts on the switchbacks near the summit take longer to clear, and a late, wet spring can push the date back further than most travelers expect. If you're planning a trip for late May, build in the possibility that the high section simply isn't passable yet.
Don't plan around a specific date. Whatever opening date you read in an old blog post, a forum thread, or even an earlier version of this article, treat it as historical color, not a forecast. Verify current-year status close to your trip using the official sources below.
Typical closing window
On the back end of the season, the Beartooth generally closes for winter sometime around mid-October. The exact date depends entirely on weather. Some years, the first significant October snowstorm shuts the pass down with little warning and it doesn't reopen until the following spring. In milder, drier years, the road can stay open later, occasionally stretching toward the very end of October.
Either way, the same rule applies as on the opening end: this is a range, not a date. If you're planning a fall trip that depends on the Beartooth being open, you're planning around weather that hasn't happened yet. If October is your target window, our guide to Yellowstone in October covers what else to expect from the park during this closure-sensitive stretch of the season.
How to check current status before you go
This is the part that actually matters for your trip. In the days before you leave, and ideally again the morning you plan to drive it, check:
Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) road conditions. MDT maintains official, current road status information, including closures and seasonal openings, for state highways including the Beartooth corridor.
Custer Gallatin National Forest / U.S. Forest Service announcements. The Forest Service manages much of the surrounding land and posts official notices on Beartooth Highway status, since the route runs through national forest for most of its length.
Yellowstone's own park road status page at nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/conditions.htm. While the Beartooth itself is outside the park, this page tracks Northeast Entrance status and nearby park road conditions that affect how you'd connect into or out of the Beartooth route.
Travelers also commonly lean on MDT's traveler information resources and road webcams for a real-time read on conditions at elevation, since cloud cover, fresh snow, or rockslide debris can be visible on camera well before it shows up as an official closure notice. Search for current MDT traveler information tools rather than relying on a number or link from an old article, contact details for these services do change.
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What "open" actually means
Even after the Beartooth is officially open for the season, "open" doesn't mean guaranteed. The road can close temporarily, for a day or even just a few hours, due to fresh snow, ice, fog, or rockslides, at almost any point in the season. The summit sits near 11,000 feet, and the weather up there runs on its own schedule. A surprise snow squall in July is rare, but it happens, and when it does, the highway department closes the road until it's safe again.
The practical takeaway: don't treat the Beartooth as a guaranteed link in your itinerary, especially if you're using it to connect to a flight, a hotel check-in, or a tight schedule on the other side. If you're still mapping out the rest of the trip, our 5-day Yellowstone itinerary is a good starting point for building a route that doesn't depend on any single road staying open. Build a backup into your plan. The Chief Joseph Scenic Byway (WY-296) meets US-212 on the Wyoming side, south of the high pass, and tops out around 8,000 feet at Dead Indian Pass rather than near 11,000. It's a lower, less closure-prone way to reach the Cooke City and Northeast Entrance area when the Beartooth summit is shut. The other fallback is simply to approach Yellowstone through a different entrance entirely if the timing doesn't line up.
Why people drive it anyway
None of this is meant to talk you out of it. When it's open and the weather cooperates, the Beartooth Highway is one of the best drives in the country, and it's frequently ranked that way. It's also among the highest paved highways in the Northern Rockies. The road climbs well above treeline into a landscape of glacial lakes, snowfields that linger into summer, and wide alpine plateaus that feel more like Alaska than Montana. Switchback after switchback opens up new views of the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness below.
Time it for July if you can, and the high meadows fill with wildflowers, a short, intense alpine bloom that only lasts a few weeks. Pair the drive with a stop in Red Lodge, Montana, a small, likeable mountain town at the northeastern end of the route that's worth an hour or an overnight on its own. Some travelers also combine the Beartooth with the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway as a loop, driving one route in and the other out, which doubles the scenery without doubling the risk of being shut out by a single closure.
Practical driving notes
A few things to know before you actually get behind the wheel:
Fuel up before you start. There are no gas stations on the high alpine stretch of the route. Fill up in Red Lodge or Cooke City, whichever end you're starting from, before you begin the climb.
Don't count on cell service. Coverage is unreliable to nonexistent for most of the high-elevation miles. Download offline maps and let someone know your route and rough timing before you go.
Pack a jacket, even in July. Temperatures at the summit can be near freezing even in the middle of summer, and wind at that elevation makes it feel colder still. What's a warm day in Red Lodge can be a different climate entirely 7,000 feet higher.
Check current restrictions if you're towing or driving an RV. The route's grades and switchbacks have historically come with size and length guidance for larger vehicles. Rules and conditions can change, so check current restrictions with MDT or the Forest Service before attempting it in anything large, rather than relying on a number from an old trip report.
Before you drive the Beartooth
Check status the week of your trip
Opening and closing dates shift every year. Confirm current status with MDT and the Forest Service days before you go, and again the morning of.
Fuel up first
There's no gas on the high alpine stretch. Fill the tank in Red Lodge or Cooke City before you start climbing.
Pack layers
Near-freezing temps at the summit are normal, even in July. Bring a real jacket, not just a sweatshirt.
Have a backup route
Temporary closures happen even in summer. Know the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway or an alternate entrance as a fallback.
Download offline maps
Cell service disappears for most of the drive. Don't count on real-time navigation once you start climbing.
Verify size restrictions for big rigs
RVs and trailers should check current grade and length guidance before attempting the pass, restrictions can change year to year.
One last thing
Treat the Beartooth as a bonus, not a guarantee. Check the official sources close to your travel dates and keep a fallback in your back pocket. If the timing lines up, you get one of the best alpine drives in the Rockies on your way into or out of Yellowstone. If it doesn't, the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway and the standard entrances still get you where you're going.