Beartooth Highway Closed Indefinitely

Slides shut Beartooth Highway

By Mike Stark
The Billings Gazette
May 24, 2005

RED LODGE — In the back of his mind, Jim Lynch held out hope that the mudslides that spilled onto Beartooth Highway last week might not have damaged the scenic road too badly.

But a few minutes into an hourlong inspection flight over the highway Monday, the director of the Montana Department of Transportation knew different.

Twelve slides that followed heavy rains and snow heaped mounds of mud, rocks — and in some places, green trees — onto Highway 212, which snakes to the top of 10,947-foot Beartooth Pass and down, connecting Red Lodge with Cooke City and Yellowstone National Park.