Gravelly Range Road

60-mile high-altitude backcountry drive south of Ennis

The Gravelly Range Road is a long, high-altitude dirt road that runs south along the spine of the Gravelly Range from a junction outside Ennis down to the Centennial Valley. It is not maintained for normal cars: in a high-clearance vehicle with reasonably new tyres you will be fine in midsummer; in a low car or wet conditions you will not. The reward is some of the most remote, open driving in the Lower 48 — long views over Yellowstone country, wildflower meadows, big herds of elk in early morning, and almost no other vehicles.

Allow a full day and pack water and food. There is no fuel and no cellphone signal once you leave the highway. The road is typically open from mid-July through to mid-October; check at the Forest Service ranger station in Ennis for current conditions.

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A story
The road tops out above 9,500 feet — higher than any pass in Glacier National Park — but is just a wide gravel forest road. In a clear August it gives you the easiest hour of high-altitude driving in the state. In a wet July or after the first October snow it can ruin a passenger car within minutes.