US 212 leaves Red Lodge and climbs 5,000 feet in twenty miles of switchbacks, crossing the Beartooth Pass at 10,947 feet and traversing a tundra plateau of glacial lakes, granite spires, and snowfields before dropping down into Cooke City and the northeast entrance of Yellowstone. The road is open from the Friday before Memorial Day to mid-October, depending on snow.
Allow three hours to drive it, more if you want to stop at the overlooks — Vista Point near Beartooth Lake, the Top of the World store, the alpine meadows above Long Lake. Mountain goats and bighorn sheep are commonly seen above the treeline. Take warm clothes; even in July it can be 40°F at the pass when Red Lodge is 80°F. Fill up at the Sinclair in town because there is no fuel until Cooke City, sixty miles on.