Beartooth Highway To Close For Winter 2026-27 Season

Winter is not far away, the leaves are falling from the trees and that means some popular travel destinations are about to shut down until next spring.

US Highway 212 over the Beartooth Pass in Northwest Wyoming and Southern Montana, is scheduled to close on Tuesday, October 13th for the upcoming winter season, although an approaching weather system could move up the closure date.

The closure area is between 9.4 miles east of the intersection of US Highway 212 and Wyoming State Highway 296, just past Long Lake, to about 12 miles southwest of Red Lodge, Montana.

That section of highway gets up to almost 11,000 feet above sea level.

The Wyoming side of the highway is maintained by the National Park Service, while the other side is maintained by the Montana Department of Transportation.

Too much snow combined with too little traffic, makes snow plowing efforts on the highway impractical, hence the highway is closed.

The highway usually reopens to motor vehicle traffic around Memorial Day.