Email
PrintBeartooth Biking
Fall proves a perfect time for this two-wheeled excursion north, with a change of clothes and a revamped budget
Photos By Rebecca Huntington and Reed Finlay
(page 1 of 2)
I’m wrapped in the warmth of an autumn sun with the Zen soundtrack of wind whooshing softly through the pine and aspen. I can’t help but smile as I contemplate the wonderland of alpine lakes, super-size mountains, and ultimate downhill that lies ahead. At my back is not just the wind, but also, somewhere, my mileage-eating spouse.
I’m relishing the generous head start my husband, Reed Finlay, has given me on this two-day, 145-mile cycling loop around the Beartooth and Absaroka mountains. All summer, he had been regularly biking 28 miles roundtrip to his job as a scenic river guide in Grand Teton National Park and otherwise training for this trip. I decided to join last minute without the prerequisite road time.
Already roasting in my doubled-up bike shorts, I duck into the bushes to shed one layer of my desperate but lame strategy to avoid saddle sores during the ride. Turns out surviving the saddle will be the least of my concerns.
I last saw Reed when he dropped me off at the junction of the Beartooth Highway and Chief Joseph Scenic Byway. He’s driving back through Sunlight Basin to park the car at a campground. Then he’ll retrace those miles on his bike to catch me. Our plan is to bike to Red Lodge, Montana, stay the night and continue the loop through Belfry, over Dead Indian Pass, and back to our car.
I indulge in a stop at a scenic pullout, offering perfect views of Pilot and Index peaks. The interpretive sign warns that in the harsh alpine environment where I’m heading, winds can exceed a hundred miles per hour; further, it boasts that “nowhere in North America is there a more biologically diverse mountain range than the Beartooths.”
Past the pullout, I mosey through a multi-year highway reconstruction (thirty-minute delays possible) and on to the Top of the World Store, situated at an elevation of 9,400 feet in the Shoshone National Forest. Stepping inside the cool cabin interior, I buy an ice cream bar to enjoy on the sunny deck.
