Beartooth Highway Pilot Peak Overlook

This roadside overlook puts you above treeline in a landscape that looks more like Alaska than the lower 48. Pilot Peak rises to 11,708 feet directly across a cirque basin dotted with alpine lakes and patches of year-round snow. The granite has been scoured by glaciers into a rolling plateau that stretches to the horizon, broken only by peaks and the occasional bighorn sheep. On clear days you can see the Absaroka Range extending south toward Yellowstone.

The pullout sits directly on US Highway 212, the famous Beartooth Highway, with paved parking for maybe 15 vehicles. This section of road typically opens late May and closes by mid-October due to snow. Weather changes fast at this elevation — afternoon thunderstorms are common in summer. No facilities here, just a stone windbreak and interpretive signs. The nearest services are 30 miles down the mountain in either direction.

Alpine overlook at 10,900 feet on Beartooth Highway