Get Inspired Everyday! Travel Blog

Beartooth Highway Scenic Drive

The main viewpoint of the Beartooth Mountain with wildflowers in the foreground.

The Beartooth Highway Scenic Drive in an incredible stretch of Hwy 212 that runs through both Montana and Wyoming. It can also be combined with a trip to Yellowstone National Park as well. We drove from Red Lodge to Cooke City so we could continue into Yellowstone, but the drive can be done any direction with stunning views both ways.

Mountain range showing the 'beartooth' mountain with wildflowers in the front, from the Beartooth Scenic Highway. — Beartooth Scenic Lookout – the ‘beartooth’ is the tiny triangular mountain on the far right.

I’ve lived in Montana my whole life, but I had never heard of this popular scenic drive. To be fair it’s quite a distance from where I grew up, but we were so taken with the area we’re planning another trip already. It’s a stretch of 68 stunning miles of constant scenery.

The main view looking down into the canyon that Shafer Trail goes in to.

Shafer Trail in Canyonlands National Park is an off-roading experience and an incredible drive. It begins in Canyonlands and can be driven all the way through to Potash Road leading you back in the town of Moab. The views are stunning the whole drive, and it’s a nice way to break up some of the sight seeing and hiking as well.

Thelma and Louise Point along the drive through Shafer Trail.

We ended up driving Shafer Trail just by happenstance, and it turned out to be one of our favorite experiences on our trip! Our day started with a hike to Funnel Arch and a stop by the ‘birthing scene’ petroglyphs on the way back out of Kane Creek Blvd. From there we headed into Moab to stock up on some groceries and have an ‘ice cream break’.

Corona Arch Hiking Trail is a popular trail in Moab. It’s one of the largest arches near Moab and it’s absolutely spectacular! It’s not within Arches National Park so there’s extra recreation in this area as well. You’ll have a blast on this hike and it’s mostly family friendly as well, (see details below).

Parasailing through the Corona Arch in Moab. — 1st paraglider sails on through Corona Arch!

Corona Arch was one of our favorite hikes from our time in Moab. Even though we usually prefer really quiet trails, this one wasn’t too busy! We also got super lucky and arrived at the arch just in time to see some paragliders come through.

Natural Bridge in Yoho National Park | Get Inspired Everyday!

The last day of our road trip we visited the Natural Bridge in Yoho National Park and it was incredibly gorgeous! It’s also super easy to get to from the highway, so if makes a great stop whether you’re coming or going from Banff National Park.

We started this second to last day of the Canadian Road Trip series by pulling an all nighter. (You can find all the different stops and trails hiked all linked at the end.) There was a giant record breaking storm moving into the Canadian Rockies at the end of September. And since we had almost bald summer tires on, we knew we needed to make some tracks towards home.

Bow Glacier Falls & Iceberg Lake in Banff National Park | Get Inspired Everyday!

We had a truly stunning day when we hiked into Bow Glacier Falls & Iceberg Lake in Banff National Park. We had everything from blizzard weather to beautiful sunshine for these stunning views. Bow Glacier Falls is a popular hike in Banff because it’s a gorgeous set of falls. And the hike around Bow Lake to get there is exceptionally beautiful as well.

We hiked into Bow Glacier Falls, and then scrambled to Iceberg Lake above it on September 26th, (2019). We knew it was getting late in the season to reach this location, but we were there just after the first skiff of snow fell. It was lucky timing because the scenery was incredible. But just 2 days later it would have been near impossible to get in to this lake until the next season.