The Beartooth Blog

As you head out of Cooke City and up the gentle slope of the Beartooth Highway, heading east toward Beartooth Pass you catch a glimpse of a sign off to the right, just at the double turn off to Soda Butte Campground to the right and Daisy Pass to the left. It’s hard to spot because the grade of the Highway sits almost level with the top of the posts holding it in place. It reads “Cooke City Cemetery – Here, within the shadows of the mountains they loved and lived among, rest a few of the rugged Pioneers who discovered in 1870 the mineral wealth these mountains held. They established Cooke City and the New World mining District even before the country to the west became Yellowstone National Park. They lived and died for the dream these mountains had given them. And as in tribute from this Earth that they so loved, the Wild-Forget-Me-Nots Blossom every spring. “ In the lower right corner of the sign is the signature of the author – Margaret Reed. Continue reading →

Popular Top 10 Scenic Drives Destination Launches Online Booking Widget

07.26.2011– July 26, 2011 (White Bird, ID) The Top 10 Scenic Drives in the Northern Rockies announced today the launch of a new online booking widget on their website to help Top 10 Scenic Drive byway travelers and web users easily book lodging. The booking widget welcomes web visitors to book their hotel accommodations in one easy spot. The Top 10 widget’s advanced search capabilities ensure the user a relevant result from their search query, and also offers additional bookings for Top 10 Scenic Drives lodging suppliers.

Improve User Experience

“One goal of the online booking is to provide an easy-to-use online tool for web visitors to reserve lodging accommodations along any one of the Ten Drives and National Historic Trails, as well as anywhere else in the world,” said Anna Holden, the Project Coordinator.

By visiting the site at www.drivethetop10.com, byway travelers can research drives, find maps, book lodging and learn about key landmarks, attractions and restaurants along the drive of their choice throughout the five-state and two-province region that encompasses the Top 10 Scenic Drives in the Northern Rockies.

Partnership and Collaboration

The booking widget was made available through collaborative partnerships managed by the project’s nearly 50 steering committee members, and built by destination marketer TIG Global in conjunction with the Alliance Reservations Network. Alliance Reservations supplied the booking engine and existing lodging inventory while TIG Global developed the Booking Widget which resides on every page the expansive website www.drivethetop10.com.

About Top 10 Scenic Drives in the Northern Rockies

The Top 10 Scenic Drives in the Northern Rockies include some of North America’s most scenic mountains, lakes, charming towns, and historic places. Nearly every outdoor activity a traveler could imagine can be found throughout the Top 10 Scenic Drives, coupled with many dining options, artisans, wineries and cultural and historical centers.

The drives connect 19 spectacular National Parks ( Yellowstone and Glacier, for example) with Monuments and National Recreation Areas – popular Hells Canyon, for instance – via nationally designated Scenic Byways and National Historic Trails (Lewis Clark, Nez Perce, etc.).

The project is a collaborative effort as well as a Geotourism initiative. It targets high-value, low-impact geo-travelers, and promotes sustainable travel, authentic destinations, and customer satisfaction, plus it involves more than 600 partners and suppliers, including state, provincial, and tribal tourism offices in Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and Alberta.

National Scenic Byways funding was sought and awarded in late 2007, which seeded the marketing initiative. The National Scenic Byways Program is part of the U.S. Dept. of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration – a grass-roots collaborative effort established to help recognize, preserve and enhance selected roads throughout the United States. America’s Byways® is a distinctive collection of American roads, their stories and treasured places.

Since the project’s website launched in late 2009, other funding partners have included the U.S. Forest Service through a Challenge Cost Share program, and USDA-RBEG. Additional marketing support has been provided by individual states and provinces’ tourism departments – including Montana, Idaho and Kootney Rockies Tourism in B.C. – and from regional tourism organizations. The Yellowstone Business Partnership serves as the project’s fiscal agent.To

Beartooth All-American Road? …  Beartooth Highway?…. US Hwy 212? …

What’s up with all the different names we use when referring to the amazing stretch of highway that runs through Montana and Wyoming and provides access to Yellowstone National Park?  Well, all of these names are correct, and there’s more.  Early in it’s history the Beartooth Highway was often referred to as the Red Lodge-Cooke City approach road.

Prior to June of 2002 the section of US Hwy 212 that lies between Red Lodge and Cooke City, Montana was almost always called “The Beartooth Highway”.  Over the years the Beartooth Highway has been referred to as “a road rivaling the majestic beauty of the Swiss Alps”; “the country’s highest and most novel highway”; the road that “surpasses in beauty, thrills, and surprises any of the present approaches to Yellowstone National Park”; and “the finest drive in the Rocky Mountains”. Continue reading →