Montana's Beartooth Mountains were so remote official government exploration did not occur until the late 1800s. This land, protected as the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, holds the state's highest mountain, Granite Peak. The remainder of the Beartooth Range makes up the highest altitude land in America, mostly over 10,000 feet. Crossing the Wyoming border, the area could be viewed as an extension of Wyoming's Yellowstone National Park, with a sizable population of grizzly bears and the reappearance of the wolf. Wolverines, Bighorn sheep, mountain lions and the lynx call the Beartooth Mountains home as well.
     Managed by the forest service, the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness was set up in 1978 and contains almost a million acres. Because of the high altitude, much of the wilderness is treeless, marked with deep canyons, mountain streams, and small lakes that have formed in glacial cirques. The extreme weather, seemingly forever cold and windy, keeps the Beartooth Scenic Highway closed the majority of the year. This view of the Beartooth Range is brighten by a summertime patch of fireweed, a delightful find along U.S. Route 212, approaching the Wyoming Border.