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Colter Pass
Colter Pass is on the Beartooth Highway between Red Lodge and
Yellowstone National Park. Compared with its big neighbor Beartooth
Pass, Colter Pass is just a little hill in the forest. It is
still a superb bikeride with little traffic and unusual scenery on
its eastern side.
Approaches From East. The approach starts at the junction of three
passes, Beartooth Pass, Dead
Indian Pass and Colter Pass. The strinking image of Pilot Peak (
first picture ) guides up this aproach.
From West. The ride from West Yellowstone is a short climb
in the forest. Cooke City ( second picture ) may look like a regular
little town. However, unlike a regular town, it does not have a
"regular grocery". Residents drive to the next state, to
Cody, to buy their potatoes. Cooke City does of course have a gas
station. It sells drinking water at a price that is generally charged
for gasoline, and the price of gasoline - well - luckily that is a
matter of passing interest for cyclists. But if Cooke City residents
want potatoes they must have gasoline, and lots of it (Aug/2004).
Two or Three Day road Tour. The pass can be cycled in
a circle combined with Chief Joseph Highway over Dead
Indian Pass and Beartooth Pass,
completing the circle over Wy120 between Cody and Red Lodge. In order
to sleep somewhere halfways civilized on a three day tour it is
necessary to add on an out and back section to Cody. The other
overnight stop is Red Lodge. A two day version of this ride, starting
in Silver Gate ( located between Cooke City and West Yellowstone ) and
skipping the detour to Cody, measured 112 miles over Colter Pass, Dead
Indian Pass and Wy120, between Silver Gate and Red Lodge, 70 miles
between the same endpoints over Beartooth Pass and Colter Pass again
(no measured altitude data available). It is also described on this
page under the heading "my first Rocky Mountain Pass".  back to a roster of bicycling passes 
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