Red Lodge, Montana

Discover the Old West in the gateway town to America's most beautiful highway.

- PETER CORBETT

Heading southwest across the high plains of south-central Montana brings travelers to a dramatic rising curtain of mountains in the Absaroka Range with eight summits above 12,000 feet.

This is the backdrop for Red Lodge, Montana, elevation 5,553 feet, a town that got its start mining coal in 1884. Tourists have replaced miners, with travelers drawn to these mountains and the astonishing Beartooth Highway that runs 65 miles from Red Lodge to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.

"We're the first mountains you hit," said Sherry Weamer, Red Lodge chamber director. "It's flat, flat, flat and then-BAM!-there's Red Lodge Mountain and the Absarokas."

Red Lodge is the eastern terminus of the Beartooth Highway, which Charles Kuralt called the most beautiful drive in America. But by no means should travelers leave Red Lodge without sampling the town's many attributes.

There's unusual fare including pig racing at the nearby Bear Creek Saloon and Steakhouse, plus the Beartooth Rally and Iron Horse Rodeo for motorcyclists.

More traditional attractions include the Yellowstone Wildlife Sanctuary.

The elegant Pollard Hotel, dating back to 1893, has hosted copper barons, Buffalo Bill Cody and Calamity Jane.