Beartooth Lake is a small body of water next to the Beartooth Campground in the Shoshone National Forest. Beartooth Butte is a remnant of sedimentary deposits that once covered the entire Beartooth Plateau. The red-stained rock outcrop near the top of Beartooth Butte was a stream channel some 375 million years ago, so fossils are found in abundance in the rocks of this Butte. The Beartooth Highway is one of the most spectacular National Forest routes on this continent. Charles Kurault called it America's most beautiful highway. Since its completion in 1936, the Highway has provided millions of visitors a rare opportunity to see the transition from a lush forest ecosystem to alpine tundra in the space of just a few miles. The Beartooth area is one of the highest and most rugged areas in the lower 48 states, with 20 peaks reaching over 12,000 feet in elevation. Glaciers grace the north flank of nearly every towering mountain peak. The first recorded travel across the Beartooth Pass area occurred in 1882, when General Sheriden pioneered and marked a route across the mountains from Cooke City to Billings. Beartooth Highway, Wyoming, USA.