Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness
Lying on the Montana-Wyoming border on the Shoshone, Gallatin, and Custer National Forests, the Absaroka Beartooth Wilderness is the juncture of two mountain ranges with differing geologic types.
The Absaroka Range (prounounced ab-ZORE-kuh, the Crow Indian word for crow) is of volcanic origin, while the Beartooth Range (named for a spike of rock resembling a bear's tooth, can be seen in photo - upper right ) is granitic in formation.
The extremely rugged and picturesque topography contains hundreds of lakes, high-rolling plateaus, and deep, glacier-carved valleys. Granite Peak, Montana's highest point at 12,799 feet, is located near the Wyoming-Montana border. This area also is known for several grasshopper glaciers, glaciers containing millions of grasshoppers frozen in ice.