Chief Joseph Scenic Highway
The Wild and Scenic Clarks Fork, WY

The Clarks Fork carves a path between the Beartooth Mountains to the north and the Absaroka Range to the south. Its headwaters begin just east of Yellowstone National Park, flowing southeast, then curving through a deep canyon to head northeast into Montana and its convergence with the main channel of the Yellowstone near Billings.

Early on its way, just south of Cooke City, Montana, the river runs through narrow granite gorges, its waters plummeting over frequent waterfalls which make the river itself virtually impassable. Eventually, it opens into a broader valley with long stretches of smooth water, but here the river is only teasing. Again the gradient steepens and the stream carves the Box, the sheer-walled canyon that earned it wild & scenic status. Solid granite walls tower 1,200 feet above the river in a spectacular gorge.