Pilot & Index Peaks Overlook

Pilot Peak and Index Peak are a pair of Absaroka spires that have drawn eyes — and kept people oriented — for well over a century. Pilot Peak stands at 11,699 feet and Index Peak at 10,709 feet, both rising in Park County, Wyoming as part of the Absaroka Range. Their sharply pointed summits were used as navigational landmarks by early expeditions into the greater Yellowstone region, and the name "Pilot" reflects exactly that role: a visual guide for those moving through otherwise disorienting terrain. The overlook puts both summits squarely in frame from a paved pullout on US-212 — the Beartooth Highway — just east of Yellowstone's Northeast Entrance.

The Clark's Fork River Valley spreads out below the overlook as well, giving the stop a layered quality: distant volcanic spires in one direction, a broad river corridor in another, and the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness filling the middle ground. Interpretive signs at the pullout provide context for what you're looking at, so it's worth a few minutes on foot rather than a rolling slow-down. Restrooms are on site, which matters on a run where services are sparse. The highway itself is subject to seasonal closure — typically accessible from late spring through fall — so conditions at either end of the season can be variable, and snow is possible at any point on the route.