Going to montana

[ZIG]

guess I should of waited a week.

 

[Marley]

guess I should of waited a week.

We were in the Columbia Falls/Whitefish area and the storm must of just missed the area. There was some new snow but not much.
We were in a 2 day back country clinic put on by Amber Holt - she was great, knew her stuff and how to teach it - we learned a lot of little technical stuff that I'm sure we will put to good use.
Worth the trip for sure…course didn't cost much more than the cost of fixing the damage of one little run-in with a tree…!

 

[Marley]

guess I should of waited a week.

We were in the Columbia Falls/Whitefish area and the storm must of just missed the area. There was some new snow but not much.
We were in a 2 day back country clinic put on by Amber Holt - she was great, knew her stuff and how to teach it - we learned a lot of little technical stuff that I'm sure we will put to good use.
Worth the trip for sure…course didn't cost much more than the cost of fixing the damage of one little run-in with a tree…!

 

[sledneck_03]

Here's parts of day 1,2 4,5. Forgot to take it day 3. Wednesday (day 4) was insane. So much snow and wind, everyone was pouting that it was going to be shitty. Stopped in to the cabin on round lake for lunch and guys were sitting in there waiting for the weather to clear up and we almost had all our fuel burnt. Thursday it was great but a little more set up. new areas are great but looking at these maps there was a bunch of areas that were so close and would have had good snow but cause of the snow falling it was hard to see where was where. The burn on the first day i was playing on i had no idea it opened up all the way to lulu, thought it was a small area.

day 3 we were in the valley between Henderson mountain and sheep mountain. Got all the way up and found the old mine shaft, also on lulu found the old chimney and some kind of steel chute?

 

[Scotty2Hotty]

Had a good run of a few days in Cooke, minus the very flat light. Left Sat, Interstate from Billings East was pretty ugly for about 3 hours. Had a great time, same 24-30" of snow on Wednesday as mentioned above. By Friday afternoon, everyone and both of their dogs rolled into town.

What route did you take to Cooke City? Never been, but have a trip planned for March 5th to 9th... Looking for any info to help out...

 

[sledneck_03]

What route did you take to Cooke City? Never been, but have a trip planned for March 5th to 9th... Looking for any info to help out...

you will probably take the route threw billings then turn south on the 310/212 at Laurel then on to the 212 to red lodge and on to the parking lot. You park your truck in a parking lot all week and sled into Cooke. The third picture with the orange route at the very bottom is the parking lot. It takes way longer if you go threw the park apparently and if there is buffalo in the way and people just stop for them i guess it takes even longer.

 

[Scotty2Hotty]

you will probably take the route threw billings then turn south on the 310/212 at Laurel then on to the 212 to red lodge and on to the parking lot. You park your truck in a parking lot all week and sled into Cooke. The third picture with the orange route at the very bottom is the parking lot. It takes way longer if you go threw the park apparently and if there is buffalo in the way and people just stop for them i guess it takes even longer.

Excellent. Thanks so much. What about the road conditions and switch backs on the east access?

Other sources say that the west way (straight through Laurel) is only about an hour longer. And that if you are pulling a trailer to try and avoid east access to Cooke City.

I will be pulling a 25' enclosed with 4 sleds. Gear and 4 riders in truck. 06 dodge 5.9 cummins 3500.

 

[Rotax_Kid]

What route did you take to Cooke City? Never been, but have a trip planned for March 5th to 9th... Looking for any info to help out...

Went straight south to plentywood crossing...through sidney nd until we hit I80 then billings. We came around through the park. I like having tools and the truck and trailer with me. Its only an hour longer to go around. Id recommend stopping in billings at wallyworld for sandwich stuff, refreshments, etc as there is little to buy in cooke.
We last stayed at the alpine In cooke. The internet sucks there. Everyone who wanted to call home in our group had to go to the lobby to use a free phone and there was a lineup. Skype on my smart phone worked great for thism no cell service in cooke either.

 

[sledneck_03]

Excellent. Thanks so much. What about the road conditions and switch backs on the east access?

Other sources say that the west way (straight through Laurel) is only about an hour longer. And that if you are pulling a trailer to try and avoid east access to Cooke City.

I will be pulling a 25' enclosed with 4 sleds. Gear and 4 riders in truck. 06 dodge 5.9 cummins 3500.

We had three trucks and pulled three trailers. One had to be a 30' fits 6 163s. It was decent drive, lots to look at in the morning leaving. At night it was crazy to watch the guys infront climbing the switchbacks beside you.

Guys i went with been to cooke lots and always had bad experiences going threw park cause of the buffalo and such and took forever.

Didnt seem like lots of truck and trailer parking where we were in cooke. Guys got stuck in the parking lot at antlers and had to be pulled out by bob cat but the parking lot out of town on saturday night when we got there was crazy full.