Snowest Digitally just published an article titled " Help Save Snowmobiling In NW Wyoming, Cooke City Area "
This article is VERY misleading. They are attempting to scare snowmobilers into thinking that a trail system is being attacked and that they must act now. I want you to stop and think for a second.
First I can guarantee you they contacted no one from Cooke City in researching this article and if they did the options of who are very small.
I have been fighting this issue for quite a while now and have recently been fighting very hard as things are heating up. This is NOT an anti snowmobiler movement. This is a movement by businesses to grow our town and bring more snowmobilers to our community. I am going to copy and paste a lot of info here for you to peruse:
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We want to accomplish several things. 1) We want to keep the highway open year round. There is a small 8 mile stretch of highway that keeps visitors from driving to Cooke City from the East for 8 months every year. 2) We want to work with the Forest Service to maintain a snowmobile trail connecting our area with the Top of the World area. 3) We want to work with whatever agencies are responsible in order to maintain adequate parking for our community. In short we are devoted to re-energizing our community as a premier snowmobile destination. We simply want people to be able to access Cooke City.
If we maintain our current trail system while creating more access we will give snowmobilers and winter recreationists in the Billings, MT area (our state's largest city) greater access to our town.
Do not let this viewpoint be labeled anti snowmobiling. It is not. Our communities snowmobile business has been declining due to many factors but the restrictive travel here from both the East and West do nothing to help. Through several initiatives, plowing the road being one, we can revitalize our winter sports industry in Cooke City.
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Items to think about:
This road recently underwent a major repair/remodeling federal aid project which lasted for 6 years. They widened and straightened most of the 10+ miles we are talking about. How many millions of taxpayer dollars were spent on this highway to have it covered with snow for 8 months every year?
Billings area snowmobilers would have greater access to a large riding area WITH services, dealerships, restaurants, if they could drive into town. They can currently snowmobile in but must leave their trucks and trailers parked 10 miles away. I know many Billings riders who find it easier to go to the Big Horns etc. POINT IS: Visitors should have easier access from the east.
This parking situation from the East also forces visitors who are only planning on riding in the Montana areas to purchase a Wyoming non resident sticker or face fines simply to return to their vehicles. With the road plowed but a trail system created to connect us to the Wyoming trail system, visitors would have a choice of which stickers to buy depending on where they wanted to ride.Many riders would drive on in to Cooke City ride our area and never purchase a Wyo sticker. Their revenue would drop as a result. Maybe they would have to advertise themselves a little more instead of relying on residents of this town to do it for them. KEY POINT: This is why WySSA will never be for it. It doesn't matter if our town benefits or declines.
Safety for local residents is another concern. Currently the only way to drive into Cooke City, MT in the winter is through Yellowstone National Park. During a winter like our current one there are many times when the roads are closed in the park due to heavy snowfall. The plows maintain the roads during daylight hours and after that either the roads are unmaintained or they will gate them off if weather is too bad. There have been times when both visitors and residents have been stranded outside the locked gates. This could result in a horrible situation during a medical emergency.
Most glaringly it just seems “stupid” that a small section of highway such as this is closed off for so much of the year in such a popular destination. There are plenty of other examples of highway stretches with similar snowfall and more dangerous conditions that are kept open year round. The entire Chief Joseph Hwy is plowed plus the portion on 212 to Pilot Creek parking lot. From the west, YNP plows from Mammoth to the eastern edge of our town. 10 miles are left closed for what reason? POINT IS: You have already plowed the first 100 miles from either direction, why not the last 8-10?
We already have a trail that runs from town south of the highway to Lulu. If levelheaded people came together why on earth could we not continue a trail along the highway all the way out to Pilot which would then join up with the trail that goes behind the B4. Now I am not talking about a trail like we currently have that is 4 and 5 groomers wide, but more likely one and two wide if possible. Most trails anywhere are two wide max.
About the study done which they quote numbers and monetary figures from. That study was done 10 years ago. That wouldn't any weight in any scientific forum. I can simply show you my books to show the decline, or look at sticker sales, etc etc.
I'll stop with this. No matter what others say, this was never done on purpose. Cooke City literally was the end of the road for years with very few wintertime residents. Wyoming plowed into Crandall and later on to the B4 in Wyoming. Snowmobiling popped up as a new activity and took advantage of a highway which had been literally abandoned by any state or federal authority during the winter seasons. BUT, it is still just that, a Federal Highway first. The road in debate is not a snowmobile trail, it is a federal highway with room to route a new smaller snowmobile trail alongside it.
Many of you know me, and know how much effort I have put into this community over the past decade. I will not let this be turned into anything remotely anti snowmobiling.
Robert
. I just can't understand why having to ride 10 miles in to town on a snowmobile would stop a true snowmobiler from coming in that way. No more people will come to Cooke if it is plowed. To the one who said there are no ride in accomodations in the Horns is wrong. There is one big one called the Wyoming High Country on the Lovell side and it always looks to me like it is packed. The Bear Lodge side I could not tell you much about.
