V
VRod
Active member
It’s obvious the people who want the road plowed are not thinking too far ahead. If the road were to be plowed it would not be on the government’s agenda to do it for snowmobilers. Their main objective would be to open access for the wolf watchers/park visitors. The trail system would not be reestablished even though I’m sure they’d promise to do it, but it would never happen. Cooke would initially experience an influx of snowmobilers and town would be packed past its capacity. Also, don’t forget the wolf watcher traffic. This would probably go on for 3-5 years. Eventually snowmobilers will get sick of Cooke as the only trail out of town will be the Miller trail and the riding area just isn’t large enough to support that number of sledders. At some point in the near future a certain percentage of snowmobilers would stop coming to Cooke and the majority of business will be from park visitors, just as it is in the summer. Ruining one of the last “ride-in” snowmobile destinations. And yes even though I now live in Bozeman, I’m originally from the Billings area and actually lived in MN for 6 years, so I have rode in many times. Probably in 7-10 years the area would be shutdown to snowmobiles and the government/NPS will have succeeded in their agenda just because the road was plowed. Yes this is all speculation but what isn’t with this discussion.
Other short-term (3-5 YEARS) items to consider if the highway is plowed:
1. Obviously, where’s the money coming from?
2. Cooke will turn into the next West Yellowstone.
3. More and more families will start making the trip, let's just say you'd better double/triple your SnR team. It's much easier to get into trouble in Cooke than it is in other areas (West, Tog).
4. Trucks/trailers will be lined up and down the highway in both directions, not enough parking in town even if they do create a parking lot.
5. Trucks/trailers will constantly be stuck on Colter Pass. Remember it's much higher than Cooke. Check out the Big Moose webcam. Is there going to be a plow running 24x7 just for this 9 mile section of road?
6. The forest service will make tons of $$$ from uneducated people going into wilderness. They'll have to hire another 6 rangers so they can fill up their new ranger station mansion.
7. Yellowstone Park could potentially close traffic to rigs with trailers in the winter or completely deny access to snowmobile traffic.
8. What do the people who live on Colter Pass think?
LSB: Many of you know me, and know how much effort I have put into this community over the past decade. I will not let this be turned into anything remotely anti snowmobiling. THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT YOU ARE TRYING TO DO WITHOUT EVEN KNOWING IT!
LSB… I’d also like to see this “public list” of Cooke City businesses who are for and against this.
Point is… we need to keep as many miles of “trails” open as possible as that is what government officials look at when determining snowmobile access. Areas with the least amount of trails will be shut down first. So if this initiative somehow passes and the road gets plowed, the so called trail next to the road better be established before the highway is ever plowed.
Other short-term (3-5 YEARS) items to consider if the highway is plowed:
1. Obviously, where’s the money coming from?
2. Cooke will turn into the next West Yellowstone.
3. More and more families will start making the trip, let's just say you'd better double/triple your SnR team. It's much easier to get into trouble in Cooke than it is in other areas (West, Tog).
4. Trucks/trailers will be lined up and down the highway in both directions, not enough parking in town even if they do create a parking lot.
5. Trucks/trailers will constantly be stuck on Colter Pass. Remember it's much higher than Cooke. Check out the Big Moose webcam. Is there going to be a plow running 24x7 just for this 9 mile section of road?
6. The forest service will make tons of $$$ from uneducated people going into wilderness. They'll have to hire another 6 rangers so they can fill up their new ranger station mansion.
7. Yellowstone Park could potentially close traffic to rigs with trailers in the winter or completely deny access to snowmobile traffic.
8. What do the people who live on Colter Pass think?
LSB: 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. THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT YOU ARE TRYING TO DO WITHOUT EVEN KNOWING IT!
LSB… I’d also like to see this “public list” of Cooke City businesses who are for and against this.
Point is… we need to keep as many miles of “trails” open as possible as that is what government officials look at when determining snowmobile access. Areas with the least amount of trails will be shut down first. So if this initiative somehow passes and the road gets plowed, the so called trail next to the road better be established before the highway is ever plowed.
and he sure took the time to know who I am. 
