Cooke City

At the start of summer Jonell and I looked at the calendar, trying to figure out a time to take the whole family out to Red Lodge, MT. The week of Fourth of July was really the only option. That didn't pan out.  Jonell suggested I take Jake and Jon the end of July. When Jake had his accident we weren't sure it would happen. The recovery has gone well and the OT said go for it. So we headed west with really no agenda other than to do some camping, biking, skiing, hiking etc.

 When we arrived to Red Lodge, there was a biker rally going on. When we have gone during Easter the town is pretty quiet and like I have said before, as good as it gets for a mountain town. But when we arrived, the the whole town was a vibrating from the sounds of 3-5000 bikers circling around like snow geese, and flock landing in any available space downtown.



Not wanting to be part of that scene, we continued on looking for a place to camp towards Cooke City. Driving up over Beartooth Pass, we had to stop and play around on the snow fields for a while.

Any chance to burn a few turns is a great day. We had one pair of skis along "just in case". The cool weather was welcomed and absolutely beautiful vistas at the top. When we pulled out, to head down the road, there was a clunking clanking noise in the front end. Didn't seen anything visible but knew something wasn't right.

 Made it down to Cooke City. CC isn't a very big town, current population just over 150 people. At the end of town is Bearclaw Bob. Bob owns the Super 8 in town, has a shop where he does mechanic work, rents snowmobiles and atvs and has a bakery with his wife and owns the Sinclair gas station in town which is how he ended up there in the first place. He originally came from Nebraska and came to CC to bear hunt and was hooked on the area. Anyways, Bob took a look and found the bearing was shot on the left side. Not having the part, he would't be able to get it until his supply run to Billings on Monday. That
left us in Cooke City for 4 1/2 days. We went for a ride that night enjoying the incredible scenery and cooler temps at 7600 feet. If there was any town to be stuck in, Cooke City was about as good as it gets.

 After each day, we made it down to the area rivers to refresh.

Hiking up to the old  Erma Mine area.

Riding from the east end of Yellowstone Park.

 Rolling along the scenic highway 212. Jon had never been on a road bike before and took to the roads nicely. We all jumped in the Strava boat before the trip and had good fun going for the KOM on the categorized climbs in the area. Jon holds the record for the Lulu pass climb, earning the name...King LuLu.

Not having a vehicle was not that big of a deal since we had bikes, feet, blades and roller skis. Bob cut us a deal for a half day rental of an ohv so we spent the day exploring the Lulu pass area, hiking up to the top of a couple mountains and playing on some snow fields.

Hiking up to 10,000ft. The weather was pretty much ideal. A few passing showers etc but nothing to keep us from doing anything.

Bearclaw Bob. Bob was one of those guys that had a iron in a ton of fires but seemed to manage everything with ease. He would make a supply run each Monday to either Billings or Bozeman and Bozeman was the planned destination on Monday so he could pick up the bearing part. Got everything put together early Tuesday morning and set for the return home.

Tuesday morning before we left, I rode up to Daisy Pass. It was about a 7 mile continuous climb from CC. The wild flowers were in full force in the mountain meadows. The area has received ample moisture and not dry like the east side of Beartooth pass.

Top of Daisy Pass. Always nice to ride up to a snow field. I was impressed by the number of jeep trails etc. in the area

Tuesday we made our way back over Beartooth Pass.Jake and Jon rode down from the pass and I went to the town of Red Lodge and rode up to the ski area and halfway up the mountain.

Cooling down in a creek near Red Lodge after we met back up.

Made it to Medora Tuesday night and the next morning before heading, did part of the scenic loop drive in Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  Love the geological aspect of the Badlands. Very peaceful and the scenery is the same when man first discovered.

Top of a mountain near Lulu Pass. Good times, great memories!