Moving to West Yellowstone, MT what should I expect

wpwarren

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My wife took a job in West Yellowstone, MT that starts in a couple of weeks and I was wondering what I should expect? We won't be checking out the town before the move so I am hoping to find some feedback on the area. We are moving from Golden, CO so it will obviously be a smaller town. I know it will be cold, but I lived in Fraser, CO for quite a few years and have worked outside in as cold of weather as -40. My wife wants to move to someplace colder than Denver (West Yellowstone definitely is), but I want to find some fun outdoor things to do in the area to help her have some fun and introduce her to some of the recreation opportunities in SW Montana. We will be staying in Bozeman for the first week or two so good trails and activities in Bozeman would be good too.
 
I tried to buy gas there once and the pumps were frozen now that's cold and it was a nail biter to the next station. Bozeman is great town. Hope you fly fish that's damn near the Mecca for that. Been 20 years since I've spent all my summers there
 
I tried to buy gas there once and the pumps were frozen now that's cold and it was a nail biter to the next station. Bozeman is great town. Hope you fly fish that's damn near the Mecca for that. Been 20 years since I've spent all my summers there

I have dealt with frozen gas pumps before, my wife will have to start taking me seriously when I tell her she can't run the tank lower than 1/2 full before refilling. You take things for granted when you live in the city.
 
Long winters. Lots of mosquitoes in the summer. Great summer climate, cold in the winter. Lots of snowmobiles. Very touristy.

Good fishing all around, Hebgen and local rivers. Great backpacking. Great elk hunting, decent to good mule deer.

Get bear spray.
 
Long winters. Lots of mosquitoes in the summer. Great summer climate, cold in the winter. Lots of snowmobiles. Very touristy.

Good fishing all around, Hebgen and local rivers. Great backpacking. Great elk hunting, decent to good mule deer.

Get bear spray.

Good info, thanks! I already ordered some bear spray!
 
A friend of mine built the IMAX theatre there. It snowed 8 inches on the 4th of July. They almost canceled the parade :).

The only time I was there was in May. Neat town but it was mud season and all of the rivers were flooded :(.
 
Not much to get excited about if she's not a hunter ;)

Seriously, two national parks up there, millions of acres of public land, a few ski resorts. If none of those turn her on, it's a bad situation!
 
Not much to get excited about if she's not a hunter ;)

Seriously, two national parks up there, millions of acres of public land, a few ski resorts. If none of those turn her on, it's a bad situation!

She is a skiier, hiker, and marathon runner, in the end I am sure she will love it. I would love to find some great hikes or activities in the West Yellowstone/Bozeman area to get her excited right away.

And BroodBuster, living in Fraser we had quite the mud season. I have also seen snow on the 4th of July. It will be a new experience for her though.
 
I visited Bozeman this year and over the past two seasons I've seen a little bit of Montana and Bozangles is strikingly un Montana imo. It's the only place I ran into big city unfriendlyness. Since you are coming from a large metropolitan area you probably won't notice it at first but as you spend time elsewhere in Montana it starts to grate on you. The area is spectacularly beautiful and rugged.

After reading my post it comes off as really down on Bozeman but it's still a really nice place and I met plenty of friendly people. I stands out because of what surrounds it. It has lots of city amenities that much of Montana lacks.
 
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She is a skiier, hiker, and marathon runner, in the end I am sure she will love it. I would love to find some great hikes or activities in the West Yellowstone/Bozeman area to get her excited right away.

And BroodBuster, living in Fraser we had quite the mud season. I have also seen snow on the 4th of July. It will be a new experience for her though.

Lone Mountain/Big Sky is only 45 minutes from West. All the XC skiing she could want. Endless trails in the Taylor Hilgard and upper Gallatin. Plenty of roads and trails to run. Marathons in Missoula, Billings, Jackson Hole, Helena to name a few.

If you guys like to snowmobile, there is plenty of it right around town.
 
West Yellowstone is as good as it gets as far as location. Tourists like crazy in the summer so it may drive you nuts to live right in town. I also notice that most of the restaurants and bars close for the winter season. Great hunting, amazing fishing.... sweet place to live. Bozeman has everything you need as far as shopping and stuff goes... but as mentioned above... is pretty uppity (then again you are from denver... hahaha)

OVerall, I would call it a sweet opportunity. I will be on Hebgen lake catching as monster trout through the ice as much as possible, hands down my favorite place to ice fish.

Joe
 
I was there once and spoke with some dirt bike guys. I was told there were tons of motorcycle trails
 
I have to work up in west a lot and one thing I can tell you is for several months through the winter that town really shuts down and doesn't reopen until right before tourist season gets going. I personally love it up there, gets a lot of snow and is a pretty cold area but it's nice. Has several awesome fly shops in town, a couple good resturants, Petes pizza is one I like, imax theatre is nice but the huge thing is your right next to Yellowstone National Park.

There is a plethora of trails to go hiking all over the place and I don't know if you like fly fishing but man all you have to do is pick a direction and go and your gonna find excellent fishing. Sometimes crowded but if you want to you can get away from the crowds pretty easy. X2 on bear spray when recreating especially.
I'm sure you guys will be very happy there.
 
Thanks for the info guys. We expect it to be pretty quiet in the winter and cold. I am excited.
 
Just spent thanksgiving there. My favorite time of year in West is by far the winter season. Snowshoeing, snowmobiling, cross-country skiing, and none of the bullshit that comes with the place being over saturated with tourists.

Don't get me wrong, I love it there during the summer as well. My wife mentioned to me while we were there what she wouldn't mind moving there if we could both find jobs in our chosen professions.

Good luck with your move, there aren't many other towns I've been to in the western US that are tailor made for outdoor enthusiasts.
 
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