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Old 12-14-2011, 07:38 AM
 
Location: Minnesota
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I am going to visit my bf in ND for our 3 year in February and we talked about going to the moutains. Is there anywhere in montana that any of you would recommend. He talked about montana or wyoming. we are looking to spend a few days there not necessarly to go skiing but just to see the mountains and have a nice weekend together.
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Old 12-14-2011, 09:11 AM
 
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Most of the backcountry of Wyoming in Feb will be barren and dry, or perhaps snow covered and not necessarily accessible. The tourist towns will generally be shut down for the season, so you'll not have lots of amenities to rely upon.

If you're seeking a "mountain" environment where conditions, amenities, access and such are available for a "nice" weekend, then your best opportunities will present in places like Jackson which have an active winter tourist season ... even though you aren't a skier, there will be a lot of things to do and the surrounding area is beautiful.

Another area you could try would be the Star Valley ... some years ago, my wife and I flew into Afton in the winter and had a very pleasant stay. But you have to accept that access to the mountains, restaurants, and lodging is rather minimal as the wintertime economy is scaled down to the locals and not the tourists. We've also stayed in Dubois at that time of the year, and it's much the same slow down to the locals.
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Old 12-14-2011, 10:23 AM
 
Location: Wyoming
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One of the closest possibilities for you would be the South Dakota Black Hills -- maybe Deadwood. The Black Hills don't have much for ragged peaks as it's a relatively old mountain range, but it's a pretty area. Most of the touristy areas will be closed, but you could still visit Mount Rushmore, Custer State Park and a few other sites, or just enjoy a drive through the pine-covered hills. I mentioned Deadwood because it's a casino town and has an abundance of decent hotels and eateries. There are good highways leading to it, as there are to all towns in the Black Hills, but many of these places are all but closed down for the winter -- not so with Deadwood. And if you prefer to stay in a bungalow out of town, look into something around the Terry Peak/Deer Haven ski areas just outside of Lead (5-6 miles up the road from Deadwood).

If you want to see "real" mountains, a good pick would be the Bighorns near Sheridan and Buffalo. Both towns have good access to the Bighorns with all-season roads that cross the mountain. In fact, you could take a long drive over the mountain and make a complete loop using both Hwy 14 and Hwy 16.

While there are places you could stay up ON the mountain, most leave a little to be desired. Burgess Junction has a decent motel and eatery, and it's great for those who want to go up and spend the weekend snowmobiling, but as that's not your goal, I'd suggest something just off the mountain. Here's a good one: The Historic Occidental Hotel in Buffalo, Wyoming - Butch Cassidy stayed here, Now You Can Too! Buffalo has excellent access to the Bighorns. From the Occidental (downtown) drive a block north, turn the corner, and you'll immediately begin your accent up the mountain. Granted, it's a very slow accent for the first few miles, but as soon as you're out of town you'll start your real climb. Very pretty drive.

If you want something really rustic, the South Fork Inn South Fork Mountain Lodge & Outfitters - Buffalo, Wyoming is in a pretty valley about 15 miles west of Buffalo and rents rustic cabins. They may be uncomfortably cold in February, however. I'd stay in town and drive up for a burger.

Red Lodge, MT wouldn't be a bad choice either, but I don't think you can get far up the mountain from town in the winter. We used to ski there occasionally, and I can't think of any great hotels, but it's been awhile. The highway going over the mountain from Red Lodge is breath-taking, but it doesn't open up until around June 1.

Most of the mountains in Montana are in the west half of the state. It would be a long drive -- too long for a weekend imho, particularly in February.
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Old 12-14-2011, 06:00 PM
 
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I just spent the last two weeks in the Rapid City/Belle Fourche/Hot Springs/Hill City/Sturgis/Lead area ... most of the tourist oriented activities, especially those in the "mountain" areas or leading to the Mount Rushmore area are now closed for the season.

Of passing interest was seeing a lot of tourist oriented businesses in the area with "for sale" signs up and obviously out of business/vacant. My bet is that they've been adversely affected by the slow down in tourist traffic/high fuel prices and the general slow down in the economy.

What many people don't know about the area is that "casino's" are a dime a dozen activity here; rather than the big glitz and glamour of a Las Vegas/Reno type of development, just about every retail location that can have a "casino" in it has one. For example, the main arteries of Rapid City have many casinos, even the office/c-store of the RV campground where I camped just South of Rapid City has a "casino" in it with room for about 20 people at the bar to gamble. So if legal gambling is your attraction, there's about a hundred places in the area to partake. OTOH, if you're not into that activity, you'll not be missing much ....

IMO, the Black Hills aren't especially pretty starting in the late fall ... they're not "spectacular mountains" with gorgeous vista's of impressive formations. More like they're just big rolling hills when compared to the Rocky Mountain Range of Colorado/Wyoming. As I've mentioned before, my wife and I traveled to this area, close to Mt Rushmore a few years ago and found a little (as in tiny, you could get calloused elbows in the bathroom, shower stall, or "kitchenette" areas) cabin in a campground where the on-site owners were gracious enough to take our money and let us stay for a week in an otherwise closed for the season facility. No Wi-Fi, and the two TV channels that came in were mostly snow. I'm told they turn on the WiFi hot spot during the tourist season, but they have other amenities at the place then, too. Other then the use of a place to sleep and a roof over our heads, we found little to do in the area as it was shut down for the winter months. What few retail shops were open, as well as restaurants were indifferent to providing service ... the retailers kept short hours and price points consistent with the high tourist season. As well, the restaurant help was consistently surly, indifferent, and apparently focused on doing other things then providing service. We literally walked into several establishments, waited quite some time for service without so much as a greeting, and left without receiving any service whatsoever. In some other places, we saw the bored patrons waiting for service and took the cue, walking out before bothering to trouble the staff any further.

C'mon ... when you're seeing a 150 seat facility with 20 patrons in it not getting served, you know there's a problem. When most of them are shut down and the few open ones consistently have no/poor service, then you know it's part of the seasonal culture when the remaining staff isn't hustling for tips. Worse still, we walked into several smaller places where the help was sitting down in a booth for an extended smoke break and were totally ignored for 5-10 minutes, so we asked them if there was another place locally where we could get served. They pretty much laughed ... because there were no other places. We wound up buying a new cooler, food/tableware/cookware and a hotplate that worked (unlike the 50 year old one in the cabin that was hardwired into the wall) and I cooked all of our meals after the first several days for the duration of our trip. We really tried our best to enjoy the time away from our ranch and work responsibilities, but the Black Hills had to be one of the biggest disappointments in the winter time that I've ever experienced in over 50 years of vacation travels.

Even now, I called on clients in the Sundance area last week ... and the RV campgrounds are closed, the fairgrounds campground is closed for the season, and the forest service folk told me that I'd have a difficult time with my Class B RV getting into any of the federal forest campground areas nearby. Unless you were looking for a bar, a fuel stop, or bar food in that town in December, there's not much going on. Pretty? well, it's not.

One of the big aspects of this area is the current boom times of the oil industry going on around here. The folk with high disposable incomes for their toys ... motorhomes, big 5th wheel trailers, off-road vehicles ... spend their money in the nicer months of the year. Along with the tourist trade, it really skews the local economics toward the summer months and away from the winter activities, few that there used to be.

The bottom line is that a "nice weekend" get-away in the mountain areas of this region will be had in the areas that focus upon the tourism industry during this time of the year. The Black Hills don't do that ... the ski resort areas do.

Last edited by sunsprit; 12-14-2011 at 06:11 PM..
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Old 12-14-2011, 07:29 PM
 
Location: Wyoming
9,724 posts, read 21,178,650 times
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Originally Posted by WyoNewk View Post
I mentioned Deadwood because it's a casino town and has an abundance of decent hotels and eateries. There are good highways leading to it, as there are to all towns in the Black Hills, but many of these places are all but closed down for the winter -- not so with Deadwood....
You are familiar with Deadwood aren't you, Sunsprit? While its casinos don't rival the big ones in Vegas, some are pretty large, and they offer a variety of gambling options, not just poker or blackjack machines as those found throughout South Dakota. They are "real" casinos. I've also found some pretty good places there to eat, by my standards, and most of my trips to Deadwood in recent years have been outside of the tourist season. It also has nice, modern hotels.

There are always lots of tourist traps for sale in the winter months. I don't know this as fact, but I don't believe they've been hurting from high gas prices and a poor economy. Yellowstone continues to set visitor records, and many of those folks visit the Black Hills coming or going.

Sorry you didn't enjoy your trip to the Black Hills, Sunsprit. Yes, most activities for tourists are closed down during the winter, as I mention uptopic. Keystone, Custer, and many other towns are shells of what they are from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Most of the restaurants just close down completely, and those that do stay open are working with a skeleton crew to serve the few locals who stop by.

But for a weekend, which is what the OP is interested in, one could still have a nice time. Deadwood is active year around. I believe Custer State Park is open, Mount Rushmore certainly is, I think Crazy Horse Memorial is open, and if not the memorial is certainly visible from the highway. The Mammoth Site in Hot Springs is open year around (indoors), Jewel and Wind Caves, operated by the National Park Service, are open year around. The Adams Museum in Deadwood and Sturgis Motorcycle Museum would be open. That's just a start from off the top of my head and doesn't include anything in Rapid City, the Badlands east of Rapid, etc. There's plenty to keep one busy for a weekend.

I agree with you that the Black Hills doesn't compare to the Rockies to the west of them, but I do think they're pretty year around. My wife actually prefers the Black Hills over the Bighorns, etc. I don't, but we compromise and visit both several times throughout the year. To each his own, yanno.

Last edited by WyoNewk; 12-14-2011 at 07:37 PM..
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Old 12-14-2011, 08:08 PM
 
Location: Cody, WY
774 posts, read 2,576,930 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by WyoNewk View Post
You are familiar with Deadwood aren't you, Sunsprit? While its casinos don't rival the big ones in Vegas, some are pretty large, and they offer a variety of gambling options, not just poker or blackjack machines as those found throughout South Dakota. They are "real" casinos. I've also found some pretty good places there to eat, by my standards, and most of my trips to Deadwood in recent years have been outside of the tourist season. It also has nice, modern hotels.

There are always lots of tourist traps for sale in the winter months. I don't know this as fact, but I don't believe they've been hurting from high gas prices and a poor economy. Yellowstone continues to set visitor records, and many of those folks visit the Black Hills coming or going.

Sorry you didn't enjoy your trip to the Black Hills, Sunsprit. Yes, most activities for tourists are closed down during the winter, as I mention uptopic. Keystone, Custer, and many other towns are shells of what they are from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Most of the restaurants just close down completely, and those that do stay open are working with a skeleton crew to serve the few locals who stop by.

But for a weekend, which is what the OP is interested in, one could still have a nice time. Deadwood is active year around. I believe Custer State Park is open, Mount Rushmore certainly is, I think Crazy Horse Memorial is open, and if not the memorial is certainly visible from the highway. The Mammoth Site in Hot Springs is open year around (indoors), Jewel and Wind Caves, operated by the National Park Service, are open year around. The Adams Museum in Deadwood and Sturgis Motorcycle Museum would be open. That's just a start from off the top of my head and doesn't include anything in Rapid City, the Badlands east of Rapid, etc. There's plenty to keep one busy for a weekend.

I agree with you that the Black Hills doesn't compare to the Rockies to the west of them, but I do think they're pretty year around. My wife actually prefers the Black Hills over the Bighorns, etc. I don't, but we compromise and visit both several times throughout the year. To each his own, yanno.
You make really good points regarding the parks and such that are available year-round. For many of us, a weekend in a place full of tourist activities, eateries, and shopping would be akin to a weekend in Hades.
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Old 12-14-2011, 08:53 PM
 
11,550 posts, read 53,027,987 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by WyoNewk View Post
You are familiar with Deadwood aren't you, Sunsprit? While its casinos don't rival the big ones in Vegas, some are pretty large, and they offer a variety of gambling options, not just poker or blackjack machines as those found throughout South Dakota. They are "real" casinos. I've also found some pretty good places there to eat, by my standards, and most of my trips to Deadwood in recent years have been outside of the tourist season. It also has nice, modern hotels.

There are always lots of tourist traps for sale in the winter months. I don't know this as fact, but I don't believe they've been hurting from high gas prices and a poor economy. Yellowstone continues to set visitor records, and many of those folks visit the Black Hills coming or going.

Sorry you didn't enjoy your trip to the Black Hills, Sunsprit. Yes, most activities for tourists are closed down during the winter, as I mention uptopic. Keystone, Custer, and many other towns are shells of what they are from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Most of the restaurants just close down completely, and those that do stay open are working with a skeleton crew to serve the few locals who stop by.

But for a weekend, which is what the OP is interested in, one could still have a nice time. Deadwood is active year around. I believe Custer State Park is open, Mount Rushmore certainly is, I think Crazy Horse Memorial is open, and if not the memorial is certainly visible from the highway. The Mammoth Site in Hot Springs is open year around (indoors), Jewel and Wind Caves, operated by the National Park Service, are open year around. The Adams Museum in Deadwood and Sturgis Motorcycle Museum would be open. That's just a start from off the top of my head and doesn't include anything in Rapid City, the Badlands east of Rapid, etc. There's plenty to keep one busy for a weekend.

I agree with you that the Black Hills doesn't compare to the Rockies to the west of them, but I do think they're pretty year around. My wife actually prefers the Black Hills over the Bighorns, etc. I don't, but we compromise and visit both several times throughout the year. To each his own, yanno.
As I've just been through the area in the last two weeks on sales calls in addition to my prior years worth of traveling through the area ... yes, I'd say I know whereof of post.

As it happens, I've just completed my sales calls in the area this Monday, having had to go back to Sundance for a follow-up call. Right now, I'm sitting in an RV park in Gillette, working my way back through this area to Casper and then homeward to SE WY.

Mount Rushmore is open, but virtually every other tourist activity in the area is not. Crazy Horse Memorial is closed for the season ... I went right by it on my way to the RV camp that I stayed at across from the Reptile Gardens two weeks ago. I've been through the Custer State Park area in years past at this time, and while it's nice to not have the roads plugged up with all the slow moving tourist vehicles, it's a far stretch to call it a "mountain experience" even though it does have some wooded areas to it.

As an active real estate investor in the area for decades, it's my subjective opinion that there's a lot more of the tourist (trap) oriented places for sale than in years past this season. A major bar (a combination of two older bars) was on the auction block just a couple of weeks ago in Sturgis, along with numerous other properties to be found throughout the Black Hills region. Rapid City, Belle Fourche, et al ... all had numerous storefront vacancies.

I'd disagree with your assessment that the casino's in the area, even Deadwood's ... are of any real "size", with the biggest being what ... Cadillac Jacks? at 200 rooms? They're on the order of the casino's in the hills west of Denver (Blackhawk and Central City), and the only attraction they have for gamblers that I can see is the convenience of being able to legally gamble modest sums at the slots or various card games to get their "fix". But they don't hold a candle to the serious casino scene of Las Vegas which is readily accessible via regional flights; even my neighbor took his family to LV for some ProRodeo event a week or so ago and the roundtrip flights were under $200 from Ft Collins/Loveland airport not much more than an hour away from his ranch. The other thing I note is what I'd call the serious decline in the food quality in this biz; years ago, food was a loss leader to the gaming industry and was a highlight of going to the casinos ... especially LV, where I got some incredibly good meals for under $5 when I traveled through there enroute to the West Coast and back. More recently, however, good food is to be found only at a price, and the loss leader stuff is generally very forgettable. At that, a lot of casino food is not above the level of a typical American buffet ... or so my friends who travel that circuit tell me as I've not stopped in one for years now except in LV and Reno.

My sales job requires that I call upon an industry with a substantial market presence in every town, so I get to see the business activity, storefronts, and general economic activities of all the towns I go through. I can only report on that which I observed in the last couple of weeks ... and there's a whole host of established businesses catering to the tourists in the area which are now out of business, storefronts for sale. I recall seeing "black hills gold" tourist jewelry shops going in and out of biz fairly frequently, but those were mostly the little tourist shops. Now I'm seeing the larger outfits packed in (even some manufacturers) ... at a time when gold is more valuable than ever and in high demand. The South side of Rapid City was littered with defunct gold shops last week, and that's the historical section of town for that biz.

Yellowstone is a primary tourist destination and attraction for many folk, and it's a much bigger deal than many other Nat'l Parks ... in size, scope of activities, and draw. Even though it's been getting steady trade for years, I see a lot of folk that are just travelin' through to get there as opposed to the people who made numerous stops (and spent a lot of money) enroute to there and back homeward. Now it appears the destination is the primary and sole focus for many YNP visitors. Friends of mine with properties in Dubois WY report a decline in their biz in the last few years, and that's been a main gateway stop to YNP for a long time.

I've been in the motorcycle biz for almost 50 years, been riding road bikes for longer than that, and at one time had a serious collection of Brit/Italian/German motorcycles which included some rare desirable (pricey!) examples. Frankly, Sturgis doesn't do much for me as a riding destination, nor does the party atmosphere that precedes and persists around the old dirt track race week. Where I'm going with this is to say that the motorcycle musuem in Sturgis is a bore for me ... even though I worked with a gent who was an announcer (now deceased) there for many years and is a hall of famer re the motorcycle industry in the area. The 'merican V-Twin industry and the "bad boy" image that it cultivated just doesn't do it for me ... nor the associated alcohol intake, party time behavior, etc.
Absent the motorcycle connection, Sturgis is more of a retirement community than anything else .... as is the Hot Springs area. VA hospitals are located there for a reason ... the demographics of the community (and my thanks for the service that so many folk there gave).

I'll agree with posters that being in the area when it is full of tourists and the high activity levels could be a real hell ... which is why I chose to vacation there in the off-season. Additionally, we've had to make several trips to the Hulett area and to Broadhus Montana for the wool mill, so did that during the off-season. You are correct in surmising that we didn't find it a pleasant or enjoyable experience ... other than the solitude the Black Hills area is not especially attractive in the winter months. I've been back-country camping in snow months throughout the Rockies for over 50 years and have found many places that are a delight even when packing in, not in an RV (this is a first for me in the new job) ... but the Black Hills area doesn't have the same attraction for me. YMMV.

I'll surmise that the OP wasn't seeking a hot time in a casino when she posted that she wanted a "nice weekend in the mountains" with her SO. Nor, I'll bet, did she want a camping trip to a remote area in the mountains. Most folk want a nice motel, some recreation, some scenic views, good restaurants, and so forth. That's what the ski area resorts cater to .... and what is decidely not in the Black Hills area in February.

Last edited by sunsprit; 12-14-2011 at 09:31 PM..
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Old 12-15-2011, 12:30 AM
 
Location: Spots Wyoming
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I agree with part of WyoNewk's recommendation.

I would highly recommend Buffalo or Sheridan and visit the Big Horns. Spend a night in Sheridan and head up 14 to Burgess Junction. Then on over to Greybull, cut South to Tensleep and come back over the Big Horns to Buffalo. It's a nice loop, beautiful sights, lots of wild game to observe.
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Old 12-15-2011, 06:15 AM
 
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'Cowboy Village' (also known as 'Togwotee') due west of the town of Dubois, Wyoming on Wyo 26.

Awsome rooms, great restaurant, decent bar...and a nice hour's drive from the 'Wild and Whooley' town of Jackson.

Trust me, you'll NEVER wanna leave.
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Old 12-15-2011, 03:20 PM
 
Location: North Dakota
10,304 posts, read 13,825,119 times
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Originally Posted by ElkHunter View Post
I agree with part of WyoNewk's recommendation.

I would highly recommend Buffalo or Sheridan and visit the Big Horns. Spend a night in Sheridan and head up 14 to Burgess Junction. Then on over to Greybull, cut South to Tensleep and come back over the Big Horns to Buffalo. It's a nice loop, beautiful sights, lots of wild game to observe.
That is one part of the state I've been wanting to visit for quite some time. Good suggestion.
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