Cooke City vs W Yellowstone

[Circus Midget]

These other guys will do a better job than I explaining where to go. The above posts have it pretty well nailed as far as I know.

I prefer IP area over West because it seems to always have much less traffic. The trails in and out of West are so beat to hell everyday my brain rattles on the way in and out for miles and I cannot stand getting stuck behind lines of people on the trails.

We leave our sleds, fly in, and rent an suv so it’s no biggie for us to drive back and forth to west for good food and drinks.

West takes the cake for bars food and night life. But I’ve never been let down in IP either.

Not being a local or super well versed in the area, I find all the riding area’s these guys list in the forums here and look them up on google maps, find the best terrain I can, and so far have never been skunked in finding the “Cooke city” riding Im used to and untracked snow.

Love this area so much we’ve almost stopped going to Cooke the last few years. The ease of getting here, food, and extensive riding areas are tough to beat!

Can you give a little more info on flying in. I was looking for some flight info awhile back and it looked like any flights into Bozeman would have to go through Minneapolis

 

[iplocal]

cooke vs west

I am a Montana native and I live in Island Park in the winter. I live in S Washington (basically portland) the other three seasons. I have ridden both areas and personally I dont think there is a comparison. I would take West/Island Park all day long. But the comments above are spot on. You have to know where to go around here. Otherwise you are going to ride a bunch of trails and leave wondering why West Yellowstone is considered Mecca for sledding. My biggest knocks against Cooke are that the area is much smaller, the avi danger is far higher, and if something goes wrong or you break something it is much easier to get help in a tourist town like west than middle of nowhere cooke. That said, I think Cooke often has slightly better snow but again, that also means more avi danger. I guide people every year that I meet on snowest (just to meet other riders, not for profit) and I have probably ridden with 200 people over the last 5 years. I have yet to have a single person not find what they were looking for and be challenged by more than they could handle. And that is the nice thing about west. Cooke seems like it has bunny slopes and then oh my god we are all going to die slopes and not a ton in between. West/IP has riding areas and a lot of them for every appetite. There are areas is IP that even on busy days I wont see another group all day long and never double back on our tracks until the end of the day. There is a reason Snowest, Arctic Cat, Polaris, and Ski Doo all do testing and have operations in West/IP. And it is not because the local area is excellent at marketing itself. Let me know when you guys are coming out, I would be happy to meet up with you. I am 40 and ride a 174" or 155" depending on conditions

 

[Pro-8250]

Well you certainly have a wealth of information here from all of those replies. Depending on snow conditions you really can't go wrong with either one.
What we like as far as restaurants/saloons etc.
Cooke City.
Bear Claw Bobs.
Soda Butte.
Antlers.
West Yellowstone.
Buffalo Bar.
Slippery Otter Pub.
Wild West Pizza.
Island Park.
Connie's.
Ponds.
I know I missed quit a few, but I am just going off of my limited memory.

 

[skidoolen]

How are the snow conditions right now in the West Yellowstone, Island Park areas you mention?

 

[w74bronco]

Wow. Ton of great info and feedback from you guys! Our trip is in 2 weeks and we still haven't figured out what to do. Basically going to come down to snow. We all have time off from work, so we're going somewhere, hopefully we've decided by the time we pull out of Seattle and start east.

 

[Pro_Assault]

Tons of great info here. I’ve ridden both areas, West, numerous times. Both have their plusses and minuses. If Cooke has really good snow, you can have fun for days. But the area is still small. I prefer West like many others have said. So much more terrain, riding for every skill level and appetite. We usually stay in West or Island park and trailer out to the different trail heads to where we ride. Don’t waste your time or energy on riding out of west. Way too many tourist sleds and the trails hurt after a long day. Do your homework on West and pick out some riding spots you want to go each day. It hasn’t disappointed me yet.