Lack Of Snow Cancels Yellowstone Snowmobile Tours, But Cooke City’s Been Dumped On

COOKE CITY, Montana — Around dusk on Friday, snowmobilers began to motor back into town after a blustery day in the backcountry. 

While much of Wyoming and parts of Yellowstone National Park are lacking in snow, Cooke City and the surrounding snowmobiling terrain are blessed with an ample preseason base.

At the Exxon in the center of town, a generator powered the lights and the gas pumps. Hungry snowmobilers gathered to buy beer and snacks, as the cashier inside offered to heat up frozen pizzas for the growing crowd.

It was happy hour, but the town’s dining establishments were dark. The vibe was not so happy. 

Michael Littlejohn lives next to the Exxon in an apartment with his fiancée, Calista Foss. While snowmobilers debated whether they could make a meal out of gas station beer and pretzels, Littlejohn sprang into action, inviting anyone he met over to his place for a hot meal. 

"We're trying to get some burgers going for them or something," Littlejohn said. "Whatever we can get. These guys are hungry, man."

Littlejohn moved to Cooke City in 2022 from Michigan. He's become one of the town's go-to problem solvers — a certified welder who claims he can fix just about anything that breaks.

"I work under the Mikey Mike special," he said. "I service everything. I service your car, your sled, your quad, your house. I'll keep it going, man. I service it all.”

As the wind whipped and the snow blew, some hungry snowmobilers piled on sleds five at a time, motoring like clown cars around Cooke City’s icy main strip, where generators hummed and gradually, some lights began to flicker back on. 

With Christmas lights overhead, Foss cooked potatoes in casserole dishes covered in foil outside on a pair of grills. 

Beef and corn were on the stove inside, while Littlejohn bounced between neighbors, troubleshooting the generator at the Alpine Motel across the street and spreading the word about the impromptu meal.

"I do the best I can to keep my family safe, to keep these guys safe, to cook food for them,” said Littlejohn. “To make sure that we can make it till tomorrow. You know what I mean? I'll provide power, I provide food, we'll provide guys whatever you need, man."

Less-Than-Ideal

From Cooke City to West Yellowstone, heading into the first big weekend of winter in Yellowstone National Park, things were not going as planned.

The guides at Two Top Snowmobile Rentals and Tours in West Yellowstone canceled trips into Old Faithful due to lack of snow, while earlier in the week, temperatures soared into the mid-60s 90 miles to the north in Bozeman. 

Yellowstone's official winter season began Dec. 15, when most park roads close to automobiles and open to commercially guided snowmobiles and snowcoaches.

But this year, the National Park Service warned that "the accumulation of snowfall on roads varies across the park," and the type of transportation available would depend on conditions.

Snow conditions were not much better south of Yellowstone. 

In Pinedale, longtime snowmobiler Gary Neely was reminded of other disappointing starts to winter. A former snowmobile dealer who watched the weather religiously for nearly 40 years, Neely has seen lean times before.

"In 1981, Fremont Lake here did not freeze," Neely said. "And we didn't have snow in town. And the winter of 1980, we didn't see snow until New Year's Day."

Neely said that in the last 10-15 years, the winters have been warmer. 

Recently, when he checked the Blind Bull SNOTEL station, which sits at 8,880 feet elevation near Pinedale, Neely didn’t see much to celebrate. 

"On the 10th of December, it showed 1 inch, and then today it shows zero," Neely said. "So they're at nothing up there right now."

Neely predicted snowmobilers would flock to the one place where winter had arrived in force: Cooke City.

“It’ll be like a magnet, you know, they'll come in there,” he said. 

Christmas Cruiser

Roads leading to Cooke City were plagued with sketchy conditions, with winds shutting down parts of Interstate 90. 

The winds were so strong on the highway outside of Livingston, Montana, they popped the hood latch on a 1996 Toyota Land Cruiser completely wrapped in multicolor Christmas lights.

The Land Cruiser belongs to Timothy Erickson of Salt Lake City, who was checking into the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel with his family.

"I'd seen some people online do it in years past, and I was like, you know, I want to put Christmas lights on the car," Erickson said.

It took him and two others three and a half hours to complete the job.

"The paint's starting to peel," he said. "So it's going to be time for a new paint job here. So I figured this is the time to do it."

Erickson said he and his family, including his 2-year-old daughter, planned to take a snowcoach into Old Faithful Lodge for a few nights. The family had always wanted to see Yellowstone in winter.

Settling into his first night in Mammoth, where the hotel lobby is decked out like the set of a Hallmark Christmas movie, Erickson said, "We didn't expect it to be this warm.”

Drawn To Cooke City

Temperatures dropped drastically Friday on the trip from Mammoth to Cooke City, with snow depths rising along the way. 

At the Soda Butte Lodge in Cooke City, Curtis Ewers built a big fire in a sunken lounge perfect for warming up and unwinding after a day of snowmobiling.

"We've had already two major power outages just this month alone," Ewers said. "And the first one, we were out just about eight hours. And then the one, it was just a couple of days ago, we had a power outage that lasted almost 14 hours."

"I already had five people canceled because they were afraid to come up," Ewers said, motioning to the weather outside where the wind howled and snow blew sideways. 

Will Stroud of Patricia, Alberta, Canada — a town of 87 people — appeared to feel right at home in the early season blizzard conditions. 

It was his first visit to Cooke City, as Stroud was convinced to come by his brother and father. All three milled around outside their dark and cold room at the Alpine Motel, all smiles thanks to a fun day riding. 

"It kind of reminds me of where we live," Stroud said. "It's just this old small town. And everyone's pretty friendly and in a good mood."

As the wind shaped new snowdrifts around the Alpine Motel, Nate Hillerud of Bismarck, North Dakota, thought about his options for the evening and reflected on his day spent touring around Round Lake. 

He and his group tried to avoid the considerable avalanche risk that continued to grow with each new snow squall and wind gust. 

"It's pretty much the most reliable winter spot," Hillerud said of Cooke City. 

An electrical engineer at the Freedom Mine coal operation near Beulah, North Dakota, Hillerud said, “It's just fun to be back in the backcountry where nobody else can get to.”

Hillerud has been exploring the backcountry around Cooke City for more than 20 years, but not everyone shows up with that kind of experience. 

Back at Littlejohn's apartment, Mikey Mike sized up the current avalanche danger while dousing his grill with lighter fluid. 

“We are on the most extreme avalanche conditions right now,” said Littlejohn. “And some of these guys don't understand. They come from ditch banging and boondocking, and they think it's OK to go right on the top of the mountain. 

"At 10,000 feet, you will die, you know what I mean?"

Going above and beyond as an impromptu dinner host, generator mechanic and snow safety advisor, Littlejohn said, "We're here to help, that's all. We just want to continue to bring more people to town. We need to be on the map. They forgot about us. We need more people. We need more love."

David Madison can be reached at david@cowboystatedaily.com.