BLOG.BIGHORN62.COM

Welcome to Mike’s BigHorn 62 blog.

Big Horn 62 — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 19:49:00 GMT

Welcome to Mike’s BigHorn 62 blog.

My first blog is about Big Sky the area. I have been coming to Big Sky since the late 1980’s. The thing that never leaves you about Big Sky is the specter of Lone Peak. As you leave the city of Bozeman and start that incredible 45 minute drive up the Gallatin River Valley your breath is literally taken away by the beauty. Your anticipation continues to grow as you wind thru each turn. Finally as you approach the Conoco gas station you know that Lone Peak is about to reveal herself to you. It is customary for all in our group to loudly greet her with a hearty hello each and every visit. As you wind your way up the 12 miles to our place you will pass by the meadow area that holds the golf course for fun in the summer and a lot of shops and restaurants as well. You will also see a lot of beautiful homes nestled in this vast mountain wilderness. Eventually you will make it past Lone Mountain Ranch, a cross country ski Mecca, and now that you are getting really close. There may be a few more fun curves in the road and if it is snow covered then get ready for some great skiing. As you make your way to the Mountain village you will turn left and drive past little lake Lavinsky. This tiny lake serves as the reservoir for all the spring melting as that water makes it down to the rapids of the Gallatin River. When you come the T in the road go left and then continue to the right past the ? (our good friends beautiful home. Go to the third drive on the right just past the poma lift to 62 Running Bear Road. WELCOME!

There are many great places to stay in Big Sky and depending on your needs and budget you should be able to find a good match. I would never be so bold as to tell you that our place is the perfect place for you but it has been for us. The reason we wanted to be here is because it fits so many of our requirements. First it is ski-in/ski-out, now I know some people are loose with this term but I can honestly say that in my last 50 ski days you can count on 1 hand the number of times I did not ski in and out. But if you so choose you can also make the easy walk to the poma some 50 yards away. The poma wraps around the Summit Hotel and leaves you right at the base area between the Ram Charger and Swift Current chair lifts. You are also right where you can buy lift tickets; drop kids off for ski school get your own lesson, get lunch or meet for après’ ski. From here you can get to anywhere on the mountain you might want to explore (I will talk about skiing the mountain in a later blog).

All the restaurants and shops of the main mountain village are an easy 5-10 minute walk depending on where you want to visit. You also can drive to other areas be it up to Moonlight or back down to the meadow area for some pizza at Milkies or Mexican at La Lunas. For groceries we always recommend you buy at the Albertson’s in Belgrade for the best prices and selection but if you need or want a local spot we go the Country Market in the meadow. They will even have your groceries delivered to meet you on your arrival. The bottom line is that the further up the mountain you go the more expensive everything gets!

If you have never been to Big Sky it is important to understand the different areas. As I previously mentioned there is the meadow area some 9 miles down from the ski hill. There are some great places and generally they are less expensive. There are also many choices for shopping and eating. The only real downside is the drive up and down the mountain each and every day. Another area is the Lone Moose area that has some ski-in/ski-out places. This is the lowest lift served area and is the first to close in warmer conditions. It is not part of the main mountain village and can prove logistically problematic at the beginning or end of the day. Moonlight is another Ski-in/ski-out area with some wonderful views. It also is not part of the main mountain village and can cause some logistical issues in getting around the mountain. However it does house the incredible Moonlight Lodge with a great restaurant and deli which I frequent quite often.

Here are my recommendations for places to visit.
Breakfast = Mall Cafeteria
Lunch = Deli at Moonlight
Après ski = Whiskey Jacks for people watching and Mr. Hummer’s for fun!
Dinner = The Cabin, Mr. Hummer’s , and Andiamo’s
Non- skiing = Yellowstone, Dog sledding, Snowmobiling.

Summer Blog

Big Horn 62 — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 21:07:00 GMT

Here is my usual Blog of things to do and website links to check out. Yellowstone National Park is the biggest attraction in my view. A little know place in the park is a natural hot tub called the Boiling River. It is located is about 2 miles north of the Mammoth Hot Springs on the road to the Northwest Entrance of the park. Here you will come to Wyoming/Montana border at a little stream that crosses the under the road. If you park on the east side and walk about ½ mile to the east along the trail you will come to an area that the hot springs flow into the river. People over time have set up rocks to separate the cold river water from the hot springs run off so you can sit and enjoy hot tub like water. So bring your swimsuits and a towel and tennis shoes or sandals to make the walk and enjoy. The large buffalo herds are usually located southeast of Mammoth Hot Springs (ask the ranger when you enter the park where the herds are). You can do this loop easily in a short day to include the Mammoth Hot Springs, swimming and the buffalo. Our kids really enjoyed the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone area the most with the hiking up and down to see the Upper and Lower Falls. They provide great locations to take family photos with gorgeous backgrounds. This area is more popular and will probably be a good day if you spend any time hiking to the different falls. It is amazing the power the water generates as you stand near and watch it rush by. For a longer day you can drive through Yellowstone to Grand Teton National Park, located to the south of Yellowstone. It is probably 100 plus miles from Big Sky. You have to drive through Yellowstone so it takes longer than being on a freeway, but the scenery is beautiful. We drove as far as Jenny Lake and hiked a flat 6 mile hike roundtrip around part of the lake to the south to get to “Hidden Falls” (questioning the name of it). This is a long day of driving. There is an Ice Cream shop/Pizza place at the marina near the Jenny Lake hike that was a nice reasonable place to have lunch. Then you can stop at Old Faithful on your way back to see it at sunset. Be sure to spend a little time in the Yellowstone Lodge at Old Faithful. It is a phenomenal building. A good link for Yellowstone is www.nps.gov/yell/ and click on the “In Depth” section In the area there is Quake Lake, the location of a large landslide due to an earthquake in 1959. It is located south and west of Big Sky just past Lake Hebgen, be sure to stop at all the story signs along the way. Then stop at the visitor center at the site of the landslide. If you continue west toward Ennis you can go to a historical mining town (Virginia). It is all laid out in its 1850’s glory. We usually continue the trip as a loop back through Bozeman. This day trip is approximately 200 miles. We haven’t spent a lot of time in Bozeman. It has shops and restaurants like most small college towns and a wonderful Natural History Museum if you are interested. If you belong to the Natural History or Science Museum in your area the membership probably has benefits in the one in Bozeman. At the condo, we have brochures for White Water Rafting, Horseback riding, dining out. The best link to the Big Sky area is bigskyresort.com and click on Activities (Summer at Big Sky) and then the Activities you are interested in. We used Jake’s Horses for our horseback riding. They were reasonable and let me warn you that three hours may be too much, you may want to go on a shorter timed trip (my buns are still aching!) We did not white water raft when we were there because it was late in August and the water is fairly tame. The chair lift scenic ride is nice and we hiked down from there (3 miles - All down hill!). That was a partial day. If you walk up the mountain via the Moose Tracks trail to the top of the Swift Current Chair you can ride back down for free! I have also hiked up to Lava Lake from the Lava Lake Trailhead located about 20 miles from the condo on your way to Bozeman. It is a 3 ½ mile hike up and a bit strenuous but worth the view at the lake for a nice lunch. For reasonable cost dining there is a restaurant south on the main highway about 6 miles (I think it is call the Corral) that serves burgers to steaks. Mr. Hummers’ or The Cabin has excellent food in the Mountain Village but are a little pricy. You will find links to all of this on our website at www.bighorn62.com as well as links for groceries. The best place in Big Sky to get groceries is in the Meadow Village at the County Market. It is not the cheapest but beats driving 60 miles into Bozeman. I hope you find this helpful and enjoy your stay in Big Sky. Mary Anderson Big Horn 62 LLC andersonbunch@att.net

Welcome

Big Horn 62 — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 15:06:26 GMT

Welcome to my blog. Please check back soon for new entries.