2012 Montana Conditions, Stoke and Whatev Thread

I'm confused by the comments regarding gouging or things being overpriced. Prices are set by the market. It is basic supply/demand.

I do agree that if you are a first time home buyer, Bozeman is difficult. This has been the case forever though. When my company moved me here 20 years ago, I could not afford a nice house in Bozeman with views. So I had to settle for a small condo with shitty neighbors. Lived in it for 12 years > sold > Bought a single family home > lived in it for 7 years > sold > then was finally able to buy the house the house that I wanted 20 years ago.

Bozeman is not unique in this regard. Any place desirable in the US is $$$.

As others have mentioned though, if Bozeman is too expensive, there are a lot of other great options. I certainly understand not everyone needs a symphonic choir https://images2.imgbox.com/40/25/JSD...?download=true

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Originally Posted by Foggy_Goggles

Where are the places with snow and cool mountains but without the shit I don't like at the busy place.

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Cooke City. No housing though...

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Prices are set by the market. It is basic supply/demand.

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My only comment is that housing prices are a bit more complicated than supply/demand.

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Originally Posted by telefreewasatch

Montana maggots, retired now and looking to move away from the shit show of Salt Lake.
Spent a bit of off season time in the north country, but none in winter.
Looking for a small town, or near one with a ski area kinda near, touring options, and nordic skiing in the winter.
Hiking in the off season, and gravel biking; don't care so much about mtn. biking.
I hear the Pioneers, Lemhis, Lost River Range, and Bitterroot in Idaho don't get much snow. Would you all agree on that?
Looking for a valley somewhere between the White Clouds / Pioneers in Idaho to the Big Horns in N central Wyoming.
Gonna be road tripping checking this part of the country out; been 40 years since I've visited some of these ranges.
Pretty big zone, eh?
Ideas? Ready...go!
Fortuitous for me that this post is the page topper, no?

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Wow. Has there been some event to precipitate this or is it just a long bubbling stewage?

Anyway, in MT, for snow consistency and low key life with significant mountains, I'd vote the Bitterroot. Or maybe a little over into Id toward Salmon if infrastructure of stores and medical isn't a concern. Hamilton, Darby, Sula. Lost Trail area always seems to get a bunch of snow.

Phillipsburg/Deer Lodge/Anaconda has the mountains, great terrain at Disco and below radar but iffy snow.

Montrose/Ridgeway/Norwood/Naturita? Great mountain access, T'ride not too far, incredible summer options into Escalante too. Rico to Dolores is beautiful, but getting pricey. Ouray?

Become preCanadian up along the border like Northport (Red/Whitewater)?

Nat Geo published an article on the Rockies in summer 1995. It was the subject of that month’s map, which I used to have on my office wall, because it was a classic Nat Geo map of a place that meant something to me. Bozeman was called out as a place where incoming residents drawn by the scenery were driving up costs and making it hard for long-time residents to stay in their homes. This was in 1995.

TFW I would look at West Yellowstone or Anaconda for most of what you want.

West has XC trails, nearby touring, Big Sky an hour away, and plenty of wild country all over the place. I know people think it's a funky place full of weirdos, but maybe that suits you. Summers are obviously busy with park goers, but again, there's all kinds of wild country nearby that those people never get to (including the backcountry in the park, which is massive).

Anaconda has XC options reasonably close, Discovery ski area which has a mom n pop vibe as opposed to resort like Big Sky (and a lot less snow), and better access to any city stuff with Butte being nearby. Anaconda has gained some decent amenities in the past few years in terms of breweries, restaurants, etc. It has been "discovered" by west coast urban refugees but perhaps not as bad as some places.

On another note, seems to be a bit of a price war going on with the Hill condos at BS. Quite a few up for sale. This new listing caught my eye as being priced to sell in the current market.

https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...=srp-list-card

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Originally Posted by Bunion 2020

My only comment is that housing prices are a bit more complicated than supply/demand.

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We just sold a condo. We listed at $539k but landed at $509k. I wish we could've gouged and squeezed another $50k out of the property. https://images2.imgbox.com/40/25/JSD...?download=true

But the market determined what it was worth.

What am I missing?

^ gotta afford those 10k Christmas lights somehow right? The struggle is real.

;)

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Originally Posted by byates1

^ gotta afford those 10k Christmas lights somehow right? The struggle is real.

;)

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Fuckin' A https://images2.imgbox.com/ca/a9/VPK...?download=true

Speaking of Xmas, maybe I could host our first annual TGR Xmas bash. I'm a sucker for holiday parties.

Byates - you can be head chef!

I would def do that! I think I'll be in the spirit realm of Taos then though.

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Originally Posted by toast2266

To be fair, the snowpack sucks less the further west you go. The bitterroot / whitefish snowpack is nothing like the Bozeman snowpack.

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

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True, but totals are far less. The Wasatch is immensely popular for a very good reason. Utah in general is just amazing.

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Originally Posted by Trackhead

Utah in general is just amazing.

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Had to be in SLC last year for a work meeting and was treated to a 20" storm.

https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...agezEUxqb.heic

https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...ageD3SyNg.heic

Also got to spend time as a kid in Zion, Bryce, Arches, and Canyonlands. Really cool landscape and would like to get back down as an adult.

I have the answer for TFW but I'm not blasting it on this fucking place. If he wants to know he can shoot me a PM

i'll throw dillon out there. maverick right outside of town. lost trail a hop skip and a jump across the big hole valley. some amenities (can you say safeway and town and country?!), a quaint downtown, decent touring close to town, the best big fish fishing in the lower 48, destination slednecking, two good restaurants, the horse prairie hilton down in grant (best ribeye i've ever had), real cowboys, lotsa pretend cowboys, hundreds of miles of gravel roads in every direction, far enough from butte, but also close enough to butte for when you need it (could be meth, could be walmart, whatever you need). housing market is reasonable enough for a buyer. rental is tough but i don't think thats you.

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Originally Posted by stealurface831

the best big fish fishing in the lower 48

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Hard to argue with this.

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Originally Posted by total_immortal

I have the answer for TFW but I'm not blasting it on this fucking place. If he wants to know he can shoot me a PM

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If you hadn't noticed, I'm trying to convince him to stay in Utah;) Not that I'd have any issue with him being my neighbor, but I doubt he wants to live in my dust bowl ranching town with zero street lights.

Don't think the problem is Utah so much as SLC. But I will leave that to him to explain/decide.

Ogden!

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Originally Posted by telefreewasatch

Montana maggots, retired now and looking to move away from the shit show of Salt Lake.
Spent a bit of off season time in the north country, but none in winter.
Looking for a small town, or near one with a ski area kinda near, touring options, and nordic skiing in the winter.
Hiking in the off season, and gravel biking; don't care so much about mtn. biking.
I hear the Pioneers, Lemhis, Lost River Range, and Bitterroot in Idaho don't get much snow. Would you all agree on that?
Looking for a valley somewhere between the White Clouds / Pioneers in Idaho to the Big Horns in N central Wyoming.
Gonna be road tripping checking this part of the country out; been 40 years since I've visited some of these ranges.
Pretty big zone, eh?
Ideas? Ready...go!
Fortuitous for me that this post is the page topper, no?

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PM sent on the Bitterroot/Salmon area from a fellow SLC expat.

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Originally Posted by Buster Highmen

Ogden!

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The right answer in 2005.

Rent Superior’s Bozeman apartment, buy a mid-week Bridger pass, and try it out for a few months. What’s the worst that could happen?

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Originally Posted by singlecross

What’s the worst that could happen?

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He falls in love with Bozeman and starts bumping this thread daily with stoke pics.

https://images2.imgbox.com/26/66/TOK...?download=true

Montana's Biggest Weekend in Dillon was a helluva lot of fun last Sunday night. More hot cowgirls than I've seen in one place at one time in ALL my life :fmicon: Sorry for thread drift TFW couldn't resist :D I did camp up near Maverick Mountain and that place looks legit if that helps. Other than the wildfire smoke, it was so nice! Once I got North of Idaho Falls, one would've never known it was Labor Day Weekend; hardly a soul on the freeway let alone on the State/County/City roads. Those Humbug Spires look like some awesome climbing too. Good luck with your search buddy and let me know where you and the wifey settle down so I can come visit ;)

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Originally Posted by Trackhead

I like rural affordable Montana but the access is shit in comparison to Utah and the snow kinda sucks unless you like continental, shallow, buried weak layers.

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Originally Posted by SUPERIOR

I’d live in Livingston hands down over Bozeman.

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Thanks for the thoughts. We're pretty passive at the moment, but our next move stateside is always being researched. The dozen or so times I've skied and/or driven through Utah, I've always said-- "I could easily live here." I don't know if I miss MT or my early 20's life in MT.

What’s the current scene up at BS for parking the van overnight? Bringing Thing 2 and his buddy up to ride BS on Friday and hoping to poach a back corner of a lot up at the mtn tomorrow evening. 2 or 3 summers ago they had parking set aside for overnight when we rode up there last. What’s the latest??