Recreation

There is some gold in the hills around Cooke City [1], and fortune seekers may enjoy panning in the local streams.

Beartooth Plateau Outfitters (406/838-2328 or 800/253-8545, www.beartoothoutfitters.com [2]) runs hunting, fishing, and horse-packing trips.

Skyline Guide Service (877/238-8885, www.flyfishyellowstone.com [3]) also leads trips into Yellowstone Park and the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness Area [4].

For a short forest hike to a waterfall, start at the Range Riders Lodge in Silver Gate [1].

Northeast of Cooke City, on the edge of the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, there’s a “grasshopper glacier,” a glacier with dark bands of grasshoppers frozen into it.

To reach the glacier, drive a high-clearance four-wheel drive up the LuLu Pass-Goose Lake Road (near Colter Campground). The road stops at the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness border. Continue on foot (or horseback) along the old road to Goose Lake, then take the trail northeast to the saddle between Sawtooth Mountain and Iceberg Peak. Turn right at the saddle and climb the first rock ridge, from which the glacier is visible on the north side of Iceberg Peak. The hike from the road’s end to this point is four miles. Topographical maps of the area are available at the Cooke City Store. Hikers should prepare for harsh weather any time of year.

Snowmobile rentals are readily available in town during the long winters.