Issue 2
The Hyalite plow deal and the Livingston wind
Polls close at 8 tonight. Plus who keeps Hyalite open all winter, and why your truck leans past Livingston.
Hot picks
This weekend's best bets around here.
Three good nights on one block of Main Street this week. Park once, eat downtown, and pick your night.
Bozeman · Tue Nov 3 and Wed Nov 4 · shows at 6:40pm MT · $9
PechaKucha Night 52 at the Ellen
Locals get 20 slides and 20 seconds per slide, and then they're done. This round at the Ellen Theatre, 17 W Main St, covers what goes into running the Gallatin County Fair, the logistics behind a Bobcat home game, how Livingston folks started a NeighborHole Putt Putt Day, what to look for in our night skies, and a "Rez Dog" adopted from Heart of the Valley. Same lineup both nights, so tonight works if you vote early. Tickets are $9 through the Ellen, and students pay $5.50 at the door. Six minutes and forty seconds is the perfect amount of time to hear about somebody else's dog. BoZone
Bozeman · Thu Nov 5 · 6pm to 7:30pm MT · free, RSVP appreciated
Yellowstone Bison book night at Country Bookshelf
Chris Geremia, who the store says is Yellowstone's bison manager, and photographer Tom Murphy are at Country Bookshelf, 28 W Main St, with their book *Yellowstone Bison: Return of the Last Wild Herd*. There's a talk, a Q&A and a signing. It's general admission, so get there early. Can't make it? The store takes signed-copy requests by phone at (406) 587-0166, 24 hours ahead. Finally, a way to learn about bison that doesn't involve sitting in a bison jam. Country Bookshelf
Bozeman · Fri Nov 6 · doors 7pm, show 7:30pm MT · $20 advance, $25 door
Chris Boldt, Live in Montana, at Tinworks at Rialto
Chris Boldt is a songwriter from East Belfast who, per Tinworks, has spent the last two years living in Montana. He plays alt-country and folk at Tinworks at Rialto, 10 W Main St, with Sarah Knight opening. Buy ahead and you save five bucks. Two years in and he's already got a show called Live in Montana, which is more commitment than my sourdough starter ever got. Tinworks
Field guide
One useful guide to living around here.
Bozeman · Hyalite Canyon Road, south of town in the Custer Gallatin National Forest
Who keeps Hyalite open all winter
Hyalite is where half the valley goes once there's snow on the ground: ice climbing, Nordic skiing, ice fishing, sledding, snowshoeing. What surprised me is that the road up there is a Forest Service road, so plowing it isn't the county's job. Gallatin County plows it anyway with its own trucks, and Friends of Hyalite and the Forest Service pay back 60% of the cost. Friends of Hyalite says plowing runs from mid-November through March 31.
The deal has limits. County roads come first, so a joint column from the district ranger, the county engineer and Friends of Hyalite calls Hyalite's plowing "irregular and often delayed." Friends of Hyalite says there's no plowing on weekends or evenings, so a Friday night storm is your problem Saturday morning. And there's no sand or salt, because Hyalite Creek and the reservoir supply a significant portion of Bozeman's drinking water. That means ice all winter, even right after a plow goes by.
So run snow or studded tires, drive slow, don't pass the plows, and tell someone your plan, because cell service is thin to none. Friends of Hyalite posts a road report on its Facebook page every Friday. The full guide has the whole deal, the parking-lot rules and what's up there once you make it.
The scrap
The best stuff you missed in the area's social media world.
I scrolled so you could keep your thumbs warm. Shrubs, booms, elk and a pink sky over Livingston.
Bozeman · a front step
"I have a message for these trick-or-treaters"
Two ghillie-suit trick-or-treaters respected the unattended candy bowl, and one reply just asks "What trick-or-treaters?"
Reddit via u/Ooopsallbeans
Bozeman · Beall St and around
"No boom"
r/Bozeman heard another boom Sunday night, and one neighbor would like you to know it never happened.
Reddit via u/thepostsmaker
Big Sky
"What nicknames have you heard for places in and around Big Sky?"
Big Sky's nickname thread is great until somebody decides the "linguistic study" is the CIA. Reddit via u/topherette
Cottonwood Rd, south of Bozeman
"Lots of elk around Bozeman Montana"
A hillside on Cottonwood Road is mostly elk, and he says the other side had four times this. Instagram via @marcus.fergusson
Livingston
"Aurora is strong this morning"
The aurora glowed pink at 3:45am behind snow clouds, because Livingston never does one weather at a time. Bluesky via @angelbrise.bsky.social
What's building
What's going up, getting paused, or getting fought over.
The planes that fight our summer fires spend the winter in Belgrade, and Saturday you can walk right up to them. Monday, MSU shows off the lab gear the rest of us can borrow.
Belgrade · Sat Nov 7 · starts at noon MT · free with a food donation
Bridger Aerospace opens its hangars
Bridger Aerospace flies aerial firefighting planes out of the Bozeman airport, and Saturday it opens up at 90 Aviation Ln in Belgrade. You can see the aircraft, meet the crews who fly and fix them, and hear how they work wildfires. Mo'Bowls and SodaWorx are bringing food and drinks. There are no tickets. Bridger asks each family to bring one non-perishable food item for MSU's Can the Griz drive. It's weather dependent, so check before you head out. I'm bringing a can of beans and way too many questions about flying into smoke. BoZone
Bozeman · Mon Nov 9 · 9am to 4pm MT · register on the MSU page
MSU opens its research centers for a day
MSU's Centers, Institutes and Core Facilities Day is in Inspiration Hall at Norm Asbjornson Hall on campus. The university's research centers show what specialized equipment and expertise people outside MSU can actually tap. If you run a small business, or you've ever wondered what goes on behind those lab windows, this is the day to ask. Registration is on the MSU page. Somewhere on that campus is a microscope you didn't know you could rent. MSU
Makers
Local makers nights and market tables worth hitting.
Holiday shopping starts in a barn this weekend. And if you'd rather make the gift, MSU has a clay class starting Wednesday.
Bozeman · Fri Nov 6, 5pm to 8pm MT ($20) · Sat Nov 7, 9am to 3pm MT ($5) · kids 12 and under free
White Barn Vintage Christmas Market at Phoenix Garden Center
Local crafters, artisans and antique collectors fill Phoenix Garden Center, 1770 Cobb Hill Rd, with handmade, vintage and repurposed goods. Friday is the Sip & Shop preview with live music from Jody & the Woodflowers. Saturday is the cheaper market day. Leave the dog home, because the garden center says no dogs during market hours. I'm going for one ornament and coming home with a 1970s cake tin, like always. Phoenix Garden Center
Bozeman · Wednesdays Nov 4, 11 and 18 · 6:15pm to 8:15pm MT · $160, materials included
Introduction to Relief Sculpture, an MSU night class
Three Wednesday nights on the MSU campus and you walk out with one 6 by 6 inch bas-relief tile you carved yourself. MSU Academic Outreach says it's beginner friendly with no experience needed, and Allison McGree, a professor of art education at MSU, teaches it. All materials are included, and parking is free. The first class is tomorrow, so sign up today. It's cheaper than therapy and you get a tile. MSU Academic Outreach
Deep cut
One local history leftover worth knowing.
Livingston · the north end of the Paradise Valley
Why Livingston is so windy
If you've driven east over the pass in winter, you know the moment. You come down toward Livingston and the truck starts to lean. Livingston's windy season is starting up again, and the National Weather Service in Billings has a name for it: a gap wind.
The short version: cold, heavy air piles up over the Yellowstone high country, low pressure to the north pulls on it, and warm air up top keeps it from spilling over the mountains. So it drains down the Paradise Valley. Where the valley pinches at the north end, the air squeezes through and speeds up, and Livingston sits right at that opening.
The official record at the Livingston airport is a 94 mph gust on Dec 21, 1978, and two of the Weather Service's top 10 gusts there came in November. The full story has the rest of the record book and how often the wind hits 50.
Season
What's in the air right now. Farm stands, orchards, peak harvest.
The lifts aren't spinning yet, so Friday we watch other people ski. And out on public land, it's rifle season.
Bozeman · Fri Nov 6 · doors 7pm, films 8pm to 10pm MT · $15, all ages
Freeride Film Tour at the Gallatin Labor Temple
Pangea Collective's tour brings this year's new ski and snowboard films to the Gallatin Labor Temple, 422 E Mendenhall St. There are athlete stories and gear giveaways, and the venue says you can meet some of the athletes and filmmakers. RSVP on the venue page. Watching strangers ski powder is how I cope until the snow shows up. Gallatin Labor Temple
Gallatin, Park and Madison Counties · general deer and elk season through Sun Nov 29
Rifle season is on
FWP's general deer and elk rifle season runs through Sun Nov 29, and general antelope season wraps up this Sunday, Nov 8. If you're hiking or walking the dog on public land, something bright on you and the dog helps hunters see you. It isn't a rule for hikers, just good sense. Blaze orange goes with everything anyway. FWP seasons
That's the week
See you at the M.
Drop your email. I'll show up Tuesday morning.