hey guys, looking at grad schools in Bozeman and Missoula…which town is better…ski access, trail access, road cycling, races(ultra and triathlon), affordability…thanks
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I think it’s a toss-up. The only half iron race in MT is in Bozeman and there’s skiing there. I think there are a couple of ultras closer to Missoula. But it’s Montana–there’s probably no place with everything you want so you’ll drive to get to what’s important.
the racing is least importance…main thing is trail access, good cycling…they look similar…thanks for tips
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Bozeman is over-rated as an outdoor town. The roads don’t have much shoulders so you feel crowded on the bike all the time, and you have to drive 15-20 miles to get to any of the good trails (South Cottonwood or Sourdough). The only think Bozeman has over Missoula is skiing, but there is decent skiing near Missoula as well, just not as good as Bozeman. In Missoula, their river trail system is accessible all around town, then there’s the Rattle Snake and the ‘M’ trails which are all right in town. Missoula has the best running store anywhere (Runner’s Edge), and has some VERRY good trial runners like Mike Foote and Mike Wolfe, that train there year-round. Missoula has a triathlon and you are about equal-distance from Bozeman and Coeur D’Alene. Missoula has at least one pro triathlete and Bozeman has none, but both have decent college teams.
I’d choose Missoula…hell, I’d choose Billings over Bozeman to train for cycling running and swimming.
I prefer Missoula for the same reasons stated above, also the winters I think are milder. Plus Missoula has a bit for of an “artsy-fartsy” mojo, it’s really an interesting town.
Bozeman is over-rated as an outdoor town. The roads don’t have much shoulders so you feel crowded on the bike all the time, and you have to drive 15-20 miles to get to any of the good trails (South Cottonwood or Sourdough). The only think Bozeman has over Missoula is skiing, but there is decent skiing near Missoula as well, just not as good as Bozeman. In Missoula, their river trail system is accessible all around town, then there’s the Rattle Snake and the ‘M’ trails which are all right in town. Missoula has the best running store anywhere (Runner’s Edge), and has some VERRY good trial runners like Mike Foote and Mike Wolfe, that train there year-round. Missoula has a triathlon and you are about equal-distance from Bozeman and Coeur D’Alene. Missoula has at least one pro triathlete and Bozeman has none, but both have decent college teams.
I’d choose Missoula…hell, I’d choose Billings over Bozeman to train for cycling running and swimming.
as a homeowner in Bozeman (rented for now - have to live in Sacramento - yuk). I love to hear the above. Less people in Bozeman is a good thing! My place is next to the Bridgers - oh, those trails sucked - you wouldn’t wanna Mt. Bike or run on those. Never mind the Bangtails, Bridger Bowl and clear skies in the winter. And, forget about the public 50m pool and open water swimming in town (too cold). I’ve yet to figure out what having a pro in town (or not) does for me.
Kidding aside. They are both wonderful places - with lot’s of similarities, and, some differences. You MUST check them both out, then decide based upon your criteria.
Billings? I’d rather stay in Sacramento (just my 2 pennies).
cheers.
which has more affordable housing? being single, would you say the same about both? im 37…im def more of a summer sport guy than a winter but love cc skiing and downhill…what about lake access?
Lived in both. I prefered Bozeman but I spent most my time down by Hyalite. Awesome up there. Live in the Upper Rattlesnake in Missoula if you want close access to trails. Anywhere in the Rattlesnake is doable. The area outside of that is WAY overhyped for the cycling friendliness. I commuted all over town and lived all over town while my wife was in grad school. So again, overall I suggest Missoula but you MUST live in the rattlesnake. The group workouts are far superior esp the track night.
I’ve lived in Billings, Missoula, and Bozeman, and it surprises everyone when I talk about how great a city Billings is for endurance athletes, but I’ll stand by it. There are two college cross county and track team with coaches that don’t mind if you drop in on workouts (intervals, long runs, and tempo runs) as long as you can keep pace. There are miles upon miles of continuous trails all over that city, and the trails are strategically placed so there are arteries and connector trails. When I lived there, I could run a 22-mile long run all in city limits, and only cross traffic maybe 2 or 3 times really close to my house. There’s 300’ vertical sheer faces to climb, right in town (the sand-stone rims), and there is about 16 miles of single track on top of the rims an you’d only have to cross traffic once because of tunnels. For road biking, there are actually steeper climbs in and around Billings then Bozeman or Missoula (granted not at as high of an elevation), and all the roads around Billings are paved with good shoulders, and no traffic (cycling up Hyalite canyon or Bridger road is a nightmare around Bozeman) . Then there’s the cost of living…Bozeman and Missoula are both WAY more expensive than Billings.
The illustration of the pro athletes was just that. There are pros who choose Missoula (trail running and triathlons), and I can see why. Bozeman is over-hyped and everything great is not that accessible. I hate having to drive 15-30 minutes to get my bike out. It seems stupid to me. In Missoula or Billings, you don’t have to do that. You can bike to the nearest trail, and that trail will take you to the other trails. The trail system in the city limits of Bozeman were laughable. You could run 1 mile to get to a trail, then run one mile on a trial, then 5 miles on busy streets to get to another 3 mile section of a trial…Though I did get my engineering degree in Bozeman, and felt that the school was solid, if my area of study was available at Missoula or Billings, that’s where I would have gone.
Luckily, I don’t have to worry about any of that anymore. I found a town in Wyoming that’s better than anywhere I lived in Montana, but I’m not going to let you know where it is.
as a somewhat frequent visitor to both I like bozeman. Hyalite canyon is simply unreal to have such an amenity like that so close to town. For riding road, mt biking, hiking, back country skiing, camping, etc. Still haven’t gotten up there in the middle of winter to ski bridger but from my amigos it’s an incredible place to ski. When the occasional dump happens out at red lodge get out there ASAP. Amazing skiing to be had there too. The skate skiing on the trails in town is supposedly unsurpassed by any place in the country. We occasionally get folks from bozeman that come down here to colorado and they rave about the corduroy. In summer I’ve enjoyed running on these trails out from town and into some of the surrounding farm land. Love the Co-op in town for grabbing good food and the 50m pool is near there as well. Bozeman is starting to have some problems with sprawl which would be nice if they could contain it in a more manageable fashion. The roads dont have great shoulders but i’ve never had problems with cars. In a deep valley like zoo town I always feel like the simple options are up valley or down valley. You really haven’t a choice. In Bozeman it’s so wide (and relatively flat) that you have a myriad of options when you want to head out for a spin. Climb? Sure. Flats? Sure. Dont want to ride the same flat route as yesterday? Pick another.
Granted because of my penchants for Bozeman I have now not trained much in zoola so am not as familiar with the area and it’s routes as I once was.
good points.
Cody and Jackson are awesome.
My point of reference was I never lived in town (hate towns of any kind), but near. My house is at the base of the Bridgers - I hate loading up to go riding too. I ran and rode from home. Never found Bridger Canyon road to be a problem. Usually I’d go to the top of Battle Ridge pass and turn around. But, to be fair, it could be better.
I was half kidding about Billings. Cost of living is a definite advantage there (Helena too). But, skiing??? Option, Red Lodge - not close. Excellent when they have a great snow year.
You speak from a wide variety of experiences; much more than mine. I learned a few interesting things. Good to know. Thanks.
Lots of good points. I’ll just jump straight to climate & terrain: Bozeman is higher up, really cool mountains very nearby & has more sun, better chance of warm days in spring, but more crazy winds. Missoula is not high elevation, mountains not as cool & can be extremely gloomy winter through mid June, as in its just as likely to be 40 & sleet as it is to be 60 & sunny. Road cycling isn’t very good anywhere in this state, but its not terrible either. Skiing much better in Bozeman. Missoula “feels” less remote as Spokane is an easy 3 hours & Seattle an easy 8 hours.
Up here in NW Montana our big advantage may be the lakes: Dozens of them to swim in for 3-4 months, including the biggest freshwater lake in the U.S. outside the Great Lakes. There are few nice lakes near Bozeman & Missoula. Our cycling, MTB & running trails are great too, but man the springs can suck some years … But no grad school and everyone gets married at 19.
both sound great for what I am looking for. def much better for outdoors than where I currently am(texas) which is a nightmare for that…ill be out there for 2 weeks late may exporing both…thanks again guys!
Well Mr. Hanky, What schools for grad studies are you looking at?. Missoula Wildlife Biology, Forestry, Recreation, Journalism, Law, Indian Studies and business schools are the top of the mark. Uof M is a liberal arts school and is an old Hippie town. It is a big valley and I would live closer to the Hip Strip than Rattlesnake. You can pretty much ride a bike year around in Missoula. Great funky town.
Bozeville is home of Montana State. Engineering, and science school. On the East side of the divide it gets cold and stays cold for longer periods of time in winter. It is the hot spot for Californication as of late. Big Sky is bringing in an endless supply of folks that don’t need to work and live large. The turndown in the economy slowed them some, but still lots of three car garages being built. It was an old cowboy town becoming more hip each year. No doubt skiing is way better in Bozeville than Zootown. Snowbowl in Missoula is freeze and thaw south facing slope. If you can ski good in Missoula, you can ski good anywhere.
Both are fun towns, that people go to school and never leave kind of places. Pick the best grad school to major in getting a job. You can’t miss in either one. Missoula has better beer, Bozeman has better bike builders (Strong and Kirk).
nursing at either…should be out there by mid june…looked at schools everywhere nationwide to find some that fit my lifestyle…I am more of a hermit with regards to workouts and love long trail runs…socially I am the opposite but far from a big “drinker” kind of guy…def a beer snob!
15-20 miles to get a sourdough or cottonwood trails?..I dont think so, try 5-10 minutes. Maybe if you live in Belgrade
I was about 1/2 way between Belgrade and Bozeman…Was there during the housing boom, and the Forest Glen neighborhood was the only place I could afford, and it was easily 15 minutes to South Cottonwood (all my belly aching, and I should say, I did love that trail), and at least 20 minutes to Sourdough.
SHShhhh. Let them stay away from Billings…Was Alan King the coach at Rocky when you were here? Dave and Renee’ Coppock are very good friends of mine (coach of MSU-B). Were you running with him or Tony Banovich? He ran with dave a lot with the team…
I think Billings is a great secret for athletes. You also have Chuck Aragon who ran a 3:47 in the 84 trials and our masters coach (Mike Burton) has 3 oly golds.
My wife and I ran X-C for Dave right before they added Track at MSU-B. I was one of the founding members of the ‘Church of the Blue Dome’ Sunday morning run club. We had Tony, Alan, Zach Hunter, Dave (although he was starting to slow down a bit), Kelly Fulton, myself and another MSU-B runner, and even occasionally had the likes of John Richardi (sp?), Patrick Casey, and Dennis Newell run with as too… and rarely Jay Marshal would drop in and try to keep up 
I also cycled for the Rimrock United team while they were active. I didn’t take advantage of the masters swimming when I was there, and regret it considerably not that I’m getting competitive in triathlons.
I once road Beartooth Pass with Chuck and his engine is still there! He almost made me hurt as much as that CAT2 cyclist Dan Berry.
Dude we probably ran into each other. I was doing fulls then. I know because you mentioned Jay. Renee has been my bike partner for awhile. He moved here after I did CDA a couple of times…Yep camp kenya…Renee’ is a great cook…Was Sam the top runner then? Zach just was the top 1 or t2 at Peaks to prairie last weekend.
Well good luck to you, enjoy wyoming