"This ain't the old Point of Rocks Lodge." That was the first line of the Livingston Enterprise's report on the ribbon-cutting at Auster at Dome Mountain. The next line was just as true: "But it sits on the old lodge's location."
A few miles up the valley, and in the same weeks, a crew is preparing to build a trail on a railroad grade that hasn't carried a train since the early 1980s. The two projects have different owners, different budgets and different timelines. They do share a shape. Each one takes something the valley left behind and turns it into a public place to stop along a highway built for moving through.
A dude ranch site with a counter anyone can walk up to
Auster sits on the west side of US 89 between Emigrant and Yankee Jim Canyon, about 34 miles south of Livingston. It faces the Point of Rocks fishing access site across the Yellowstone. The land was a dude ranch built in the 1960s that served as a base for guided hunting and fishing trips. Arthur M. Blank, owner of the Atlanta Falcons, bought the 6,278-acre ranch in 2021 under his AMB West brand. It joined Mountain Sky Guest Ranch, West Creek Ranch and Paradise Valley Ranch.
Construction started in 2024. Blank cut the ribbon on Wednesday, Sept. 30, alongside general manager Kayla Russum, and the property opened to the public on Sunday, Oct. 4, according to the Missoulian. The same report quoted Blank's count of close to 37,000 acres across his valley holdings, all of it under conservation easements.
The overnight side is 20 cabins with one, two or three bedrooms. The Enterprise reported $325 a night for a one-bedroom, priced per cabin rather than per guest. Someone who already lives in the valley will care more about the main lodge. Sales and reservations manager Julie Hilley told the Enterprise that the restaurant, bar, coffee shop, market and drive-up coffee kiosk are all open to the public. So are the walking trails that run upstream and downstream along the Yellowstone. In a statement carried by the Missoulian, Russum said the goal was a place "somewhere neighbors can stop for coffee, share a meal, spend time outdoors or bring visiting friends and family."
Everything carries the Southwind name. These are the hours posted on Auster's dining page as of early October 2026:
| Spot | What it is | Posted hours |
|---|---|---|
| Southwind Coffee | Drive-through espresso, tea, house-made pastries | 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. |
| Southwind Kitchen | Counter service, Mountain Sky Guest Ranch beef | 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mon.–Thu.; 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Fri.–Sun. |
| Southwind Saloon | Local beer, cocktails, wine, roof deck | 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. |
| Southwind Market | Grab-and-go food, essentials, Montana-made goods | 6 a.m. to midnight |
The hours tell you who it was built for. The market opens at 6 a.m. and stays open until midnight, four hours after the kitchen and saloon close. That makes it the early-morning and late-night stop on this stretch of 89. The kitchen opens at 8 a.m. Friday through Sunday but not until 11 a.m. Monday through Thursday, so on a weekday before 11 your choices are the coffee window and the market. The page doesn't call these winter hours, so check before a December drive.
Three miles of railbed, finally under contract
The second project goes back further than a 1960s dude ranch. From the Bozeman Daily Chronicle's coverage of the June groundbreaking, here is how the old line went from rail to trail:
- 1902: Theodore Roosevelt rides the Northern Pacific through Paradise Valley to dedicate the Roosevelt Arch. The train has to back up from Cinnabar to Livingston because there's no place to turn it around.
- 1903: The Gardiner depot gives the line its turnaround.
- 1915: Yellowstone opens to cars, and the Yellowstone Park Line stops being the main way into the park.
- Around 1979: The last passenger train passes through Livingston, according to Laura McCarthy-Cota of the Livingston Depot Center.
- 1980–1981: Burlington Northern abandons the route, and the tracks come out a year later.
The railbed sat unused for four decades. In 2024, Trust for Public Land acquired more than two miles of it and donated it to Park County, according to the county's Yellowstone Heritage Trail page. On a windless morning in June, more than 70 people gathered under Emigrant Peak to break ground on the first three miles. The segment sits just west of Emigrant on a conservation easement worked out between TPL and local landowners.
After the shovels came the paperwork. At a mid-October county commission meeting, E.J. Porth of TPL's Rockies Office gave an update, reported by the Livingston Enterprise:
"Finally got our permits. Construction is starting hopefully next week."
That put the start of work in the week of Oct. 19. Porth told commissioners the segment is privately funded, with no Park County tax dollars, and that future sections depend on voluntary easements from willing landowners. A proposed agreement spells out the roles of the county, Rails to Trails Conservancy, TPL and the Park County Environmental Council. Commissioners tabled it unanimously for one week so they could review the county's responsibilities. No completion date or trail surface has been announced.
Why both projects point to the same shoulder
The county gives the trail's reason in one blunt line. Emigrant has "no sidewalks or safe roadway shoulders to walk or bike on." US 89 runs through as a high-speed corridor. In 2013, PCEC managing director Erica Lighthiser biked through the valley with her husband, three children and their Labrador. At the groundbreaking she said she would hesitate to ride the same route today because of heavier traffic on 89 and East River Road, distracted drivers and narrow shoulders.
Auster takes on the same problem from a different direction. Its public riverside trails give people a place to walk near Emigrant without the highway beside them. Its hours mean a valley resident can get coffee at 7 a.m. or groceries at 11 p.m. without driving to Livingston or Gardiner. The trail goes further, with miles of path along the old railbed set back from the pavement. The county plans for the Emigrant section to anchor the valley's first community park system, with about 23 acres of protected open space. Plans also include interpretive stops on railroad and Indigenous history, a buffalo jump, birding and a bridge over an irrigation canal for accessible fishing.
Expect the trail's full length to take a long time. Park County describes a 56-mile route from Livingston to Gardiner, and the Chronicle cites 61 miles. David Weinstein of TPL estimated about $1 million per mile and said the project could take up to two more decades. At the far end, Yellowstone Superintendent Cam Sholly has pledged to convert the five-mile temporary road between Gardiner and Mammoth into a multimodal trail once a permanent road is built. For the foreseeable future, the Emigrant segment is the trail.
The rest of late October, up and down the valley
The new spots open in the middle of a busy stretch on the valley calendar:
- Saturday, Oct. 24: Sage Lodge's Fall Harvest Celebration runs from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. with pumpkin decorating, a photo booth and spooky-cookie decorating. Carriage rides to Old Chico Cemetery cost $35 per person and need advance booking.
- Friday, Oct. 30: The Fossils play Chico Hot Springs at 9 p.m., per Chico's events calendar.
- Saturday, Oct. 31: The Fossils come back for Chico's Saloon Halloween Party, 9 p.m. to close.
- Any calm day before freeze-up: Siskin Island is 82 acres between Mallards Rest and Pine Creek, about 13 miles south of Livingston. Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks opened it to public access this summer. You can only reach it by watercraft.
Want to talk through how a new trail, a new public lodge or a conservation easement nearby could change the value of land around Emigrant? Call Dayle Stahl and you'll talk with the broker directly. Ask for a free home valuation built on what's changing along this stretch of the valley.
