On the west side of US-89, between Emigrant and Yankee Jim Canyon, a drive-through coffee window now opens at 7 a.m. every morning. It belongs to Southwind Coffee at Auster at Dome Mountain. Auster is Arthur Blank's new lodge at 200 Dome Drive, and it welcomed its first guests in early October 2026. The coffee window closes at 2 p.m. The market in the main building stays open until 9 p.m.
Those hours matter more this month than they did in September. The seasonal stops along the valley's main road have closed for the winter one after another, and the one new place that opened this fall runs the way a roadside stop runs. The parts of Auster most useful to people who live in the valley have little to do with the 20 cabins.
What went dark after Columbus Day
The valley's winter usually shrinks from the edges, and 2026 is following the pattern.
- Yellowstone Valley Lodge & Grill closed for the winter after October 24, 2026. Its dining page says it plans to reopen in April 2027.
- Follow Yer' Nose BBQ in Emigrant usually runs its outdoor shack from April through mid-October, weather permitting. Its fall schedule was weekends only. The Gardiner Smoke Wagon is closed for the season and lists April 2027 for its return.
- At the Gardiner end of the drive, the Gardiner Chamber's November dining guide lists Antler Pub & Grill, Backcountry Bistro and Iron Horse Bar & Grill as closed for the season.
Pine Creek Lodge has also moved indoors for the season. It is running its calendar as winter shows with small dinner menus, rather than as a regular restaurant schedule.
None of this is unusual. What changed this year is that a new year-round business opened on a stretch of road where several of those closures happened.
The new stop, and what it is open for
The Bozeman Daily Chronicle's coverage of the ribbon-cutting called Auster "Paradise Valley's newest year-round resort." The Chronicle reported 20 Scandinavian-inspired cabins clad in reclaimed corral wood, designed by Bozeman-based Miller-Roodell Architects. They sit within the same 1960s footprint as the earlier Dome Mountain Ranch, and some of the old dude ranch buildings now serve as employee housing. The redevelopment took more than two years. The resort employs more than 30 people.
For someone with a house in the valley, the more useful detail came in the Livingston Enterprise's story on the opening. Sales and reservations manager Julie Hilley told the paper that the market, restaurant, coffee shop, bar and drive-up coffee kiosk are all open to the public. So are walking trails that run upstream and downstream along the Yellowstone River, just west of the lodge.
As posted on Auster's dining page this month, the four outlets keep these hours:
- Southwind Coffee, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., with a drive-through window, espresso, house-made pastries and light bites
- Southwind Kitchen, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Counter service, with a menu built around Mountain Sky Guest Ranch beef
- Southwind Market, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Grab-and-go food, essentials and locally inspired goods
- Southwind Saloon, 3 to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Local beer, cocktails and wine, plus a roof deck
The Chronicle reported that the market carries products from Livingston and Paradise Valley businesses. Auster also rents snowshoes for its trails. Its snowshoe page asks visitors to contact the activities team about scheduling and availability.
Before the opening, general manager Kayla Russum said in Auster's community open-house announcement that she wanted Auster to be "somewhere neighbors can stop for coffee, share a meal, spend time outdoors or bring visiting friends and family." She told the Chronicle the staff was "excited for a full four-season property," and that for people used to seasonal work, it is "hard to find something where you can settle down and plant roots in the community." A business that keeps a staff all year can keep a coffee window open all year.
The site has done this job before
The Enterprise opened its story with a line that longtime valley drivers will recognize: "This ain't the old Point of Rocks Lodge. But it sits on the old lodge's location."
The family history behind that location goes back further. The Montana Standard traced the Cunningham family's Paradise Valley roots to a 1903 land purchase at Carbella Flat. It reported that the family's Point of Rocks Ranch once included a gas station, a hamburger business and guest cabins that fall elk hunters used. Family members stayed on the land until it was sold in the late 1990s. The Enterprise described the later operation as a dude ranch built in the 1960s, where guided hunting and fishing trips ran.
A gas station, a hamburger counter and cabins for hunters were a roadside stop on 89. The new drive-through window, counter-service kitchen and market fill the same role with better coffee. The pieces of Auster open to the public are the pieces that served people driving past, and the pieces kept for overnight guests are the cabins and the hottest pools.
How it fits with the valley's year-round regulars
Auster adds to the year-round places on 89 and keeps different hours from them. Chico covers sit-down dinner and late nights. The Old Saloon covers the bar crowd. Auster covers the early morning and the 8 p.m. grocery run. Here is the winter map as the businesses currently post it:
| Stop | Where | Posted hours |
|---|---|---|
| Southwind Coffee at Auster | Emigrant, west side of 89 | 7 a.m.–2 p.m., drive-through |
| Southwind Market at Auster | Emigrant | 8 a.m.–9 p.m. |
| Chico Historic Dining Room | Pray | Breakfast Mon–Sat 7:30–10:30 a.m., Sun 8–11 a.m.; dinner daily 5–9 p.m. |
| Chico Poolside Grille | Pray | Daily 11 a.m.–8 p.m. |
| Chico Saloon | Pray | Daily 11 a.m.–1 a.m., food until 9 p.m. |
| Emigrant Outpost | Pray | Lunch and dinner 11 a.m.–9 p.m., bar until 11 p.m. or later |
| The Old Saloon | Emigrant | Bar 10 a.m.–2 a.m., seven days |
| The Grill at Sage Lodge | Pray | Thu–Sun 4–9 p.m. |
Chico Hot Springs is still the valley's winter anchor. It runs year-round and keeps its pools open in every season, and the Historic Dining Room recommends reservations. The Grill at Sage Lodge has cut back to four evenings a week, so a Monday through Wednesday dinner out in the valley comes down to Chico, Emigrant Outpost or Southwind Kitchen, which serves until 8 p.m. At Pine Creek Lodge, the next date on the calendar is Lee Henke on Friday, January 8, 2027, an indoor show with a small dinner menu.
Past Yankee Jim Canyon, the Gardiner Chamber lists The Corral open daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Wonderland Cafe & Lodge daily from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Electric Peak Espresso is open daily from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Chamber notes that hours can change with little or no notice, and in a valley winter that applies to every row in the table above. Call ahead before a snowy drive.
Where the valley's calendar heads next
Between now and early December, the season's events move north into Livingston, and most of them happen at the Depot.
The Cold Snap film festival runs on two nights this year. Screenings are at Empire Twin Theatres on Thursday, November 19. On Friday, November 20, the Pray for Snow fundraiser at the Livingston Depot Center brings dinner, music, raffles and auctions to benefit Loaves and Fishes. Details are on Dan Bailey's Cold Snap page.
Light Up Livingston is Saturday, November 28, from 4 to 7 p.m. It falls on Small Business Saturday on purpose. A candy cane hunt starts in Depot Park at 4 p.m., and Santa lights more than 100,000 lights on 38 trees at 5:30. The trees are paid for by the Holiday Lights Committee and donors. The Model Railroad Club runs its trains in the Depot basement, 20 visitors at a time. Caviste, John Potenberg's wine bar next to the Gourmet Cellar inside the Depot Center, lists hours of 4 to 10 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday on Explore Livingston.
The Christmas Stroll follows on Friday, December 4, from 4 to 8 p.m. The Chamber lists Santa photos at Everton Mattress on South Main and Santa letters at The Main Print Shop and Lulu's on Main, along with hay rides and live music, and marks the schedule as tentative.
Upper-valley households heading to either event can grab coffee at the Southwind window before 2 p.m. or stop at the market on the way home before 9.
If the new year-round business on your stretch of 89 has you thinking about what it means for your own place in Paradise Valley, I'd be glad to talk it through. I'm Courtney King, and I've been following this valley's changes for decades. Schedule a consultation, and we can start with your property and the stretch of road it sits on.
