Yellowstone National Park--spectacular in the winter

Long's Peak near Loveland, Colorado
at the beginning of our drive

The Tetons on our drive into Yellowstone

One of the wondrous winter destinations is Yellowstone National Park.  In the summer, this popular park is jammed with people and cars.  In the winter, though, it is soft, snowy and quiet (except for snow mobile tours that take up several hours in the middle of the day).  Wait until the late afternoon light touches the snow in the geyser basins and you will see a true winter wonderland.

bison grazing near Old Faithful

This winter, only the Snow Lodge at Old Faithful is open.  Usually, the hotel at Mammoth Hot Springs is also open, but right now, it has been closed for the next 2 years for badly-needed renovations.  So, we are at the only hotel in the entire park that hosts guests at this time of year, which is incredibly peaceful.

Shoshone Lake in the early morning

To get here, you can travel in snow cats or tracked vans or, if there isn’t a mountain of new snow, vans with deflated tires that grind their way easily along the groomed tracks.  We entered the Park from the south, Flagg Ranch, in one of these vans with large, deflated tires.  You can also get transportation into the Park from the north and west entrances.  When we were here several years ago, we used a snow cat, which is much more cramped and much nosier, but also can get through a lot of snow (there was 4 feet of new snow then).

snowy trees along our snowshoe route

Driving from Jackson to Flagg Ranch for the 7 a.m. van departure to Old Faithful, the temperature outside ranged from -15 to -24 F, so we were very cold by the time we clamored into the van with our small suitcases, day packs and snowshoes.  After several stops to photograph some of the prettier overlooks, we were all numb. 

The temperature at Old Faithful was -15 F, so we relaxed for a couple of hours before heading out on snowshoes in the brilliant sunshine, now nearly 20 degrees and lovely, to tour the geyser basins surrounding the Old Faithful Lodge.  You can do all kinds and difficulties of snowshoe hikes or cross country skiing right out of the Snow Lodge at Old Faithful.  We chose a 5 mile, slightly rolling route, enjoying the sunshine, gorgeous blue sky, trees laden with snow, bison rummaging for food under the considerable pile of snow and steam from the multitude of geysers.  

plumes of steam from the many geysers

bison relaxing in the snow

A rule for snowshoers and cross-country skiers is to avoid any close contact with the bison.  We did a couple of detours to go around these massive creatures, several remaining absolutely motionless for nearly an hour.  Maybe they were soaking up the sunshine since most of their cousins were digging up the snow to find grass or munching on the green mosses kept alive by the warm water sprinkled around the basin.