Yellowstone in the Winter

After 6 days of driving I had a week in West Yellowstone to relax and use as a base for exploring the park.  Most people probably wouldn't think to visit in the winter, but I thought it would be a beautiful time to visit.  The town of West Yellowstone is fairly dead this time of year though, and most places were closed for the season.  The people that are here seems to be on the elderly side, which I found surprising given the harshness of the temperatures here.  On many mornings I stepped outside to temperatures below zero Fahrenheit.  I think on the coldest night, temperature dropped to -20F.  Speaking to one of the locals, the coldest temperatures he experienced here was -65F.  Crazy.

Fortunately, when you dress properly and the sun is out, it is not so bad being outdoors even when it's cold out.  If you are active, you can stay even warmer.  Here are some of the things you can do in the winter from West Yellowstone:

Cross-Country Skiing

View from Riverside Upper Loop Trail

There are three trail areas accessible from W. Yellowstone: Rendezvous, Riverside, and Boundary.  Rendezvous has the most # of trails, and boundary allows pets.  Since I was new to x-country skiing and didn't have Millie with me, I chose for the Riverside trail, which was probably also the most scenic. 

Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center

While there are abundant wildlife viewing opportunities in Yellowstone NP, most wild bears are hibernating in winter, and wolves are very elusive.  So I cheated and went to the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center in town.  It's a great place to not only view these animals, but also to learn about them.

Eat the Best Pizza Ever

I'm no pizza connoisseur, but I had the best pizza ever here from the Wild West Pizzeria and Saloon. 

Snowcoach Tour to Old Faithful

Old Faithful

In the winter, Yellowstone NP closes the roads to wheeled vehicles.  The only way to get in and out of the park is on a guided tour, either in a snowcoach or a snowmobile.  I opted for the snowcoach, which was probably warmer.  The highlights of the tour are wildlife viewing - we saw many elks and bisons, as well as couple of coyotes, swans, and an eagle.  Yellowstone is also famous for its geothermal features.  Apparently it is sitting on the world's largest active volcano crater.  I took the option that allows you to ski past many of these geothermal features - hot springs, mud pools, and geysers.  Luckily, I arrived at the Old Faithful just few minutes before it did it's thing. 

Bisons creating a traffic jam

IMAX Films

Most of the popular National Parks seems to always have an IMAX movie on it (at least Niagara Falls did).  Yellowstone also had one, which was just as cheesy as the Niagara one.  Lucky for me the other two films, one on Amazing Caves, and one on Everest, were more interesting.  It's a good way to relax on a cold afternoon.

Snowmobiling

This was probably one of those must-do's that I skipped out on.  I could've taken a snowmobiling tour into the park, but I thought I would be more comfortable in the snowcoach.  I could've also taken a self-guided tour through the Gallatin National Forest, but I decided I needed couple of days to just chill out and do nothing.  I was feeling pretty exhausted on my "free" days.  I may regret this though, since this area is supposed to have some of the best snowmobiling terrain around.  Everyone is doing it... but me.

Snowcoach Tour to the Canyons

View of a waterfall while on the Yellowstone NP Canyon tour

If you want to get away from the crowds in the park, a tour of the Canyons will do the trick.  The focus of this tour are waterfalls and wildlife, with some viewing of geothermal features.

For both snowcoach tours, I went with the Alpen Guides.  I thought both tours and guides were great, so I highly recommend them.  Also, they have a limit of 10 on their tours, allowing for a more intimate experience.

Dog Sled Ride

The area isn't exactly known for dog sledding, but there are couple of places where you can experience it.  The place closest to West Yellowstone was Klondike Dreams.  It's not a big commericial outfitter, but rather, the operator is a one-woman show.  Charlotte owns, races, and takes care of her dogs purely out of hobby.  Her business giving rides to tourists merely help pay for the dog food.  She works a normal job during the peak summer season, and spends her winter pretty much playing with her dogs.  She also told me about how she lived in a teepee for 9 years.  Now she lives in a shack with electricity (but no water).  She seems pretty happy with her life though.  Her occasional assistant, Noah, also has a unique lifestyle of working until saving up enough to take off on a backpacking trip through the wilderness.

The dog sled ride itself was pretty fun.  The dogs also seem to enjoy the exercise.  The ones who weren't chosen to run today seemed disappointed and I felt sorry for them.  They'll get their run another time though.  Charlotte also let me drive the sled, which was also fun.  I did take a spill on one turn though.  Since Alaska seems to be big into dog sledding (the Iditarod races are coming up soon) I may have to try it again there.