Bryce Canyon

Today was one of the shortest drive days at 3.5 hours.  We were in Bryce Canyon around noon, and after lunch, spent the afternoon checking out the park.  The park hasn't really changed much since I was there few years ago, and there wasn't really enough snow to make the scenery any different.  Still, it was a nice break from the driving.  As for walking Millie, we couldn't really do any of the hikes since they don't allow dogs on most of the trails, which are snow or ice covered anyways.  On the way into the park though, about 14 miles out, there is the Thunder Mountain trail.  The trailhead is at the first scenic view point as you head towards the park.  We only walked around for an hour, but since there wasn't anyone around, we were able to let Millie run around off-leash.  Actually, I think the area outside of the park was a lot nicer than the park itself.  If you're going to go into the park, you really want to spend time doing some of the hikes down into the canyon.

One of the things I noticed today, a bright sunny day, is that my eyes are now more sensitive to light than it used to be after living in a dark place for two years.  I find myself wearing sunglasses a lot more than I used to.

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.

Road to Alaska: Mitchell to Sturgis via Mt Rushmore

Today was supposed to be a good day but it turned out kinda sucky :(  I didn't sleep too well last night, probably because of the stupid Mountain Dew.  I ended up getting up just after 5 and decided to hit the road early.  Not sure how good of idea that was.  I was on the road by 0630 in the pitch dark with gravel like material flying all over the place.  I was going roughly 75 mph, until I realized there was a salt (?) truck ahead.  I thought it was just laying down salt for upcoming snow.  Well, once I passed it I realized it was because the roads were icy as hell.  I was going slow by that point but I could feel my car swerving a bit.  I slowed even further, passing couple of cars going probably about 20.  Once I got to a point where there was more salt, I sped up to 30-40ish.  I kept this pace for over 40 miles, maybe even longer, because I had no idea when the salt might suddenly end.  So I drove slow, being very alert... or trying to be.  I was actually pretty tired.  I had 1/2 bottle of Mountain Dew and a bottle of energy drink but that didn't help.  There were hardly any places to stop along the way either.  Rest areas were spread far and apart, with very little in between. 

At some point the roads no longer seemed icy but it began raining.  That sucked too.  Nothing like wanting to go 75 mph but not because you worry you could go slipping off the road.  Eventually it cleared up, showing the rolling hills of Badlands, which was a nice change of scenery from the flat plains I've been staring at the last couple of days.  I hoped that the sunny skies will hold until I got to Mount Rushmore.

Once at Mount Rushmore I saw that the clouds had come back.  Snow had started falling by the time I finished giving Millie a potty break.  I ran up for a quick view and a snap (see above).  The trails were closed due to icy conditions, and I skipped the museum because I worried about leaving Millie in the car too long.  I'd been looking forward to seeing Mount Rushmore and this turned out to be such an anti-climactic visit.  Perhaps if the skies were blue, the trails were open, and I wasn't rushed, it would have been a nicer visit.

From Mount Rushmore I only had another hour's drive to my hotel in Sturgis.  Sturgis seems to be most well known for its motorcycle rallies.  For me, it was just a place to rest.  What I did want to do here though was take Millie for a nice long walk.  Bear Butte State Park was near by and I had planned to do the 2.5 mile Lake Loop.  Unfortunately, winds were now gusting 40+ mph and it was miserable outside.  I did let Millie out off leash for a bit so she can run around, but not long enough.  She's not been getting enough exercise lately, so today she has been acting up really bad, which hasn't made the day any better. 

Bear Butte State Park