Winter in Yellowstone

Skiing the world's first national park

 IF you’ve ever thought of visiting Yellowstone, the world’s first national park and the template for conservation efforts everywhere, this winter is the perfect time. Winter in Yellowstone is an entirely different ballgame than the summer months when hoards of tourists drive their doublewides through the park, clogging up the roads as traffic jams form with the sight of every elk, bison or coyote that wanders within eyeshot of their air conditioned cabs.

Get those thoughts out of your head though. Winter in Yellowstone is everything the park was meant to be. Yellowstone, which lies mainly in Wyoming but also stretches out into Montana and Idaho, transforms into an awesome display of wild beauty during the winter months. Frozen, windswept and awe-inspiring are just a few words that come to mind. The wildlife, those that aren’t hibernating, head down to lower elevations and a winter trip into the park will surprise you with just how active the animals are – and how many of them you’ll be able to see. And the park’s most famous residents, its wolves, are one of the main attractions as their activity levels skyrocket with the winter cold.

Although many of the park’s facilities and roads close during the winter, there is still a wide array of accommodation and activities to make a trip there so very worth your while. The park’s Northern Region has loads of trails for snowshoeing and skiing that will take you deep into the backcountry. The Upper Terrace Drive at the Mammoth Hot Springs turns into a 1.5 mile ski trail which will put you right in the middle of the steaming hot springs that give Mammoth its otherworldly feel. Bunsen Peak, Blacktail, Tower Fall and Barronette are four more trails in the region that range in length from 3.5 miles to 8 miles. And all are close to the Mammoth visitor’s center, the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel and the facilities (gear rental, guide services, food, etc…) the area has to offer.

There are also multiple day tours that will show you the best of Yellowstone’s winter delights. Some of the tours include snowshoeing, skiing, bus tours and snowmobiles and are lead by rangers and Yellowstone vets who will teach all there is to know about one of this world’s most biologically diverse areas. With daily tours led by park rangers that leave from Mammoth and West Yellowstone – there are a huge number of affordable ways to be shown the parks by an expert. Tours that focus on the wildlife – especially the wolves – are one of the main draws and run as short as an hour and a half to multi-day trips out into the bush.

But if taking a guided tour of Yellowstone isn’t your thing, there are countless ways to plan your own adventure. If you’ve never experienced this national (and global) treasure, winter in Yellowstone is the time to do it. And if you’ve spent time in the park during the roasting summer months, checking it out under a blanket of snow will give you a whole new appreciation for Teddy Roosevelt’s greatest legacy.