Experience Yellowstone's winter wonderland with $49 room specials

Winter provides excellent wildlife watching opportunities in Yellowstone (photo courtesy Xanterra Parks & Resorts)

Yellowstone National Park Lodges recently announced a special $49 rate for rooms with shared bath at the park’s historic Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel. The normal price for the rooms is $85.

The winter experience in Yellowstone National Park is not to be missed. Visitors can choose from a variety of adventures, including spending the day Nordic skiing around the Old Faithful area, watching wolves in Lamar Valley, or touring the Norris Geyser Basin via snowcoach.

The Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel is located five miles inside the park’s northern entrance and is convenient for visitors who want to drive to the Lamar Valley to view wolves, bison, elk and other wildlife. The road from Gardiner, Montana to Mammoth Village and on to Cooke City, Montana is the only road plowed all winter. Just outside Mammoth Village are groomed cross country ski trails and access to the park’s interior via snowcoach and snowmobile.

Yellowstone’s winter season begins Dec. 18, 2009 with the opening of the Old Faithful Snow Lodge. The Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel opens Dec. 21, 2009. The lodges provide the only wintertime accommodations within the park. Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel will close for the season March 8, 2010, and Old Faithful Snow Lodge will close March 7, 2010.

Complete details about accommodations, restaurants and activities in Yellowstone can be made by calling (1) 307-344-7311 or toll-free 866-GEYSERLAND (866-439-7375), or visiting the web site www.YellowstoneNationalParkLodges.com.