This past week, I took a group on our Winter in Yellowstone trip. We left Chicago and just over two hours later we landed in Jackson WY: Apparently, someone forgot to turn up the thermostat because it was minus 27 degrees. Stepping off the plane, the bright sky and backdrop of the Teton Range served as a portent of what was to come. We went to the National Elk Refuge and saw thousands of elk. The refuge was started to keep the elk herd numbers consistent because so much of their normal range was now taken by man. We got in in a sleigh drawn by two large Belgium horses and went out into the refuge. The elk may not have been cold but we certainly were! The next day we went into the Tetons and saw a moose, Big-Horn Sheep, and amazing views of the mountain range. We departed Jackson, drove over the Teton Pass and on to Yellowstone National Park.
Yellowstone National Park is amazing in every season of the year, but winter is my favorite. The snow defines the landscape – lodgepole pole pines appear to be flocked, trumpeter swans swimming in the Madison River, bison with hoary frost on their coat, the upper and lower falls covered in ice as water continues to flow over, Old Faithful erupting against a bright blue sky, coyotes loping across the snow pack, otters frolicking in the water, mud-pots surrounded by snow, and sundog rainbows that light up the sky. It is truly a winter wonderland. The park allows only authorized snow-coaches and snowmobiles to enter the park in winter. Our snow-coach had oversized tires (5 feet in diameter) and unlike the snowmobiles it was heated. Our guides were outstanding and each so different- from a 1960’s style hippie (everything was “insane”) to a bearded, personable thirty-year-old, to a traditional voiced expert on everything park related. In West Yellowstone, we ate delicious meals at the Slippery Otter, Bullwinkle’s, and the Three Bears. It was a wonderful group that shared so much laughter.
If this sounds like a trip you would like, we are offering it again in January 2024. There are already four people registered and I will take only four more. I would love to have you join me on this fabulous trip to America’s first national park.
