To visit Yellowstone National Park (YNP) in the winter, you have 3 options….1) a snow coach tour, 2) a snowmobile tour, or 3) a non-commercial permit. We have been on the snowmobile and snow coach tours and they are amazing, but we wanted to experience the park on our own schedule. In order to obtain a non-commercial snowmobile permit, you have to enter a lottery. Each permit allows 5 snowmobiles (10 people) to enter the park. There is one permit per entrance per day. Meaning at any given time, there are only 4 non-commercial “tours” in the park. You have to have specific 4 stroke snowmobiles and since we only own two, three more would need to be rented. The person whose name is on the permit, has to be the team leader and in charge of the paperwork. Every driver must take an online safety course and pass a test. You must also have a Montana registration sticker, as well as a Wyoming sticker, and a park entrance pass.
We felt very lucky to draw a permit, as they are very hard to “win”. We called all our kids and told them to try and re-arrange their schedules. We were only missing a son-in-law. We had to pick up our daughter and grandkids in Bozeman, Mt.
There was alot of snow in Island Park.
We dropped off our trailer in West Yellowstone, Montana, and there was alot of snow there as well.
Lots of ice build-up on our vehicle and trailer
It is just under two hours to Bozeman, so we had lunch at the Slippery Otter, in West Yellowstone. The huckleberry cheesecake was amazing. With a full belly, Jade took advantage to catch some sleep.
The difference between snow in Bozeman and West Yellowstone was pretty incredible.
We would be in YNP for two days, so we reserved an Air B-n-B that had a kitchen. The island is built on top of an old salvaged bank safe.
After dinner, we had a tomato eating competition. Our daughter hates tomatoes but her son enjoyed watching his mom..lol
We knew that the weather might be bad, so we brought all of our extra winter clothes and set-up a “store” for everyone to grab what they needed. Everyone was so excited to begin this adventure!!
The West Entrance of YNP. We had to show all the paperwork and required permits. It took a few minutes…
The lead snowmobile must have a permit sign visible. The park speed limit for snowmobiles is 35 miles per hour, and the group must stay within 1/3 of a mile of each other.
There were a few hiccups…our permit was for the last week-end that the park was open for winter travel. Plowing of the park roads was already occurring, and the route from Norris to Canyon was closed. Since we were entering from the West entrance, we would have to go all the way around the loop, to get to Canyon. To start the day, we made a quick side trip to Gibbon Falls. The runoff had not yet started, but was still a beautiful picture.
The snow was deep, as we were able to walk over the retaining wall on the walkway.
When passing Bison, you allow them to dictate. Once they are to the side of the road, you may slowly pass. With lots of bison Share the Road took on a whole new meaning.
We passed this poor little guy, walking down the road. He seemed as disheartened as we were about the snowfall. We named him Fred…we saw him the next morning, huddled under a tree. We are cheering for Fred to make it until spring.
Our next stop was Firehole Falls. You could just barely see a hint of brown in the water, indicating that spring run-off had started.
Due to a forecast of wind, we headed straight to West Thumb, but had to make a stop at the Continental Divide on top of Craig Pass. At the top of the pass is Isa Lake, one of only two lakes in the world to have water flow into different oceans. The water on the right goes to the Pacific via the Lewis-Snake-Columbia rivers. Water on the left goes to the Gulf of Mexico via the Firehole-Madison-Yellowstone-Missouri-Mississippi rivers.
The snow was deep, as the sign is approximately 5 feet tall. It was not easy getting to the sign.
When you are at the Continental Divide, you just have to make a snow angel.
And maybe a snowball
The wind had started and the eastern side of Craig Pass was a cold ride. We stopped at the warming hut at West Thumb for lunch, a trail report, and a much needed warm rest. They had wall displays, that asked questions, with the answer under the flap. The ranger on duty told us, that if the wind continued to pick up speed, that the park roads might be closed and the trail groomers would not be running.
We decided to be adventurous and try to make it to Canyon, so we headed toward Fishing Bridge along the shore of Yellowstone Lake. Unfortunately, we couldn’t see much of the lake, due to blowing snow, but did get a glimpse of the Bridge Bay Marina. Jim’s parents moored a boat there during the summer. Lots of fun memories enjoying the lake.
At fishing Bridge we turned west and headed toward Hayden Valley. We made it to the first viewpoint and were hit with the predicted 60 mile per hour winds, which created a white-out. Unfortunately, we had to turn around 8 miles short of Canyon. No view of the waterfalls this trip.
On our way back, we stopped at the Mud Volcano area. It is more protected from the wind. In the winter, you can definitely see the hot spots in the parking lot!!
We walked the boardwalk to Dragon’s Mouth. It gets it’s name as the water and steam make a noise similar to a Dragon breathing.
With wind howling, our tracks from an hour earlier had vanished. We rode straight from Fishing Bridge to the warming hut at Madison Junction. We were the only “vehicles” on the road. We were breaking a trail though 2-3 foot snow drifts for 40 miles with a wind chill of -5 degrees but then add on that we were travelling at 35 mph. It was cold!! Thank heavens for the hand warmers in the restrooms to dry wet clothes. Back in West Yellowstone, we filled up with gas and had to chip the ice off the gas pump.
It hadn’t been the day we had planned, but it was full of adventure. At times, it was a bit gnarly, but we created awesome memories and we made it safely back to West Yellowstone. We chalked the day up as a HUGE success!!
