Posted by Reza Tavana on December 7, 2006 at 9:32 PM
I am planing to visit YSNP for the first time this month. Any tips would be great.
Thanks
Posted by bill meikle on December 7, 2006 at 10:10 PM
I'd love to hear the advice too Reza, I havent been there in Winter but my friends have been up on the North side Winter watching wolves.
Bill
Posted by Doug Andrews on December 7, 2006 at 10:33 PM
Bring your warmest clothing. It can and does get bitterly cold in the winter. The only road open to cars is from Mammoth to the NE Entrance. All the other roads are open only to snowmobiles and snowcats.
Posted by Todd Caudle on December 8, 2006 at 11:03 AM
Bring a sweater.
Posted by Bill Pelzmann on December 8, 2006 at 2:48 PM
How are you planning to travel?
The new Snow Lodge at Old Failthful is a great place to stay. Our family spent Xmas there last year. GREAT food. The worst part of the trip was the drive on I-80 through blizzard conditions in both directions.
Lots of snowshoe / x-country skiing opportunites from the Lodge. Snowcats will drop you at various locations and you can ski back. Also, full day snowcat tours to Yellowstone Canyon and cross country ski tours around the canyon.
Be sure to visit the Elk Refuge if you pass through Jackson Hole.
As has been mentioned, the road between Gardiner and Cooke City is the only one in the park kept open in the winter. This is on the northeast side. On my next trip up there, I plan to put the wildlife photography in the Lamar Valley, along that road, at the top of my list.
Posted by Don Grall on December 9, 2006 at 1:07 PM
I've been there three times during January. The Mammoth-Cooke City road is maintained but 4wd is highly recommended as it can be quite slippery in places. They don't sand the road much except for a couple of steep hills. Wolves are easily spotted (usually at a great distance, but sometimes people get lucky and get a roadside visit) just by stopping where ever there are a bunch of vehicles stopped. Big bull elk are also seen, in early morning and late afternoon, usually in the first meadow you come to after driving up the first long steep grade going east from Mammoth (east of Undine Falls). Bighorn are sometimes seen near a small rock cliff in the Lamar Valley just west of the Lamar River-Soda Butte Creek confluence.
On my last visit we also snowmobiled into the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. It was easy to get on a tour, we just called and made reservations the day before. You definitely need cold weather gear, esp.gloves and boots and head covering for this. They rent snowmobile suits if you need them. We had -10degrees and started out at 7AM, brrrrrrrrrrrr, two hours in and two hours out. Hope for some clouds to cut the high contrast sun-on-snow effect. They only use 4-stroke engines now so you don't breathe oily exhausts of the older 2-stroke styles. They stay on the snow covered roads the whole time. Off-roading is strictly prohibited.
Have fun and stay warm!
Don
Posted by Bill Pelzmann on December 14, 2006 at 6:14 PM
The best guidebook that I was able to find for winter travel:
"Yellowstone Winter Guide", 2nd edition, Jeff Henry, 1998
It describes the roads along with the trails for snowshoe and x-country skiing throughout the park.
The "Photographer's Guide to Yellowstone and the Tetons", Joseph Lange, 2000
Very complete photo guide for both parks, but only a few pages on winter options.
"Silence & Solitude, Yellowstone's Winter Wilderness" by Tom Murphy
Wonderful selection of winter landscape and wildlife photography.
But this is NOT a guide for mere mortals, on a casual winter visit.
Tom specializes in hardcore, backcountry, winter expeditions.
Discussion
6 repliesThanks
Bill
The new Snow Lodge at Old Failthful is a great place to stay. Our family spent Xmas there last year. GREAT food. The worst part of the trip was the drive on I-80 through blizzard conditions in both directions.
Lots of snowshoe / x-country skiing opportunites from the Lodge. Snowcats will drop you at various locations and you can ski back. Also, full day snowcat tours to Yellowstone Canyon and cross country ski tours around the canyon.
Be sure to visit the Elk Refuge if you pass through Jackson Hole.
As has been mentioned, the road between Gardiner and Cooke City is the only one in the park kept open in the winter. This is on the northeast side. On my next trip up there, I plan to put the wildlife photography in the Lamar Valley, along that road, at the top of my list.
On my last visit we also snowmobiled into the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. It was easy to get on a tour, we just called and made reservations the day before. You definitely need cold weather gear, esp.gloves and boots and head covering for this. They rent snowmobile suits if you need them. We had -10degrees and started out at 7AM, brrrrrrrrrrrr, two hours in and two hours out. Hope for some clouds to cut the high contrast sun-on-snow effect. They only use 4-stroke engines now so you don't breathe oily exhausts of the older 2-stroke styles. They stay on the snow covered roads the whole time. Off-roading is strictly prohibited.
Have fun and stay warm!
Don
"Yellowstone Winter Guide", 2nd edition, Jeff Henry, 1998
It describes the roads along with the trails for snowshoe and x-country skiing throughout the park.
The "Photographer's Guide to Yellowstone and the Tetons", Joseph Lange, 2000
Very complete photo guide for both parks, but only a few pages on winter options.
"Silence & Solitude, Yellowstone's Winter Wilderness" by Tom Murphy
Wonderful selection of winter landscape and wildlife photography.
But this is NOT a guide for mere mortals, on a casual winter visit.
Tom specializes in hardcore, backcountry, winter expeditions.