TRAVEL: YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK JANUARY 2010

Laurel and Beth watch Old Faithful erupt"Bring your warmest clothes!" my friend Beth warned as I packed for a winter trip to Yellowstone in January.  She claimed it was 8000 degrees below zero and there was potential for accidental cryogenic preservation.  I remained undaunted - after all, I had lived and worked in Yellowstone seven years ago and had not lost any digits to frostbite (or grizzly bears).  We had planned a girls weekend cross-country skiing at Old Faithful for Laurel's 50th birthday celebration.  Skiing is one of the only modes of transportation in the Yellowstone winter as most of the park, with the exception of the Mammoth Hot Springs area, is closed to automobile traffic.  The roads are maintained for snowmobile and snow coach vehicles only.  Mmmm, snow coach?  Picture a car from the 1940s kitted out with treads and sleds instead of tires and a very loud engine.  Laurel, coming from Mesa Verde National Park, and I, coming from Zion National Park, met up in Salt Lake City to carpool to Jackson, Wyoming where we stayed overnight before our Yellowstone adventure.  We were catching the noon snow coach at Flagg Ranch, just inside the border of Grand Teton National Park, adjacent to Yellowstone.  Grand Teton is ridiculously spectacular covered with snow, and we had the distinct pleasure of stopping the car to let a fast-traveling moose cross the road in front of us soon after entering the park.  No photographic evidence since I had cleverly placed my camera in the back seat.  

Grand Teton National Park

Bison carpaccio with huckleberry sauce at Silver Dollar Grill

Laurel and I stayed very comfortably and affordably at the Jackson Super 8 on Friday night and had dinner at the Silver Dollar Grill.  Located in the historic Wort Hotel, the Silver Dollar Bar & Grill serves buffalo and elk for the quintessential Wyoming dining experience (though Laurel was happy with the salmon).  Jackson was still decorated for winter holidays and the elk horn arches of the plaza (which vaguely horrified Laurel) were lit with twinkly lights.  On Saturday morning we stopped at the Jackson Whole Grocer store for travel snacks.  After a gloriously sunny trip on perfectly plowed roads through Grand Teton NP, we arrived at Flagg Ranch near the very northern boundary of the park.  The snow coach adventure involves parking your car at Flagg Ranch, loading your gear onto the top of the coach and piling into community bench seating to enjoy the winter landscape at roughly 30 mph.  The coach ride resembles a tour on the way in to Old Faithful with several stops at waterfalls, overlooks and geyser basins for photo opportunities.  Did I mention the snow coach is loud?  The driver casually hands out earplugs before the journey commences, but reassures you that the heater inside the coach is in fine working order.

Laurel considers the snow coachBy the time we reached the West Thumb Geyser Basin, I was heartily sick of the snow coach.  Anticipating the scheduled stop to provide relief from the butt-numbing ride, I was eager to see the geyser basin covered in snow.  We piled out of the coach and toured the basin with our driver pointing out the hot springs, fumaroles, mud pots and geyser cones.  Yellowstone covered with snow is magical.  On a summer day, visiting the park is like landing on the moon.  On a winter day, visiting the park is like landing in the last ice age.

Fishing Cone in Yellowstone Lake

West Thumb Geyser BasinArriving at the Old Faithful Snow Lodge in the late afternoon, there was nothing for it except cocktails and dinner.  We found Beth in her cabin after we dragged our luggage on sleds to ours.  After dinner I tried out the tiny ice rink at the lodge and mastered the two martini (+ wine) skating technique.  Next morning in the 20 degree weather we traipsed around the geyser basin and watched Old Faithful erupt twice.

We skied around the geyser basin in the afternoon and noticed that the Morning Glory hot spring is not as glorious as it once was - this pool was brilliant blue and green when I worked at Yellowstone in 2003, now it is decidedly brown.  Atop the Yellowstone Supervolcano, thermal features can change at any time.

Apres-ski cocktails in front of the fireplace and dinner at the lodge in the Obsidian Dining Room for the second go-round was just as pleasant as the first.  We relished hand-cut parmesan truffle fries both nights and various cuts of bison, as well as anything on the dessert menu described as "chocolate lover's delight".

By the morning of our departure, I was sorely disappointed that we had seen no wildlife with the exception of a lone coyote.  How can you go to Yellowstone and not see any bison?!  After our auspicious beginning with the moose in Grand Teton, I was anticipating herds of frost-covered bison with their steamy breath creating icicles on their shaggy heads.  But no bison congregated at the Upper Geyser Basin.  So I had to settle for the glimpse of a lone wolf running all-out ahead of our snow coach on the return trip.  Approaching a blind curve, our driver suddenly stopped the coach and said he had spotted a wolf ahead of us and didn't want to haze the wolf into running more than we inadvertently already had with our approach.  Creeping along around the curve, we finally caught sight of the wolf stopped in the road a half mile ahead before he disappeared into the pines.  Laurel turned to me and said, "Wow.  He was big."  Once you see a wolf in the wild, you'll never confuse it for a coyote again.  Since all the wildlife had obviously exited Yellowstone to spend the winter in Grand Teton, we stopped to admire a handful of bison on our way out.

Junket Ratings

Jackson Hole Super 8 Motel: Junk-O-Rama (great value in super-expensive Jackson)

Silver Dollar Bar & Grill: Junkety-Junk-Junk

Jackson Whole Grocer: Junk-O-Rama

Old Faithful Snow Lodge: Junk in the Trunk!