Winter is Yellowstone’s longest season. And, for the relatively few visitors who come then, it is the best. Located in the mountainous northwest corner of Wyoming (with slivers extending into Idaho and Montana), Yellowstone National Park is one of the crown jewels of the National Park System. It has always been an experiment. Created in 1872, during the heyday of materialism’s western expansion with its nearly sacred belief in technological progress, the 3,500 square miles of wilderness has survived most of humanity’s usually well-meaning efforts at intervention.
Every summer, nearly 3 million visitors endure traffic jams and long lines to visit what was the nation’s–and world’s–first national park.
Ah, but winter is another matter. During the official winter season, which lasts from mid-December to mid-March, the visitor count drops to around 100,000.
For good reasons. In winter, only the road linking the park’s north and northeast entrances is open to traffic. The rest of the park–with most of its scenic attractions–is reachable only by snowmobile or snowcoach. And it’s austere. With most of the park at an altitude of more than 7,000 feet, winter unofficially can last from October until almost June. Snows are packed hard, from five to six feet and deeper in the drift areas-and it can get incredibly cold. Plus it can be more expensive in winter (there’s no camping; snowcoach transportation costs more than a private car).
Yet those few park personnel who remain–a mere 400 compared with the 3,000 on duty in the summer months–say this is their favorite time of year in the park. It has also become the favorite time for hardy travelers who want to see the park’s wonders in a different light–and without the crowds.
Last winter, my wife, Tribune photographer Karen Engstrom, and I became part of the uncrowded crowd, taking a Nordic Fox Ski Club trip with 30 other Chicagoans for nearly 10 days of cross-country skiing.
We wanted to see it–and ski it–while we could. In a few years, more stringent (but yet to be determined) limits will be imposed on the number of winter visitors.
After flying to Bozeman, Mont., we took a bus to Mammoth Hot Springs, just inside the park where the unplowed road into the interior begins. There, a snowcoach took us to our lodge near Old Faithful.
From the snowcoach (a converted van fitted with tractor treads and skis) we saw bighorn sheep, elk, eagles, hundreds and hundreds of bison, coyotes, flocks of golden eye ducks, stream-feeding dippers, trumpeter swans–and breathtaking panoramic views. Every few miles the driver stopped to allow photos, causing traffic jams for the snowmobilers who shared the narrow, snowpacked roads.
(Our trip organizers, Clyde and Diane Means of Naperville, Ill., had cautioned us not to call the snowmobilers “bubbleheads.” And, “don’t wave at them. If drivers wave back, they’re liable to drive off the road.”)
We were amazed at the number of snowmobiles, but it was the weekend and most cleared out once it was over. The animals, apparently, aren’t as affected by the “bubbleheads” (an endearing–?–term describing their helmets) as we humans are. According to a study in which heart monitors were attached to elk, snowmobiles probably cause less stress than cross-country skiers; burdened by their cumbersome clothing, snowmobilers–unlike skiers–rarely venture far into the wilderness.
Home during our stay in Yellowstone was the Old Faithful Snow Lodge, with 140 rooms and cabins as the only accommodations open during winter in the park’s interior. (An additional 120 rooms are available at Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel.)
Other than the snowmobilers, most winter visitors to Yellowstone, like us, come to ski. The land offers some of nature’s greatest majesty: the bluest of skies, mountain ridges and frozen lakes, pristine forests, backcountry trails of varied lengths and difficulty, all in a fragile, primordial, almost untouched wilderness.
Since the 1988 fire, the lodgepole pine that covers most of the park has returned, the tops of the 5- or 6-year-old trees poking up through the deep snows.
The Old Faithful area has more than a dozen well-marked, cross-country trails, loops from 3 to 20 miles, labeled “easy” to “very difficult.”
Our Nordic Fox skiers quickly learned what sort of pace and challenge our group could take and selected destinations accordingly, signing out early in the morning, usually for a half-day. A few full-day trips from the base at Snow Lodge were undertaken. Then lunch, and more skiing in the afternoon. Or, for some, skiing in the bright starlight, to catch the moon rising behind the Old Faithful geyser.
Our schedule on one typical day: Ruth and Phil Brown of Aurora led a 7 a.m. tour of fast skiers to Mystic Falls. A half hour later, Bev and Clem Yuill of Batavia, Yellowstone winter veterans, took a smaller group on a snowshoe trek above the hills of Old Faithful. Heading out at a more comfortable 9 a.m. were Nordic Fox’s president Glen Krebs of Riverside and Jim Tibensky of Berwyn, who led a more ambitious group for a ski trip up the rugged Mallard Lake Trail.
Beyond these scheduled activities, individuals and small groups of skiers explored park trails on their own. One day at Lone Star Geyser, nearly 5 miles south of Old Faithful, two of our small groups coalesced for lunch on spread-out snow blankets and waited in the falling snow for the geyser to erupt–which it does every three hours for a full 30 minutes.
There, while we were waiting, we learned from Susan McCarthy of Chicago about “bioregionalism.” It was a wonderful time and place to learn about this important concept, the ecological value of wherever we call home. And the more daring among us tried the greenish-gray dried food prepared by Jim Tibensky. (We skipped it, but were told that it tasted much better than it looked, and it is lighter to carry than sandwiches.)
In groups of varying size and skill, loaded down with backpacks weighing 10 to 20 pounds and stocked with food, water, extra clothing and survival gear, we skied or snowshoed the steep hills and trails. On one excursion we watched trumpeter swans reach down into the steaming Firehole River with their long necks, skimming the bottom of the streams for food. We were careful to keep our distance from the foraging bison, elk and moose (legally, we could not approach closer than 25 yards).
Or, for small fees, we took daylong snowcoach trips to remote scenic areas–our guide/drivers giving us well-informed winter information along the way.
Among the animals, there seemed to be little spontaneous movement in the deep winter; the password to spring seems to be caution. Only the crow and the raven seem to move with any speed. On occasion, Clark’s nutcrackers and gray jays flit about, coaxing food from winter tourists.
At night we heard great horned owls, but most of the 225 other bird species that call Yellowstone home will not return until spring.
Even in the more remote northwest portion of Yellowstone, where rangers have reintroduced wolves, no area of the park was off-limits to skiers.
After a day of skiing, we would assemble for dinner at Snow Lodge. Given that all supplies must be brought in by snowcoach, the meals were reasonably priced (averaging about $10) and reasonably gourmet.
Each evening, skiers ate with different dinner partners. At first, the arrangement seemed too formal, but it turned out to be an excellent idea.
The joy of experiencing and skiing the wilderness was matched by meeting and talking with a varied group of people–teachers, salespeople, commercial airline pilots, librarians, nurses, lab technicians, computer programmers, therapists, veterinarians, parole and police officers, truck drivers, elevator repairmen, union officials, dietitians, engineers–a multiplicity of talents and interests and skill levels and intelligentsia united by their love of skiing and the wilderness.
Depending on the size of the group, a widely spaced, single-file line of skiers can stretch up to a half-mile in length, taking in–in relative peace and solitude–the wonders of bison and elk grazing on the trail, ice-covered waterfalls roaring over cliffs and clear pools of green and gold water boiling up from the magma not far below.
In most volcanic regions of the world, the molten magma is about 8 miles beneath the surface; in Yellowstone, it is little more than a mile underground.
The park is home to 10,000 thermal features: bubbling white mud pots, steam vents, fumaroles, cauldrons, sulfur pools, brilliantly colored travertine springs and 300 explosive geysers–the only undisturbed geysers in the world. In winter, their color is extraordinary.
Two million years ago, the area we now call Yellowstone blew up. It did so again a million years later–and again 600,000 years ago. The bulk of the park sits inside that collapsed volcanic crater, 45 miles long and 30 miles wide. Any millennium now (geologically speaking), it’s due for another upheaval. But the tranquility of the park and the deep snow cover such things.
Many of us tourist skiers were oblivious to the controversies swirling around Yellowstone. Evening nature talks by park staff avoided the issues that troubled them privately: the shooting of bison as they wander off park grounds; the nearby oil and gas explorations and mining that pollute streams and threaten park flora and fauna; the imperiled nature of plant species (an estimated 4,000 of the 20,000 plant species in Yellowstone are endangered); the dwindling habitat for grizzlies and other species; and the problems of pollution from cars and other vehicles being just a few of them.
Humans are used to affecting things. But most of us–as visitors–were at our best in Yellowstone when we didn’t intervene, when we affected nothing, when we left no traces but footprints. If we were fortunate, the wilderness would affect us.
Yellowstone is not tame like Yosemite, which–some claim–is being turned into a theme park, a la Disneyland.
In winter, especially, Yellowstone is no commercial playground. The place offers the direct, unmediated experience of wild, dangerous, magnificent nature.
After experiencing the elevations of Yellowstone, we returned to civilization, recalling the words John Muir wrote a century ago:
“With a fresh heart, going down to our work, under whatever ignorance or knowledge we may after chance to suffer, we will remember these fine, wild views, and look back with joy to our wanderings in the blessed old Yellowstone Wonderland.”
DETAILS ON GETTING TO AND AROUND YELLOWSTONE
Getting there: Most Midwesterners headed for Yellowstone will fly into Bozeman; round-trip air fare from Chicago is about $575 on Northwest Airlines, with a stop in Minneapolis. From Bozeman, Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel can be reached in about two hours either by rental car or direct bus through a company called 4X4 Stage. Fare is $45 per person round trip, and reservations are required (406-388-7938).
The season: Yellowstone’s winter season begins Dec. 15 and ends March 10.
Lodging: During this season, park lodging is available at only two locations. Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel (open Dec. 20-March 3) is just inside the park’s north border and is reachable by car; Old Faithful Snow Lodge (open Dec. 15-March 10) in the park’s interior can be reached only by snowcoach ($71 round-trip) or snowmobile ($115/day). Room rates for one or two people at either hotel are $45 without bath, $65 with bath; cabins are available at the Snow Lodge for $65 to $85. A number of packages are available only at the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel that combine lodgings, breakfasts, ice skates, ski shuttles and other extras.
Food: Mammoth has a fully stocked grocery. Affordably priced meals are available at Mammoth and the Snow Lodge.
Tours: Various snowcoach and guided ski tours are offered. A 2 1/2-hour snowcoach sightseeing tour from Old Faithful to Firehole River is $13, for instance, while a full-day snowcoach tour from Old Faithful to Canyon is $70. A half-day ski tour from Old Faithful to Delacy Creek is $26.
(We paid $800 each for our Nordic Fox Ski Club trip, which, unfortunately, is not offering a tour to Yellowstone this winter.)
Rentals, etc.: Snowmobiles (half-day rates: $74 for one rider, $90 for two), skates (Mammoth only; $4 a day), cross-country ski equipment ($12.50 a day) and snowshoes ($10 a day) are available. Two-hour group ski instruction is $17. A guide service is $31.50 per person for two people or $21 per person for groups of 3 or more for a half day. Private hot tubs are available at Mammoth for $15 an hour for up to six people. Both winter areas offer evening discussions by park rangers.
Information: For information or reservations, write: TW Recreational Service, PO Box 165, Yellowstone National Park, Wyo. 82190-0165. Or call 307-344-7311.
