Yellowstone in Snow

 

Visited: Oct 2019

Around the middle of October 2019, Tara and I made a quick trip to Yellowstone. I have been to Yellowstone many times (it's only a couple hours away), but I had never yet visited at that time of the year.

A fresh blanket of snow covered the park. The snow was a little bit early, and all of the roads were still open. We had great timing, it was in fact the last weekend before all the park roads closed for the season. 

Seeing Yellowstone in the snow put it into a whole new light. It was incredible! It was like visiting a brand-new park.

We arrived into West Yellowstone in late afternoon, and quickly drove to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. The views of the Lower Falls and Upper Falls, in the fresh snow and the setting sun, were sublime.

Lower Falls from Artist's Point

Upper Falls

The next morning, we headed to the Old Faithful/Grand Prismatic Spring area. Loved seeing the geysers, springs, smoke, and snow.

We hiked a mile or so along the Fairy Falls trail to the Grand Prismatic Spring Overlook. In the parking lot at the trailhead, we were awarded a rare treat. We saw two wolves! This was the first time I had seen wolves in Yellowstone. We also saw some bison.

It's only about a mile to the overlook. The overlook provides fantastic views of the Grand Prismatic Spring and surrounding countryside.

We stopped at the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone. This was a great place to see. Well worth a visit.

We visited on the last weekend that roads were open in the park for the season. Most of the park shuts down in Winter (the only park roads that stay open all year-round is the Northwest entrance from Gardiner to Mammoth Hot Springs). There are guided tours via snowcoach, snowmobile, and/or cross-country skiing that go to Old Faithful/Grand Canyon etc during the winter months. We'd love to do that sometime.

We got a little bit of a taste of Yellowstone in Winter. And it was awesome. It was a re-discovery of a park we have been to many times.