Yellowstone Park in Winter

Finally uploaded our photos from last weekend.....some fun ones. Going to spread them over a few posts. Above is the north side entrance to Yellowstone Park. If you click on the photo you can see the famous words put here when they created our country's FIRST NATIONAL PARK: "For the Benefit and Enjoyment of the People". Love that!

The first day there we planned to go cross-country skiing and had to take a shuttle to the Indian Creek Loop about five miles up the road from Mammoth Lodge. The others in our group were opting to go elsewhere and do other things that morning, so we were preparing to go it alone. But just as we were loading up on the snow coach, up drove some other friends of our's who said, "Hey, can we go too?" And there was just room for two more on the shuttle. So Linda and Gordan came with us! Yay!

I love unexpected surprises like this. The area we went to was just beautiful. Much more snow than there was by Mammoth Lodge. The snow coach dropped us off and we made plans for it to come back to pick us up a few hours later. We bundled up and took off down the trail.

Of course, I was the slow one in our foursome, being  a wee bit afraid to actually GLIDE on the skis. I don't like to go fast! But after awhile, I got the hang of it, and found my ski legs again. But Gordan and Linda could really go fast and they led on the trail while I brought up the rear. They were pros on the skis.

I also liked to stop to catch my breath and take some photos. It was beautiful! We went through the trees, along a river, and even through a open meadow!

I only fell once, but it was a big one. I turned to look at an animal track in the snow and totally tipped over sideways. I was buried in about 1 1/2 feet of snow, and had to untangle my poles, arms, and skis and work to get my body back over my feet and then up. I managed to do it without help.

We went for awhile on Bighorn Trail too, but Kev and I turned around and went back because it had a lot more hills and after working hard to herringbone step my way up to the top, I realized that it was more challenging for me to actually go DOWN the other side. So we stuck to the mostly flat trails.

We managed to make it back to the pick-up area and never had to actually use the Warming Hut. We pulled off our jackets in the snow coach and enjoyed the ride back to the Mammoth Lodge. Even spotted some bison out the window on the drive back.

The sun had come out that afternoon and it was actually WARM enough to sit outside on the patio! Gordan is a Home Brewer Extraordinaire and he had brought up some of his home-brews in a cooler to share. And so we had some cheese and crackers and home-brewed beer sitting out on the patio. Very fun!

He names and labels all of his brews and even keeps a meticulous log book detailing each recipe and how long he ages it and then tasting notes. It's fun to be on the receiving end of so much hard work!

It was a great day in the woods of Yellowstone Park and at Mammoth Lodge. More tomorrow!

Comments

[Anne]

Shelley, you may not have citrus at your farmers market in the winter but you have Yellowstone! I am so so jealous (and excited to fly home to Utah next week!)

[Sightseer]

That looks like a great time. I have been in Yellowstone in the summer, but not winter.