My family and I decided to spend our 2020-2021 transition at Yellowstone, where the temperature never peaked above 25 oF and reached -5 oF after dark. As a native of southern California, where it has not snowed in the 20 years of my residence there, the weather was a testament to my tolerance of the uncomfortable. Even with 3 layers on the torso, 3 on the feet, 2 on the legs, 2 on the head, 2 on the face (face mask included) and 1 on the hands, I was perpetually freezing, especially on my phalanges. Luckily, the sights of scenery and wildlife were breathtaking, and enough of a distraction to make me forget my impending frostbite.
Day 1:
The first day of our excursion was really only a couple hours. We had spent most of the day driving from Salt Lake City to the park. After settling into the Mammoth Hotel and taking a well-deserved rest, we took a short hike to the nearby Liberty Rock and Mammoth Hot Springs.
Day 2:
For context, most of Yellowstone park is closed to personal vehicles for the winter. The roads are icy and considered too dangerous for the city car. The only vehicles allowed to travel throughout the park are either tour vans with retro-fitted chasses or snowmobiles. To chicken to venture in the open-carriage snowmobiles (which our family had no experience driving), we opted for the tour van.
On day 2, we took a full-day tour to Old Faithful. The 50 mile drive one-way actually took close to 3 hours to travel since the van could not safely travel at normal highway speeds, and frankly, we were sharing the road with bison. Along the way, we stopped to see smaller geysers and for the occasional wildlife sighting. Upon arrival at Old Faithful, we each enjoyed some bison burger and waited for the next predicted eruption. In all honesty, the eruption was shorter than I expected and underwhelming. There were definitely grander sights yet to come on the trip.
Day 3:
Day 3 was our day to relax. Our tour did not start until after lunch, and would only last about 4 hours. To kill time in the morning, we took a casual drive east along the north side of the park, the only section of the park that was open to personal vehicles during the season. Along the way, we got a couple great views of snow-covered meadows littered with footprints, a great natural, albeit temporary, documentation for the park’s recent history.
Our afternoon tour took us to the Norris Geyser Basin which was only halfway to Old Faithful. There, we took our first legit hike which took us through a vast open expanse of thousands of geysers. The odor was foul, the water was crystal clear, and the steam offered small amounts of precious warmth. An overlook of the geyser basin made the entire valley look like the remnants of a battlefield.
Day 4:
Day 4 was our most rigorous day. We woke at 5 AM to catch a tour that began at 6 and ended at 5 PM. Today, our destination was the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. Despite the early wake up call and freezing temperatures in the tour van, the chance to stand on the frost-topped edge of a magnificently deep gorge laced with icicles and bisected by a frozen waterfall was the highlight of my trip. As if the natural and harsh beauty of the gorge was not enough on its own, the view was garnished with a light, frothy snowfall. I was constantly adjusting between focusing my view on the natural backdrop dotted with blurry specks of snow and intricate snowflakes supported by the abstract outline of the Grand Canyon. What a sight I will not soon forget!
Day 5:
Day 5 marked the last day of our Yellowstone trip. Only the first half of the day was marked with activity this time. We took an early-morning wildlife tour through Lamar Valley. Up until this point, we had already witnessed bison, coyotes, elk, deer, swan, and eagles along the way during previous tours. Each offered a different form of beauty, and it was a delight to observe them tackle the unmerciful conditions of a Yellowstone winter. In fact, we even saw firsthand, fallen elk, coyotes feasting on swans, and animals displaying hostility to defend their territories. This final tour got us up-close with two of the more elusive creatures in the park: the moose and the bighorn sheep. There is something admirable about seeing wildlife take on the challenges of the land. Such challenges cannot be justified by pictures of the scenery, which only display the serenity and beauty. Reality presents much more life-threatening obstacles which these creatures fearlessly conquer year after year.
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