Yellowstone Winter Wonderland
This trip was Alan's 8th and my 9th visit to Yellowstone National Park ... until this one all our visits had been during spring and autumn. This was our first winter visit, the bears were sleeping, but the wildlife that was awake was easier to spot against the snowy backdrop.
Our adventure started in late December with a British Airways Club World (business class) flight from London to Denver where we spent our first night. On day 2 we flew onwards to Bozeman for two nights and then on day 4 we transferred from Bozeman to Mammoth Hot Springs where we celebrated New Year and took a cross-country skiing lesson.
On day 7 we started the Yellowstone Association's 'Winter in Wonderland' tour - six nights & five days of exploring the geysers, hot springs and other thermal features that contribute to Yellowstone’s unique winter environment. Moisture from those thermal features combined with the cold winter temperatures created some amazing landscapes. Our adventure included exploration (by cross-country skis & snowshoes) in the Lamar Valley, Old Faithful and the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.
On day 14, the weather conditions were perfect for our day exploring Yellowstone by snowmobile.
On day 15 we started Xanterra's 'Trail of the Wolf' tour - originally this tour was going to be by snowmobile, but the 2014 winter's lack of snow resulted in them cancelling snowmobiles this winter. Instead we did the grand loop again by snowcoach, the Wake Up To Wildlife Tour of Lamar Valley followed by a round-trip guided tour from Mammoth to Old Faithful and back to Mammoth again.
On day 18 we left Yellowstone, returning to Bozeman for our onward flight to Denver for one more overnight before our flight home starting on day 19 finishing in London on day 20.
Winter in Wonderland Tour Review
This tour was hosted by the Yellowstone Association and included 6 nights of accommodation (4 at Mammoth Hotel & 2 at Old Faithful Snow Lodge), 5 breakfasts, 5 lunches and 1 dinner. You can read the details of what activities were included and the locations we visited in the trip report links above.
Our Yellowstone Association Guide, Josh Welter, was very knowledgeable and passionate about the subject matter, friendly and gave his time equally amongst the group. We were fortunate to only have 8 people in total on the tour, they will accept up to 12 which, as we found with the Trail of the Wolf tour, can be very crowded during the snow coach stage of the tour.
We were also very fortunate with the weather, Yellowstone had received a nice thick coating of snow a couple of days before we arrived and we had partial blue skies for the majority of our tour. The bit of snow that came down while we drove between Mammoth and Old Faithful added to the beauty of Norris Geyser Basin & improved the ski path for our cross-country ski to Lone Star Geyser.
The tour schedule allowed us time to observe the wildlife and the thermal features with Josh being able to give excellent interpretive commentary along the way.
Snowshoeing was a doddle (easy), if you’re at all unsure about it just look at a couple of YouTube videos. Cross-country skiing was quite easy too, but I’d suggest you need to be have a reasonable level of fitness (considering the high elevation). A ski instructor accompanied us on the first tour skiing activity to Tower Falls so they can assist with beginner’s advice. We found the two hour lesson we had before the tour useful and would recommend it for absolute beginners like us. If you have downhill skied I would suggest you probably don’t need a lesson.
This was a well-balanced tour between wildlife watching, scenery, adventurous activities and educational instruction – a really good introduction to what winter has to offer in Yellowstone National Park.
We would be happy to answer any questions you have about our experiences on the tour please use our contact page to send your questions.
Trail of the Wolf Tour Review
This tour was hosted by Xanterra and included 3 nights of accommodation (2 at Mammoth Hotel and 1 at Old Faithful Snow Lodge) 2 breakfasts were included but no lunches or dinners. You can read the details of what activities were included and the locations we visited in the trip report link above.
Our Xanterra Guide, Jim, was a mixture of the good, the bad and the indifferent! He was knowledgeable about the park and some of its wildlife, but we got the impression he was often reciting from a script. His time keeping and organisational skill left much to be desired on occasion and led to at least two missed opportunities during the tour (seeing moose & Old Faithful!)
The tour schedule was rushed, allowing a very small window of time for wildlife watching in Lamar Valley, resulting in disappointment for those on the tour that had no additional time to see wolves. The smoked non-opening windows of the bus made it difficult to take photographs and the limited time meant limited stops. Equally the snow coach windows, splatted with water and steamed up, made it impossible to take quality photographs or even on occasion see the scenery!
There was very little walking required with the longest stop being about 30 minutes, so fitness levels would not be an issue, although steady feet are required on the icy boardwalks.
Overall this was an inferior tour to the Winter in Wonderland tour, as you might expect considering the limited time available. However, even comparing the day between the Snow Lodge & Mammoth (which was over the same timescale on both tours) this one was less fulfilling. Should Xanterra continue with this tour we would only recommend it if you have very limited time available.
We would be happy to answer any questions you have about our experiences on the tour please use our contact page to send your questions.
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