Winter in Our First National Park

Roosevelt Arch, North Entrance to Yellowstone National Park, Gardiner, MT

This week I decided to share a few photos from Yellowstone instead of the usual one or two. I think that since I gathered a fairly large collection of photos during the visit, I've got plenty to do a slightly larger share than usual. Of course, I'm not sharing any photos from the "major" landmarks in this particular post. At some point in the relatively near future I'll circle back to Old Faithful, the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, and all that fun stuff, but for now I'll stick with a few simple photos from the park.

Above is the Roosevelt Arch, it marks the northern entrance to the park and the primary way to enter the park until the introduction of the automobile.


Of course, during the winter the methods for getting around the park completely change.

Snow Coaches, Yellowstone National Park, WY

The main option are vehicles similar to the ones above. There are also a handful of other buses and vans that have been completely converted to treads instead of having skis to steer, but they don't look anywhere near as interesting as these do.

Snowmobiles, skis, and snowshoes are all options to transit the park during the winter as well, but they all share the trait of exposure to the sometimes extremely hostile winter elements.

It's not all cold though, the thermal features which make the park so famous are particularly impressive in the winter. On a clear day, you can see the steam from the geyser basins rising from several miles away. And then, the stark contrast between all the snow and ice of winter and the steam from the thermal features can make for spectacular views.

Sunset at the Lower Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park, WY

The park takes on a quiet feel with all the apparency that everything is waiting, though whether that's for spring or the next meal to swim by is debatable.

Bald Eagle near the Gibbon River, Yellowstone National Park, WY