First of all, I hope everyone celebrating Christmas had a very merry one! We had an amazing experience seeing aspects of nature I knew nothing about — it was pretty awe-inspiring and special.
We took a snowcoach through Yellowstone Vacations after looking at a few options (probably obvious, but none of this is sponsored!). The only ways to tour Yellowstone in the winter from the entrance closer to Big Sky are via snowmobile or snowcoach, and with a guided tour (at least that is what I came up with in my research). The best part about this is that it’s not a crowded experience the way I’ve heard the park can be in the summertime, with lines of cars stretching miles. Our guide (Mark) was awesome and engaging.
It is cold, though. But we didn’t have a terribly cold day (30s temps!) so we mostly lucked out on that one! (I say mostly because there was some sleet!).
It took about an hour to drive from Big Sky to the West Yellowstone entrance area, so we left early (6:50). Josh and I have noted that despite being chronically late for everything when the kids were younger, we have managed to end up places mostly on time. Definitely a result of the logistics being easier.
From ~8:30 to 3:30, we explored the park via snow coach, stopping at various areas to see some really amazing sites and ending at Old Faithful. My favorite part was a walkway around all of these really cool geothermal features! I have never seen anything like it.
Some pix:
(PS A was obviously there too but she is asleep so I have no approved pix 🙂 ).
I don’t have pix of Old Faithful (I think C took a bunch and a video on his phone) here but waiting for it was really an experience – it was sleeting, there was guy dressed as The Grinch handing out candy canes, and then it erupted LATE (predicted 11:40, and it came at 11:57).
We finished up the tour around 3:30-3:45ish, and drove back to Big Sky. We had discussed going to River House BBQ (open on Christmas) but had some laundry to do and leftovers in our fridge (pizza, salad, and some chicken tenders from prior meals out!), so we ended up heading back and enjoying a cozy low key meal in our condo.
We watched Round and Round (Hallmark Hanukkah movie, ha) and I fell asleep at like 7:45 mountain time and slept 10 hours. It was a great day.
7 Comments
The snow coach looked like a cozy way to explore at this time of year! I am glad you had a great experience! We’ve never been but will make it someday!!
It looks magical, and an awesome way to avoid the summer crowds! Although I read a stat once about Yellowstone that 95% of visitors never get more than 400 feet from their car 🙂 and I think that proved true for us when we went in the summer. A few of the boardwalks around the geothermal features got crowded, but mostly the trails felt almost empty once you walked just a bit. I would love to go back and see buffalo and geothermal features in the snow though! The snow coach looks really fun. I have also heard snowshoeing is popular but I don’t know if snowshoeing in the cold would be up my kids’ alley at this point! I’ve been to a lot of national parks and Yellowstone is my favorite.
This sounds amazing, and I think winter is the PERFECT time for a Florida family to experience Yellowstone. The cold and snow add to the excitement. Glad you’re having such a great trip!
This is so cool!!
It is also the part where I admit I am clueless about American geography. When you mentioned Yellowstone I was like…um, that’s close to Montana?? I had zero idea!
Yellowstone is 3% Montana and something like 95% Wyoming and 2% Idaho (not exact but the guy quoted something close to that). We spent more of our park time in Wyoming!
What an incredible and unique way to experience Yellowstone–I’ve never been but hope to take the kids someday! Glad you guys had fun.
You went to Yellowstone! Amazing! It’s on my bucketlist.