Yellowstone in the Winter

Old May 19th, 2015, 09:44 AM
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Yellowstone in the Winter

Anyone ever gone? If so, how was it? We went last September-October and loved it. The last day it snowed. We've thought about going in the winter (4-5 days) as we think it would be beautiful.
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Old May 19th, 2015, 10:11 AM
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I went three years ago in February. It happened to have been a mild winter and there were a lot of bare patches among the snow, which I didn't expect.

But that was pretty unusual, and we had one day of snow and it was beautiful.

You can't drive on most of the roads, e.g., from Mammoth to Old Faithful, and will have to take the snow vehicles on tracks to get from place to place. But the road from Gardiner to Mammoth is open for private vehicles.

We saw a lot of wildlife, including some wolves.

I recommend it - I would love to go back in the winter.
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Old May 19th, 2015, 10:37 AM
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panecott - Where did you stay? I believe only two hotels are opened and would think to divide our time between the two. I guess we would fly into Bozeman, take the shuttle and use their snowcoaches to get around. Is that how you did it? Did you do any of their daily tours?
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Old May 19th, 2015, 11:02 AM
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Diane, Yes, that's exactly what we did. We flew into Bozeman, took the shuttle to Mammoth for 3 days, then the snow coach to Old Faithful for 3 days, then back to Mammoth for the last night. The snow coaches pretty much take up a full day, but you see plenty along the way.

We stayed at the Mammoth Lodge (or Inn, I forget what it's called, but it's one of the NP lodges). It's old but has real old fashioned NP atmosphere, which I like, and the rooms were comfortable. The attached restaurant was excellent.

In Old Faithful, we stayed at the Old Faithful Snowflake Lodge (or something like that. I"m bad w/names, but it's also a NP lodge). It's modern and very comfortable and also has a restaurant which was good, but not as good as Mammoth, IMO. The Old Faithful Inn is closed in winter b/c I believe it's not heated.

I took a wildlife tour from Mammoth that's given by the NP's. It was a full day and was excellent. We were very lucky with our sightings - lots of bison, of course, bighorn sheep, coyote, a pack of wolves from a distance, and one wolf crossed the road right in front of the van! It's all a matter of luck!

Don't waste your money on a private tour, b/c they are really no different from the NP tours and cost a lot more.

I'd been to Yellowstone a few times before so that was the only tour I took. I went cross country skiing one day in Mammoth - the one day that we had a beautiful snowfall and it was wonderful.
I went up to the hot springs one sunny late afternoon when the lighting was perfect - a great time to go if it's a sunny day.

At Old Faithful, I did a lot of hiking around the geyser basin, took the hike to Morning Glory Pool, went part of the way up to Inspiration point. There are some nice tours from OF also, but if your time is limited and you like to hike, there's so much to see right in the area. That's a matter of preference.
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Old May 19th, 2015, 12:10 PM
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I've only been to Yellowstone in winter and thought it was spectacular. We flew into Bozeman and rented an SUV as part of a longer trip to MT. We spent the first 2 nights at a B&B in Gardiner and drove the road to Cooke City. We then spent one night at Old Faithful Snow Lodge taking the snow coach from Mammoth both directions plus one last evening back at the same B&B in Gardiner. If you're not planning to rent a car, it would probably be better to stay at Mammoth Lodge rather than just outside of the park in Gardiner but we found Gardiner very convenient for our needs as we explored on our own. If you click on my screen name, I have an old trip report.
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Old May 19th, 2015, 02:06 PM
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Patty - I looked for your trip report and went back as far as 2008 but didn't see it. When did you go?

panecott - We stayed in the Yellowstone Snow Lodge when we went in beginning of Oct. Yes, it's modern. We had a nice room but with a view of the garbage dump! Amazing considering how much they charged.

How did you get to various springs if you didn't have a car? We don't do cross country skiing so that would be out for us. Wondering about snow shoeing.
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Old May 19th, 2015, 02:38 PM
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Sorry, you had to go back to 2006. I can't believe it's been that long! http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...and-photos.cfm

We weren't there in a heavy snow year so were able to just hike in our Sorels and didn't need snow shoes but did go snow shoeing later in the trip in Big Sky.
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Old May 19th, 2015, 06:25 PM
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The hot springs are just outside the Mammoth Lodge so you can walk. No need for a car.

I know they had snow shoeing available at Old Faithful if you're interested in that. It's probably available at Mammoth also, I'd imagine right at the ski shop.

I tried it once in VT and didn't care for it - hard work - but I have a friend who loves it, so it's worth trying if you're interested.
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Old May 20th, 2015, 05:42 AM
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panecott - I've never snow shoed so I don't know what it's like.

Patty - Unfortunately your pictures are no longer available!

So, tell me, do I have this right?
We would take a snowcoach to Mammoth from airport in Bozeman. How long would it take?Time?
Stay in Mammoth and then snowcoach to Old Faithful area and Old Faithful Snow Lodge?- By snowcoach. How long does it take?
Then to go home- we would have to go all the way back to Bozeman, MT form Old Faithful area. That must be quite a long trip? Am I correct?

Sounds very time consuming and possibly expensive. But we're willing to figure it out!
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Old May 20th, 2015, 06:38 AM
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This company operates out of West Yellowstone. http://www.yellowstonesnowcoaches.com/
I don't think they go to Mammoth. The site should answer most of your questions.
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Old May 20th, 2015, 07:56 AM
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We would take a snowcoach to Mammoth from airport in Bozeman. How long would it take?Time?

The roads from Bozeman airport to Mammoth (and all the way to Cooke City) are plowed year round so there's no need for a snowcoach. The drive takes around an hour and a half. I don't know which shuttle companies operate this route as we had our own car.

Stay in Mammoth and then snowcoach to Old Faithful area and Old Faithful Snow Lodge?- By snowcoach. How long does it take?

The snowcoach ride between Mammoth and Old Faithful took around 4 hours but we made lots of photo stops. We booked through the park service concessionaire http://www.yellowstonenationalparklodges.com/

I'll update my report with a current photo link.
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Old May 20th, 2015, 02:10 PM
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tomfuller - Thanks for the link. Have you done this?

Patty - Did you leave your car behind in Mammoth when you took the snowcoach to Old Faith Snow Lodge?
Thanks for the link to your pics. Looks wonderful. Do you know if there are snow mobiles that seat two? I don't have a driver's license (typical new Yorker) but my husband does.
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Old May 20th, 2015, 03:40 PM
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Yes we left the rental car parked at Mammoth. I didn't really pay attention to the snowmobile configurations.
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Old May 20th, 2015, 04:41 PM
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If you're flying into Bozeman you won't really need a car, since you can get the shuttle - a regular bus - from the airport to Mammoth Lodge. And yes, it takes about an hour and a half. It made a stop along the way and we could pick up wine and snacks, etc.

I'm remembering now, the snowcoaches make a round trip from Mammoth to OF and back in one day, so you leave Mammoth early and get to OF in early afternoon.
The same coach then leaves OF around 2 pm to return to Mammoth, so on your return you will arrive in the evening. It could be as late as 7 or so. I think you will have to spend the last night at Mammoth and fly out the next day.
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Old May 20th, 2015, 04:55 PM
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BTW, I'm pretty sure you can book the airport shuttle thru' Mammoth Lodge. Same with the snowcoaches.

I went with a group from a cross country ski club I belong to and one of the men made all the arrangements so I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure that's what you can do. The shuttle met our flight at the airport.
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Old May 20th, 2015, 05:21 PM
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Yes, panecott, I checked and we can book the shuttle through the Mammoth Lodge. I think $40/pp. Wondering if spending more than a half day at the Old Faithful area would be better than just there and back in one day. Patty says she stayed over night at the Old Faithful Snowlodge. I think it took 4 hours to get there from Mammoth? That's 8 hours R/T, more than I spend flying to Europe! That's quite a bit to do in one day back and forth. So I'm thinking two days/2nights.

So many options!
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Old May 21st, 2015, 05:27 AM
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We've done the winter route through West Yellowstone as tomfuller mentions, and stayed at the Snow Lodge at Old Faithful. But that was because we flew into Salt Lake City, drove up, and also stayed at our timeshare before going into the park. It's a long drive, farther than Bozeman for sure.

One morning we took a hike on the trails around Old Faithful (need YakTraks), and were alone except for a sleeping coyote right beside the trail. And farther on, a group of bison, who blocked the trail for about 30 minutes and we had to wait.

While there, we also took a snowcoach tour at night to see the geysers under the stars. Other than us, the park was deserted - so very memorable. Also, took a day snowcoach tour during our stay at West Yellowstone - also spectacular, but lots of snowmobiles on the road (noisy).

If you have the opportunity to visit Yellowstone in winter, by all means grab it. We are planning another trip, this time including Mammoth.
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Old May 21st, 2015, 07:41 AM
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The snowcoach (in addition to being a form of transportation) is more like a scenic/wildlife trip so doesn't feel like you're spending endless hours on the road but yes, I'd spend at least one night at Old Faithful.
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Old May 22nd, 2015, 04:54 AM
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Thanks for all your information.
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Old May 22nd, 2015, 05:24 AM
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I see a lot of people in NYC in wheelchairs, scooters, etc.

All buses are equipped with wheelchair accessible areas. There's even a phone number which you can call to get a wheelchair accessible taxi, 24/7.
See links below:

http://www.nyc.com/visitor_guide/dis...al_review.aspx

http://accessiblenyc.org/index.html
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