yellowstone in winter
 

How complicated is it to drive to yellowstone in the winter--and to get around--I did read there are some snow mobiles there still now--anyone gone in the winter? what was it like?

woud love some info

There are venders who provide guided snowmobile tours into Yellowstone. From what I understand an individual can no longer take their sled into Yellowstone without a guide.

RM

There is one road kept open in Yellowstone in winter. It runs from Gardiner, Mt (Mammoth Hot Springs in the park) to Cooke City. It passes through Lamar Valley. Great viewing area for bison, bighorn sheep and possibly wolves (early or late in day).
For your best info on park regulations call up www.nps.gov/yell/planvisit/todo/winter/index.htm. They now limit the number of snowmobiles per entrance per day (West Yellowstone being the most popular) and you are required to go with a guide. I fail to understand their philosophy needing a guide. You can't go anywhere except the groomed roads anyways and it just adds yet another machine to the park. Do a google search of snowmobiles in West Yellowstone and you will get quite a selection of firms.
If you fly into Bozeman you can take 4x4 Stage from the airport to your hotel in WYS. Will not need a car this way. You can walk to most places in WYS without going far.

Once you get your snowmobiles rented in West Yellowstone, you can drive them around town. I took mine to the grocery store. What fun!!

West Yellowstone has 300 miles of groomed trails. Take at least a half day to do them. I enjoyed those trails almost more than Yellowstone. The trails are curvy and run through a beautiful snow covered forest. Beautiful!

My wife and I did the Yellowstone snowmobile tour last February. We were staying in Jackson, WY. I believe the tour guide was Togwhatee (Spelling?) out of Jackson. They were very good. If you have your own snow gear I would recommend you bring it. The stuff they let you use is kind of worn. We did the Old Faithful tour. About 90 miles roundtrip. Very beautiful but there were lots of sleds in the park. I can see why they would want to limit the amount entering the park at any one time. As for guided tours only, I do not get that one. As the previous post stated, you have to stay on the roads anyway.

i just got back a couple of weeks ago. we flew into bozeman and drove to gardiner, where we stayed for 5 days. the drive was very easy, 1.5 hours to gardiner on a fully plowed road. we wanted to snowmobile for only 1 day so we stayed in gardiner. see photodog's reply on the only open roads to cars - the drive out toward cooke city is outstanding and it's unbelievable how much wildlife you can see on that drive!

if you stay in west yellowstone, the only way to get into the park is by guided snowmobiles or by snowcoach. so if snowmobiling is all you want to do, it's the place to stay - and do it soon, since the may be the last season snowmobiles are allowed into the park at all - if the current ruling stands.

i am assuming the reasoning for being with guides is so that you do not veer off the roads and go "off-roading", which could potentially harm you, wildlife and the environment in general. i am currently reading "death in yellowstone" which chronicles the myriad of ways people have died in the park, including jumping into hot springs and being gored by bison. believe me, i felt safer with a small guided group when we passed by a big herd of bison!

we rented our sleds at mammoth hot springs at the snowlodge and took the old faithful tour. it was really beautiful and am glad we did it. the info for xanterra, which handles snowmobile rentals and tours from mammoth hot springs is below. the regulations on the page is outdated at this moment, but the phone # and other info is correct:
http://www.travelyellowstone.com/static/39.htm

we also went snowshoeing a couple of days and dog sledding up in chico hot springs (45 minutes north of gardiner).

i've posted my pictures on this site below. you'll have a great time if you go - it's amazingly beautiful and quiet this time of year!
http://www.worldisround.com/articles/29455/index.html

tina

WHat a good book- Death in Yellowstone
i really enjoyed it.

melissa

We have been to Yellowstone in the winter 5 times. We fly into SLC and drive up. The commute takes about 6 hours. We stay in West Yellowstone and rent sleds & gear from the hotel. Recent years we stayed at the Gray Wolf. They have an indoor pool and Jacuzzi. A "+" after riding sleds all day. Enjoy the outside trails as well as the park. The scenery is absolutely beautiful. Not going this year as son has moved to Alaska, but will make the trip next year. Once you have been there, you will know why there are many returns.