Rev' It Up in West Yellowstone

Three million people visit Yellowstone NP every year, but only 3% visit it in the winter. Not only were we lucky enough to be here in the winter, but we got to check it out on a 80 mile snowmobile tour. Our day started off sizing up for our snowmobile suits and helmets. After getting our sleds assigned to us, we hit the frozen tundra of West Yellowstone and drove by a coyote at the gate to the park. Another snowmobile crew behind us passed by and scared the coyote into the woods, bummer. After driving a few more miles in fresh powder, we stopped to check out a bald eagle perched in a tree over a rushing river. We flew by herds of bison and elk as we headed toward Old Faithful. We felt like we had the park to ourselves. We listened to a ranger talk for a few minutes about the science of the geyser, then suddenly everyone moved their eyes to the boiling over steam and waited....finally we saw some bubbles popping up. A huge spout of water and steam shot up 150-175 feet for 3 minutes!  After it settled down we started back to the sleds and drove to various boardwalks that contained bubbling mud pots, crystal clear thermal pools (over 200 degrees!) and other cool geysers. We took off after a half hour and visited a few winter waterfalls. We pulled over to get a better view and our guide Chris took us to a bridge to take a good look for a few minutes. He did an awesome job explaining all of the details of how the animals get through the harsh winter and why the stinky hot springs are so important to the life cycle of the park. Sometimes the bison get very close to the hot pools to warm up during  - 40 degree days.  We hopped back on the sleds and took off heading back to West Yellowstone, I was with Dad and Jack and Grant rode with mom. It was an awesome day and the first time I had ever been on a snow mobile.

Hank & Dad