Something that I have been wanting to do for many years is see and photograph Yellowstone in the winter. I can’t count how many times I have heard people say, if you like Yellowstone in the summer, you will love it in the fall.
There are some obvious differences between summer and winter and they can be even more extreme in Yellowstone. Weather of course is the driving factor. Snow and sub zero temperatures make for compelling images and very few visitors. In fact most of Yellowstone is closed in the winter to public vehicle traffic and licensed snow coaches and regulated snowmobile tours are the only way to see most of Yellowstone in the winter. The road between Cooke City and Gardiner on the north edge of the park is open to allow the school bus to get the students from Cooke City over to school in Gardiner. This road follows the Lamar Valley and has many opportunities for wildlife viewing and some great landscapes too.
We spent 7 days in the park, starting at West Yellowstone on the east and moving up eventually to Gardiner, near the Mammoth entrance in the north. It was a wonderful experience and I do recommend that if you can handle the cold (we had one day that started out at -22 F (-30 C) ) that you experience it for yourself.
Scroll down to see some images from this trip in January 2019. Clicking on them should bring them up close to full screen.
Thanks!
