West Yellowstone, Montana is reknown for it's snowmobling. With fine powder snow, proximity to Yellowstone Park, miles of trails, and the famous Big Sky country, it's little wonder why.
We stayed here for 3 full days in mid-December. We arrived on Sunday, December 14th, the day before Yellowstone Park was to open for winter tourists but were disappointed to find that the park had not yet received enough snow for snowmobile travel. However, Yellowstone Adventures, the rental outfit that we worked with, arranged for us to travel to Old Faithful by snowcoach, a van equipped with special tracks for travel in snow. In addition to the many geysers and geological features, we saw lots of wildlife, including elk herds, bison herds, coyotes, bald eagles, Trumpeter swans, and more. In my opinion, for a family this turned out to likely be a better way to see the park than on snowmobile. After the snow coach tour, we were given our rental snowmobiles and immediately rode the Madison Arm Loop Trail. While riding this trail a herd of about 30 elk crossed immediately in front of us. What a neat sight to see.
Days two and three were spend snowmobiling trails outside of the park along with shopping and taking in the sights around town.
On Tuesday the skies were clear and bright affording amazingly scenic sights while snowmobiling. Weatherwise, this was THE day for a ride up what is called Two Tops Trail. This trail goes up to a mountain peak and offers views for nearly a hundred miles in all directions. Combined with fresh snow everywhere, it was like a little slice of Heaven. There are numerous bowls, basins, and open areas in wich to frolic in fresh deep powder. A fun time for sure! We then rode farther south, taking the Railroad Trail down to the Black Canyon Loop trail and on to Big Springs, a natural spring from which surges one hundred and twenty million gallons of water each day, creating the headwaters of the Henry's Fork of the Snake River. There is a bridge over the river here and beneath it live huge trout. From here were we rode to Island Park, Idaho for hot cocoa and cheesburgers at Robin's Roost. After warming up, we rode up Meadow Creek Trail, Valley View Trail, Lionhead Trail, and back into West Yellowstone.
We had originally planned on a two day visit but were having such a wonderful time that we decided to extend our stay for a third day. So.....
Wednesday, day three, was more riding, this time starting out on the South Plateau Trail. The skies were overcast and snowing lightly so the views were not as scenic but the just-fallen fresh powder was excellent to ride in. We cut across the Black Bear Cutoff Trail to the Black Canyon Trail down to the Meadow Creek Lodge which accessible only by snowmobile during the winter months. Here we warmed up with hot cocoa, cheese sandwiches, and great conversation with the couple that runs the lodge. We continued along the Meadow Creek Trail, this time turning off onto the Twin Creek Trail and enjoying more awesome riding in fine powder before dropping back onto the Two Top Loop and heading back into West Yellowstone. We had just enough time for a quick spin out towards the Madison Arm Loop Trail before returning our snowmobiles and gear. We finished the night off by watching the movie "Yellowstone" at the Imax theater.
If you ever have to inclination and opportunity to visit this true winter wonderland, I highly recommend doing so.
