A few years ago, Yellowstone National Park closed it's winter gates to public snowmobiles, and now only allows guided tours through the park in the winter months. You can still snowmobile, but it has to be with a guide, and you must have BAT machines (Best Available Technology.) Fortunately their new policy also allows for snow coaches, just in case you want to go into the park, but don't want to actually snowmobile.
Our cabin, Forest Haven is available to rent all year round, and we have had people ask us if taking the snow coach into Yellowstone is a good idea, but we have never done it before, so didn't know what to tell them. We decided to spend Christmas this year at the cabin, and tried the snow coaches out. We chose the Buffalo Bus Company, mainly because they had an opening on the date we wanted to go (December 24) and we were lucky to have gotten a seat. I didn't realize how popular the tours are, and during Christmas break, they were packed full. So, if you decide to go during that time, I would suggest making your reservations early. We paid $114 +tax per person for the 8:00 to 4:00 tour to Old Faithful. We also would have needed to pay an extra $12 per person for the park entry fee, but we have an annual park pass, so were able to use that instead.
We arrived at 8:00 a.m. ish. It took us longer to drive from Island Park on snow packed scary roads than I allotted, so we were a little late. When we arrived, the office was FULL of people. Some, like us, were looking for their designated snow coach driver. Others were looking for their snowmobile guide, and getting suited up in snow gear for their day. Finally, we found our driver, Andy, and the number 8 snowcoach, loaded up and headed out.
We began our tour of the park by driving along the Madison River to the Madison campground area. During this section of the tour, we were able to see some snow covered Bison. Their dense coat is so insulating, that their body heat does not radiate away from them enough to melt the snow that falls onto them. If a snowflake landed on a human, it would melt straight away, but not on a bison. Our Guide Andy says the bison are pretty comfy until about -40*. When it gets colder than that, they will huddle together for warmth. Until then, they are pretty content despite the cold temperatures.
We saw some lovely trumpeter swans in the Madison River. Guide Andy says the river stays at a fairly constant 50* because of the geothermally warmed water that flows into it.
We also saw a lovely bald eagle in a tree. Actually, during the duration of the trip, we were able to see even more bald eagles.
We made stops at the Lower Geyser Basin, Biscuit Basin, and finally made it to Old Faithful Geyser.
We had lunch at Old Faithful then headed back to West Yellowstone, stopping to see a chillin' coyote, another pair of coyotes, some elk, more eagles, more bison, and a blue heron.
We also stopped at Fire Hole Falls.
So, what is our final recommendation? We liked it well enough to do it again. We would probably go at a a different time than Christmas break, because even though it wasn't crowded like in the summer time, there were still a lot of people. We recommend dressing warmly, because even though you are riding in a heated bus, it was still pretty chilly. This was especially apparent after walking in the steam of a hot pot. The steam felt great, but made our skin moist like a sauna. Then, when we walked away, the cold air hit our wet skin and froze, causing a fairly painful chill.
These (of course) are only a few of the over 200 photos I took of our experience. If you would like to see the rest of the photos you will find them on my flickr page:
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