“Over the river and through the woods to grandmother’s house we go,” was the song for today. And I thought we were doing just that. It was so beautiful and just incredibly awesome!!! It was something I had always wanted to do in winter but never had the opportunity or guts to do until Tauck offered this first Yellowstone in Winter Event.
What a different experience we had! We rode in a bulldozer-like bus. It was a school bus yellow and had nice modern interior and seats inside for 14 people. And we went into more wintery, snowy conditions because this gravel road led to the southern part of Yellowstone. We saw no sky, just solid snow and white, with green trees sprinkled around. It was fabulous and reminded me of Churchill looking at polar bears in a yellow school bus.
There were 3 glavals and we traveled in convoy. And when we started up, the machine was loud and noisy and moved like a bulldozer, with 4 bulldozer wheels. And it felt like we were in a huge vibrating machine. We shook and vibrated for 2 ½ hours from Mammoth Hot Springs Lodge to Old Faithful Inn. We stopped often, however, when we saw wildlife. And it was all quiet when we stopped. I think I will still be vibrating tonight in my sleep!
At one stop, we stayed about 1 hour because one of the bus/bulldozers broke down and the 14 people had to be put in a regular van and the other 2 vans. And they had to be loaded according to weight as too much weight breaks the bulldozer-bus. Needless to say, we were packed in our vehicle like sardines. But we made lemonade out of lemons and had a good time packed in.
Along the way, we saw coyote, bison (last year 1200 tried to leave the park and they don’t want them to do so as they carry brucellosis-which causes abortion of babies. The best bison come from Yellowstone.). The animals are fairly easy to see as they have their normal coats or furs and that is against white snow. Some animals change their fur coats to white, but many don’t.
Darren, our glaval driver and guide, said that 324 snowmobiles daily are allowed in the park with a guide and 1 guide can have 10 snowmobiles behind him. Snowmobiles have to pass a noise test and have to be thee latest model. One day Yellowstone had 2700 snow mobiles in the park and the exhaust left was so bad that employees had to wear gas masks to breathe because of the pollution left by these snow mobiles.
Gerard Baker, a 6’7” Indian retired for the National Park Service (he said he started cleaning toilets and ended up assistant manager), was on the bus with us and told us many Indian stories from his life during the ride. How wonderful it was to have his Indian heritage along with us. He told us a coyote is known as trickster according to Indian legend.
Gerard Baker had on full length bison thick furry coat and Davy Crocket raccoon fur hat. He said he used to raise bison and that coat came from one of his bison and he slaughtered the animal and made the coat. As he stood and talked to us, his head was one inch from touching the top of the bus.
Bison is good and expensive and now man is doing the same to them as they are doing to beef-hormones antibiotics and ends up tasting the same as beef.
We saw obsidian rock at one place in the park and Gerard explained to us that obsidian rock is stronger than steel and some doctors use obsidian knives in surgery because it is so strong and perfect in every way.
As we continued on our way through the woods, we entered the caldera of Yellowstone’s volcano. And there were some beautiful, steaming and stinky water features. And the cameras clicked away.
And then Tauck had us stop at the Warming Hut midway for a hot chocolate, a little treat along the way. It was most welcome and enjoyable. The Hut even had popcorn. Being a lower of popcorn, I had to have a bag of it and it was so delicious and fun to be riding down the road to “grandmother’s house in the snow” eating popcorn and hot chocolate. Priceless.
Our final stop was at Fountain Paint Pots and it was just fabulous. The sun finally came out for the first time on this trip and the photos are just sparkling with beauty. Tom has been in snow before but I have been very little so this is major for me. And I had been to Yellowstone before and it is nothing like I am seeing now. I talked to a driver lady who has been here 17 winters and she said winter in Yellowstone is absolutely her most favorite time of the year in Yellowstone. And we agree. We walked with Darren and he showed us the geysers. Toy Geyser, he said, never erupts and when it does, they all erupt. Well, wouldn’t you know, the geyser erupted right after he said that right before our eyes then another and then another. What a wonderful show!
We saw fumaroles, geysers, mud pots, and hot springs. And the coolest thing is that I walked on SNOW and in snow to see them all. It was so much fun. Several pots had multi-colors like blue, orange, and yellow, red. Gerard said the Shonone Indians still come here to get the mud from the mud pots because it has healing and spiritual power. It heals the sick and the spirit. “They just stick their bare hand in the boiling mud and get it and it doesn’t even burn their hand.”
I told the Tauck World Discovery designer of this event, Brian Stacey, and TD Janee Sundby, that this day was not a 5-star day it was a 10-star day and one of the top days of my life. No words in the dictionary describe how fabulous and fun this day was in the SNOW.
Carolyn's TraveLog 