Friday, January 23, 2004
Wednesday, January 21, 2004
Skiing Yellowstone at 14 below zero!
January started out with super cold temperatures in this part of the world--and lots of snow. Good news for an area that has seen drought for 5 years. On January 5th, dawn registered at -30F in many spots around Bozeman, MT, north of Yellowstone. It was a gorgeous, ice crystal-clear day and I headed down with a friend to Yellowstone's north entrance where the road remains open to cars in winter. We followed the Yellowstone River through the Paradise Valley and spotted 9 bald eagles in the cottonwoods along the riverbank. One golden eagle flew over the valley with an eye out for a rodent in the fields. A few miles north of the park entrance we crossed a bridge and found a group of 9 bighorn sheep grazing in the sun on last summer's grasses.
Steam was rising off the Gardner River as we entered the park. Here hot water from the Mammoth Terraces flows from underground into the river. When we arrived at Mammoth--park headquarters--it was noon and the temperature had risen to seven below! The steam from the terraces was billowing into the bright blue sky (see photo.) We headed east toward the Blacktail Plateau to see if we could ski at such cold temperatures. Along the way we encountered a bachelor "gang" of 14 bull elk. They were browsing the grass under the snow or resting in the sun--all with magnificent sets of antlers which they will carry until late March or early April. A large set of antlers can add as much as 30 pounds to the weight their necks must carry. Occasionally, you see two locking antlers but not fighting as they do during the fall rut.
At 2:30 pm, the thermometer on the car registered 14 below. We slipped into our skis and set out. The sun was already low in the sky and my thighs, fingers and toes felt the cold. Within half an hour, we were warmed up although stopping to gaze across the landscape was not something we did for long. Total silence--something very hard to find--greeted us on this trail when we did stop. Only the occasional cawing of a raven in the top of a Douglas Fir was heard. Animal tracks abound in the snow now: elk, bison, coyote, pine squirrel, snowshoe hare and mice had all left their footprints for us to see. We found several elk beds in the snow where they had spent the previous night.
We returned to the car at 4:30 pm and were surprised to see the temperature now stood at only 3 below. A nearly full moon was already up in the northeast as we looked across to the Absaroka Mountains. A great afternoon in Yellowstone and we shared it with scarcely any other visitors. Winter is a spectacular time to visit Yellowstone!
January started out with super cold temperatures in this part of the world--and lots of snow. Good news for an area that has seen drought for 5 years. On January 5th, dawn registered at -30F in many spots around Bozeman, MT, north of Yellowstone. It was a gorgeous, ice crystal-clear day and I headed down with a friend to Yellowstone's north entrance where the road remains open to cars in winter. We followed the Yellowstone River through the Paradise Valley and spotted 9 bald eagles in the cottonwoods along the riverbank. One golden eagle flew over the valley with an eye out for a rodent in the fields. A few miles north of the park entrance we crossed a bridge and found a group of 9 bighorn sheep grazing in the sun on last summer's grasses.
Steam was rising off the Gardner River as we entered the park. Here hot water from the Mammoth Terraces flows from underground into the river. When we arrived at Mammoth--park headquarters--it was noon and the temperature had risen to seven below! The steam from the terraces was billowing into the bright blue sky (see photo.) We headed east toward the Blacktail Plateau to see if we could ski at such cold temperatures. Along the way we encountered a bachelor "gang" of 14 bull elk. They were browsing the grass under the snow or resting in the sun--all with magnificent sets of antlers which they will carry until late March or early April. A large set of antlers can add as much as 30 pounds to the weight their necks must carry. Occasionally, you see two locking antlers but not fighting as they do during the fall rut.
At 2:30 pm, the thermometer on the car registered 14 below. We slipped into our skis and set out. The sun was already low in the sky and my thighs, fingers and toes felt the cold. Within half an hour, we were warmed up although stopping to gaze across the landscape was not something we did for long. Total silence--something very hard to find--greeted us on this trail when we did stop. Only the occasional cawing of a raven in the top of a Douglas Fir was heard. Animal tracks abound in the snow now: elk, bison, coyote, pine squirrel, snowshoe hare and mice had all left their footprints for us to see. We found several elk beds in the snow where they had spent the previous night.
We returned to the car at 4:30 pm and were surprised to see the temperature now stood at only 3 below. A nearly full moon was already up in the northeast as we looked across to the Absaroka Mountains. A great afternoon in Yellowstone and we shared it with scarcely any other visitors. Winter is a spectacular time to visit Yellowstone!
