Snowmobile Ride in Yellowstone NP

2025 is the year of our 30th Wedding anniversary and also the year that the building of our last house is complete.  What I mean by last house is that we WILL NEVER BUILD another one!  Please save this statement and read it back to us should we ever start to consider building another one ourselves again!  Given that we now have more free time again and it is a big celebration year, it is a perfect time for us to get some bucket list items in the books; enter snowmobile tour of Yellowstone National Park for starters 😃

In order to avoid nighttime driving into the frozen north country we made plans with our great friends Scott & Cindi to drive up to West Yellowstone, Montana and stay overnight there.  In this way we could drive during the daytime and have a short drive over to the snowmobile outfitter.  That is Scott and Cindi leading the way in the picture below.

West Yellowstone, MT is a small town.  Our ride from hotel to outfitter was less than 0.5 mile.

We used the Internet to search for snowmobile outfitters that offer Yellowstone NP tours.  We settled on a smaller shop, Back Country Adventures.  They put us on to a good discount deal with a local hotel, Kelly Inn.  They provided a continental breakfast and a regular hotel room at a good rate, so that was everything we needed.

Upon arriving at the outfitter Thursday morning (Thursday is the one day of the week that they tour the Upper and Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River) they had us suited up and on our sleds within an hour.  There were 8 sleds in our group, which was led by Guide Tyler Knoles. 

We were blessed with a warmer and sunny day and an excellent guide in Tyler. Tyler took this shot below of Scott, Gari, Cindi, & me kneeling at the park entrance.

The entire ride to the falls and back was to be about 70 miles.  Tyler would lead us in 5 to 10 mile phases, stopping at logical places or if interesting wildlife appeared.

That's us at the Canyon Village turn off stop.

A Bald Eagle pair stop.
A Bison Herd stop.
The Lone Bison.

The Bison seekers.  I like seeing wild Bison, maybe not as much as the next person... there's just something about it that makes me feel like I am standing on the side of the pasture looking at fluffy cows.

Scott, Gari & Cindi comparing notes at the lunch stop.
The Chocolate (Milk) Pot along the Gibbon River.

Video of Chocolate Pot - https://youtu.be/Qxju1kjc0vg?si=mHpLaTbCO0Pk7aOu

Next stop a Steam Vent and Boiling Spring - https://youtu.be/rPDZ49XHMzo?si=2ZL8F5Z-xw0tuIez

Below is one of our Hero Shots at Gibbon Falls.

Video of Gibbon Falls - https://youtu.be/Eq-qt5GlLbw?si=uZiKroSAJXh5vl5_


And now, without further ado, the Upper Falls of the Yellowstone River, the feature of this tour.  I was expecting to see ice and I was not disappointed with the amount of ice, and I was amazed at high level the water flow remaining into the winter.

Below is the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and a shot of the Lower Falls on the Yellowstone River.  This view was painted by Thomas Moran in 1871, which was instrumental in persuading Congress to make Yellowstone the first National Park in 1872.  Story incoming: While decorating our Eagle View home, we shopped at a local Antique/Junk shop, the Dam Store a mile or so from the Palisades Dam.  There we found, among other interesting things, some lithograph pamphlets released by Standard Oil at their gas stations between 1930-1950. One of the pamphlets we brought home was the famous Lower Falls you see below and in Thomas Moran's famous painting.  It hangs framed in our sitting room.
Guide Tyler takes Hero Shots for the members of our tour at the Lower Falls.  Gari supervises the non-OSHA compliant conditions.
 
Hero Shot of the Four Musketeers: Scott, Cindi, Steve & Gari at the Lower Falls.

 

Next stop we aim to try our luck on the local ski slopes; after all, it has been over 30 years since either of us has skied.  







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