Snowmobiling in Yellowstone: Where Fire Meets Ice
Exploding geysers . . . bubbling pools of steaming mud ….. frozen waterfalls and vast snow-covered meadows. This is Yellowstone National Park in the middle of the winter – a surreal land of juxtaposition and extremes that leaves you breathless and provides endless photo opportunities!
Sitting on top of an enormous ‘super volcano’ (20 x30 miles in size), the land has been shaped by forces far beneath the earth, as evidenced by the steam rising through the air from the many geysers and fumaroles, coating the trees in a layer of rime and hoarfrost.
There are dozens and dozens of geysers and thermal pools in Yellowstone, one of the greatest concentrations in the world. The most iconic of these is Old Faithful, the geyser which erupts regularly about every 90 minutes, shooting over 150 feet into the air. The eruption only lasts about a minute which means you have to be quick if you want to capture the image.
Under the direction of Barbara and John Gerlach, our professional photography instructors, we position ourselves to get the best possible shot. Nearby, bison forage for grass, ignoring both the geyser and the human observers.
Some miles away, the Grand Prismatic Spring sits in the Midway Geyser Basin. The colors of the deep turquoise pool of steaming hot water, surrounded by acres of multi-colored bacteria growing in the mineral-rich water, are startling.
Nearby, the Fountain Paint Pot is a large thermal area with geysers as well as a boiling mud bath of brown, yellow, red and blue. It resembles an immense witch’s cauldron filled with a hissing, spitting, gurgling brew that seems to be alive and moving.
Yellowstone is also a land of waterfalls (over 290), some dropping hundreds of feet into deep canyons filled with soaring pinnacles and masses of rock. Snow-covered evergreens precariously cling to the rocks. The most magnificent of these are in the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, 900 feet deep and half a mile wide – the Upper Falls and the Lower Falls – where the Yellowstone River cascades through the chasm. Most of the falls are frozen, creating magical ice castles along the sheer sides of the cliff.
As we drive our snowmobiles through the twisting, winding Firehole Canyon Drive, dark rhyolite cliffs rise around us. Elk and bison wander through the area where Firehole Falls drops 40 feet into the valley below. The winter silence is broken only by the roar of the water.
On the hillsides, dead tree trunks stand like silent sentinels observing the intruders. These are all that remain after severe forest fires swept through the park in the summer of 1988, scorching and burning over 1.2 million acres. Beneath them, a new cycle of life takes root as small evergreens grow, the result of the forest naturally reseeding itself
The weather in Yellowstone changes constantly. Our days could start in blazing sunshine only to end in driving blizzards and whiteout conditions. On one trip to the Hayden Valley, the snow stops long enough for us to photograph a solitary tree, dwarfed by the immensity of the sky and the whiteness of winter with only the sound of the wind whipping across the land. Nearby trumpeter swans gracefully glide down the river, searching for food, oblivious to biting cold.
As we drive out of the park after dark, in the middle of a raging blizzard, a necklace of red taillights curving through the snow and Barbara’s unfailing sense of direction are all that guides us through this land of contrasts and extreme beauty.
In our week in Yellowstone we cover over 300 miles by snowmobile and yet we barely scratch the surface, leaving the rest for future explorations in this land where fire meets ice!
Diana Russler and Bill Gent Bio:
—after more than 30 years of working for national and international organizations, we are now free to pursue our twin passions of travel and photography. Allegria means “high spirits” or “joy” in Italian. Our aim is to share our explorations and adventures with our readers, taking them on a journey to new places or old favorites, opening windows to distant places, unlocking doors to novel experiences and hearing the sound of laughter! Life is meant to be enjoyed every second of the day! We also are passionate about the preservation of the environment and will not miss an opportunity to highlight this in our writings.
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