AMERICAN ROCKIES
GREAT ESCAPE
GREAT ESCAPEThe Old Faithful Snow Lodge is one of two
park lodges that open in winter (December to
February), and is less than five minutes’ walk from
Old Faithful. The lodge is relatively modern, with
Western-style timber accents (lodge rooms from
US$233, cabins from US$95;
yellowstonenationalparklodges.com).
Yellowstone National Park has limited
access in winter (nps.gov/yell). Snowcoach
shuttles serve the park from Jackson (US$314
return; scenic-safaris.com). A variety of tours
visit different corners of the park (wildlife tour
US$45pp; yellowstonenationalparklodges.com).Essentials
boardwalk passes a particularly steamy
feature, it bears a coating of white fur. Stand
there a while and you wonder if you’re
frosting up too. With few people around,
you get to hear more of the sounds: not just
the broiling springs, but the cracking of the
ice that covers the geyser runoffs. If visitors
in centuries past thought Yellowstone was
an infernal, sulphur-smelling place, today
it looks like the most heavenly kind of hell.
Life in the park is always a fine balance.
The orange runoffs from many of the hot
pools are home to a species of fly. It skims
the surface, defying death by boiling below
and by freezing above. The bison herds are
healthy now, after facing extinction at the
end of the 19th century, and since the 1990s,
Yellowstone has led a project to reintroduce
wolves to the American Rockies. Much of
the forest burned in 1988; it was called a
calamity at the time, but new life has sprung
up with vigour, green amid the ashen grey.
The park’s geothermal features have their
life cycles too. In the West Thumb Basin, on
the frozen shores of Yellowstone Lake, Black
Pool has turned a brilliant blue since it was
named. Once-powerful geysers are now
recalled only in books, but new wonders
may spring up at any time. In Yellowstone,
change is truly the only constant.
AMERICAN ROCKIES