Yellowstone in Winter, 1 February 2016

[Deleted User]

Yup, that's a while away but we just noticed that one of only three offerings in early 2016 is already sold out, so we've booked this trip.

Any others on this trip?

BTW, if you need any endorsement of how great this trip is, we are repeat travelers having done the trip in early 2013! Can certainly share details/answer questions you may have.

schnapshi

Hello Portolan. I am one of the people booked on the sold out Feb. 19 tour in 2016. I was wondering when in 2013 did you take your trip and what was the weather like?

I am already researching and trying to decide what to do during the free time we have. Did you partake of any activities on your last trip that you would consider not to be missed?

Thank you.

[Deleted User]

schnapshi wrote:

Hello Portolan. I am one of the people booked on the sold out Feb. 19 tour in 2016. I was wondering when in 2013 did you take your trip and what was the weather like?

I am already researching and trying to decide what to do during the free time we have. Did you partake of any activities on your last trip that you would consider not to be missed?

Thank you.

We did the trip in early January. Very cold, but most crystal clear and sunny. A couple of days with some snow flurries. We'd also done a Yellowstone in Winter three years before that with Smithsonian (they don't do it anymore) and had similar weather.

The tour has a nice blend of planned activities with some free time. We like to snowshoe, so the free time at Old Faithful was spent snowshoeing. We also had a Gift of Time day in Jackson and did a day of snowshoeing (with a guide) and dog sledding (both as a commercial package). I also liked getting up a bit early at Old Faithful and being the ONLY one out on the boardwalk watching the geyser. Even at "rush hour" in the winter, there might be 30-40 people!

If you ski, you could spend extra time in Jackson at the sky resort...there is a shuttle bus from the town/hotel up to the ski area.

The Wort Hotel was great...lots of history and nice service and food. Many other food opportunities in Jackson for the meal(s) on your own. If you are eligible for the Gift of Time, our advice is to take it at the Wort.

schnapshi

Thank you for the information. I should have the Gift of Time (did the Best of Ireland in 2014), but was planning on using it on the front end since I will be flying in from Hawaii. But I may rethink that depending on the flights and your comments.

[Deleted User]

schnapshi wrote:

Thank you for the information. I should have the Gift of Time (did the Best of Ireland in 2014), but was planning on using it on the front end since I will be flying in from Hawaii. But I may rethink that depending on the flights and your comments.

Or book an extra night at the Chico Hot Springs on your own...less expensive than the Wort. BTW, if you book an extra night at each end through Tauck, they apply the Gift of Time to the less expensive hotel, so do the other on your own.

retired coach

I went alone about 3 years ago and on the Feb. 10th. trip I am taking my wife. It is a wonderful trip. I agree to book the Wort as the gift of time offering. On my last trip Tauck offered two nights free, I took one on the front end and the other at the end. The Wort is a great hotel, good food and nice bar with entertainment on some nights. Numerous great restaurants within walking distance and entertainment. For the 2016 trip I am booking one night (on my own) in Bozeman, Montana, probably the Hilton Garden Inn. Go to Ted Turners steak restaurant in town, good food. Tauck will pick us up at our hotel in Bozeman, go to the airport and pick up others and then on to Chico Hot Springs. Personally I would not pay for a night at the Chico Hot Springs hotel, it was ok, but nothing special. Fun to take the shuttle from the hotel into downtown Bozeman and walk around the town. You will enjoy the trip.

TauckTim

Hi Portolan,

I'm so glad to hear you liked this trip; it's one I've been considering going on myself. If anyone else has any questions they'd like to ask, please let me know and I'll be happy to help!

-Tim

schnapshi

retired coach wrote:

I went alone about 3 years ago and on the Feb. 10th. trip I am taking my wife. It is a wonderful trip. I agree to book the Wort as the gift of time offering. On my last trip Tauck offered two nights free, I took one on the front end and the other at the end. The Wort is a great hotel, good food and nice bar with entertainment on some nights. Numerous great restaurants within walking distance and entertainment. For the 2016 trip I am booking one night (on my own) in Bozeman, Montana, probably the Hilton Garden Inn. Go to Ted Turners steak restaurant in town, good food. Tauck will pick us up at our hotel in Bozeman, go to the airport and pick up others and then on to Chico Hot Springs. Personally I would not pay for a night at the Chico Hot Springs hotel, it was ok, but nothing special. Fun to take the shuttle from the hotel into downtown Bozeman and walk around the town. You will enjoy the trip.

Retired Coach - my friend (who I met on the Best of Ireland tour) and I have been rescheduled to the Feb. 10, 2016 trip. We both arrive on the 9th (I'm coming in from Hawaii and she is coming from California) and will stay at Chico. We have reservations for a Dog Sled tour the morning of the 10th so it will be more convenient to be there already. Will also be spending an extra night at the end of the tour in Jackson Hole. Look forward to meeting you both.

retired coach

Schnapshi: Hopefully you and your friend enjoy the Winter in Yellowstone and much as I did a few years ago. My wife does not like the cold so we will see what happens. Spend mucho money for very warm jackets for her. We will arrive two days early in Bozeman and will spend two nights there. A friend that coached with me lives in Montana and will meet us for dinner on the 9th. We also are spending the gift of time extra night in Jackson Hole at the Wort. You will like the hotel and the town. It will be a pleasure meeting you and your friend.

schnapshi

Retired Coach,
I completely understand the cost factor. I have decided that I am investing enough in winter clothing that I am going to book the Polar Bear Adventure tour in 2017 to get my money's worth out of them. By the way, I did start a forum for the February 10, 2016 trip. Hopefully others will join in the conversation.

Claud

This sounds very nice! I'm looking into travel destinations in the States right now!
I'm going to NCY in Mid December where I just booked a nice hotel room on reservationcounter for 5 days. I have a flight back in February so I have some time to travel around!!

Lanny

My husband and I are booked on the Feb 19 Winter in Yellowstone trip. I have a question about clothing. We live in Texas so don't own the type of clothing needed for this trip. We have purchased boots, jackets, thermals and fleece lined pants and tops for our mid layer. Do we need water proof pants on top of our fleece lined pants. Everyone tells us to avoid jeans. Hope someone who has made this trip will discuss clothing.

MWNP

I see the Tauck information regarding free time at Old Faithful Inn mentions Snowmobiling as an option, but the Old Faithful Inn website does not mention it - do you know if that truly is an option at Old Faithful? And the Tauck info also mentioned a guided snowshoe event in the afternoon on that free day - is that what you went on previously? Or did you schedule something directly with the Old Faithful Inn?

Thanks for any information! This will be our first time to Yellowstone and being from Texas all winter activities are pretty much new territory for us!

schnapshi

MWNP wrote:

I see the Tauck information regarding free time at Old Faithful Inn mentions Snowmobiling as an option, but the Old Faithful Inn website does not mention it - do you know if that truly is an option at Old Faithful? And the Tauck info also mentioned a guided snowshoe event in the afternoon on that free day - is that what you went on previously? Or did you schedule something directly with the Old Faithful Inn?

Thanks for any information! This will be our first time to Yellowstone and being from Texas all winter activities are pretty much new territory for us!

You mention Old Faithful Inn in your message, but that is not where the tour is staying. Take a look at the Old Faithful Snow Lodge information under Winter Lodges on the Yellowstone National Park website. It does mention snow shoeing and cross country skiing. I don't see Snowmobiling, but another area of the website mentions companies to rent from. Hope that helps.

Schnapshi

tomh

Regarding snowmobile availability at the snow lodge, I took the tour in February 2012. Here is a posting I made later that year here which may be of use to anyone contemplating it in Yellowstone. Although I could not do it on the tour, I passed on the last day of the tour and arranged with the concierge at the Wort hotel in Jackson Hole months in advance and he hooked me up with 7 other folks to snowmobile 100 miles all day throughout Yellowstone (half the time in a blizzard). I had to give up my last day snow shoeing the Tetons with Tauck to do so, but it was an unbelievable experience and well worth it. :-)

"...In regard to snowmobile availability on the Wonderland: Winter in Yellowstone tour, I had a problem when I took the tour in Feb. 2012. The NPS limits the number of snowmobiles they have available each day and on my tour group's "free day," all NPS snowmobiles had already allocated to another group (even though I had called Yellowstone myself months in advance of the tour). I then called the Wort Hotel (Jackson Hole) concierge and arranged for him to reserve a space on a all-day (100 miles) snowmobile excursion of Yellowstone on the last day of the Tauck tour (I had to give up snowshoe trekking, but the snowmobile experience was terrific).

Therefore, I suggest that if you really want to snowmobile in Yellowstone, you need to make arrangements well in advance (Jackson Hole snowmobile companies are NOT under the same restrictions re snowmobile numbers as is the NPS/Old Faithful Snow Lodge)…."

[Deleted User]

MWNP wrote:

...
the Tauck info also mentioned a guided snowshoe event in the afternoon on that free day - is that what you went on previously? Or did you schedule something directly with the Old Faithful Inn?

We did the guided snowshoe event listed as an inclusion. Actually, there were two offered (likely varies with TD), an earlier beginners trek and a later more advanced trek. We did both even though we are moderately experienced snowshoers. Equipment can be rented at the Snow Lodge...we bring our own.

We also arranged a private snowshoe trek on our (Gift of Time) extra day in Jackson and plan to do so again this trip.

We're also spending an extra pre-night at Chico...they offer a nice Winter Getaway package which, besides lodging, dinner and breakfast, includes a discount on dogsledding there offered by the same operation which does the included demonstration of dogsledding.

retired coach

Lanny wrote:

My husband and I are booked on the Feb 19 Winter in Yellowstone trip. I have a question about clothing. We live in Texas so don't own the type of clothing needed for this trip. We have purchased boots, jackets, thermals and fleece lined pants and tops for our mid layer. Do we need water proof pants on top of our fleece lined pants. Everyone tells us to avoid jeans. Hope someone who has made this trip will discuss clothing.

Lanny: I went on the Yellowstone in the Winter about four years ago. I wore long underwear, flannel lined Levis (jeans). Also long underwear top, flannel shirt, an Eddie Bauer 800 fill jacket and then a parka that was rated for -25 degrees. Also wore a beany. Of course waterproof hiking type boots, rated -35 and my toes still got cold. I never had a problem with the jeans getting wet. Wearing waterproof pants would be a matter of your choice. If snow gets on the jeans it wipes off very easily. I enjoyed the trip so much that I am taking my wife on the Feb. 10th. trip. Enjoy.

[Deleted User]

If anyone on the 1 February 2016 trip likes to snowshoe, you'd be welcome to join us for a post-tour half-day trek (moderate). We've got reservations with the Hole Hiking Experience (we've used them before) for their 4 hour Explorer trek (http://www.holehike.com/ski-snowshoe-winter-tours/#explorer) from 1-5 PM on the 9th (the day after the tour ends...we're using our "Gift of Time" for the extra night at the Wort). Since we've already signed up, any additional folks would drop the per person rate to $102.

We sort of arbitrarily decided on the 9th instead of the free day on the 8th and would be willing to switch if that works for you.

Lanny

Coach, thanks for the info on clothing Can't wait for our trip.

[Deleted User]

Well, I'll thrash this thread one more time in the hopes that someone else on the 1 February 2016 tour shows up. Lots of activity, but all for other or past departures. Where are the other groundhogs?

MWNP

My husband and I are on the 2/1/16 trip - our first time to Yellowstone and celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary!

[Deleted User]

MWNP,

Great choice for an anniversary trip!

We're also glad to hear from another party on this trip since (as you can see from this thread), you're only the second poster who is on this tour though its been sold out for a long time.

Just ensure you have some solidly good cold weather clothing since we'll be out and about in the cold and snow, sometimes for several hours.

To get a feeling for why Yellowstone is so amazing in winter, check out this NPS web cam feed from Old Faithful:
http://www.nps.gov/features/yell/webcam/oldFaithfulStreaming.html
Typically there are few, if any, folks watching the geyser (not a soul in sight as I write this). Sometimes a bison or two are the only watchers. In the summer, that boardwalk is packed from side to side with hundreds or thousands of people. The web cam will also periodically zoom in to other features in the basin (geysers, animals).

We (Judy & Scott) look forward to meeting you next week.

MWNP

We will be looking forward to meeting you Portolan (Judy and Scott) - we're Mechelle & Greg from Houston! See you in a few days!