Planning a Yellowstone Winter Vacation

If you’re looking for a once in a lifetime experience, we recommend planning a Yellowstone winter vacation! The park, usually buzzing with tourists in the summer, transforms into a tranquil winter wonderland, its landscapes cloaked in a sparkling blanket of snow.

This Yellowstone National Park travel guide gives you all the information you need to plan a winter trip: services and lodging available, road status, weather, and more!

It’s surreal to see the park covered in a blanket of snow with billowing steam and mist from the geysers. And that snow, frost and mist that cover the landscape and wildlife result in amazing Yellowstone winter photography.

The winter season also brings with it the opportunity for memorable activities such as snowmobiling, cross-country skiing, or just cozying up by a fire in one of the park’s lodges.

The top reason we enjoy visiting Yellowstone in the winter is the unique experience you can’t get anywhere else! Yellowstone is a destination like no other, and with limited ways to enter the park during the winter months, you can enjoy the quiet and serenity.

We live only hours away and visit Yellowstone often. The tips we share are based on our experiences visiting the park during the winter. Our number one tip is to pack and wear winter clothes so you can enjoy your time in the park!! Grab your free Yellowstone winter packing list by clicking the image below!

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Visiting Yellowstone in the Winter

The top reason we enjoy visiting Yellowstone in the winter is the unique experience you can’t get anywhere else! If you’re looking for an extraordinary winter retreat, Yellowstone should definitely be on your list.

Yellowstone Services in the Winter

Mammoth Hot Springs to the Northeast Entrance is the only part of the park open to wheeled vehicles in the winter. The road is open up to Cooke City, Montana, after which the road is closed (no through-traffic to Red Lodge, Montana or Cody, Wyoming). Services are very limited between Mammoth Hot Springs and Cooke City, Montana.

Mammoth Hot Springs and Tower-Roosevelt areas:

• Albright Visitor Center
• General Store
• Mammoth Campground
• Mammoth Clinic
• Post Office
• Mammoth and Tower-Roosevelt Service Stations – credit card fueling only 24-hours

Old Faithful area:

• Old Faithful Snow Lodge
• Old Faithful Visitor Education Center
• Old Faithful and Grant Service Stations – credit card fueling only 24-hours

Canyon Area:

• Canyon Yurt Camp
• Canyon and Fishing Bridge Service Stations – credit card fueling only 24-hours

Warming Huts available in the winter:

• Canyon Visitor Education Center Lobby
• Fishing Bridge
• Indian Creek
• Madison
• Mammoth Hot Springs
• Old Faithful Yurts
• West Thumb

Always check the Yellowstone operating hours and seasons for the most updated information.

Yellowstone Roads in the Winter

In the winter all roads except from the north entrance in Gardiner to the northeast entrance in Cooke City are closed. Be sure to read the fall and winter Yellowstone road closure dates for the most updated year-to-year information.

You can access the park from West Yellowstone and the south entrance near Grand Teton by snow coach tours, snowshoeing, cross country skiing or snowmobile tours.

Best Time to Visit Yellowstone

Check out our guide for finding the best time to visit Yellowstone National Park. Each season and month of the year will have different activities and services available.

Here’s a breakdown of what to expect each month during the winter at Yellowstone:

• Yellowstone in December
• Yellowstone in January
• Yellowstone in February

There are also best times to visit Yellowstone for wildlife. You’ll find a list of the animals you’ll see each month of the year at the park.

Yellowstone Weather in the Winter

The weather during the winter months in Yellowstone can be unpredictable and constantly changing. Check the Yellowstone weather daily so you’re prepared for the conditions.

Temperatures range from 0 to 20 degrees F during the winter. At night and at higher elevations, temperatures can dip below 0!

Layers are key when exploring Yellowstone in the winter. Reference our winter clothing guide so you can enjoy the outdoors, even when it’s cold! We recommend at the minimum:

• Insulted boots – Baffin winter boots are amazing!!
• Darn Tough heavy wool socks 
• Wicking and quick-drying base layers
• Columbia fleece jackets are our favorite!
• Insulated winter jacket – to layer atop the fleece jacket for the cold mornings and evenings, trust us!
• Winter hat 
• Winter gloves 
• Rechargeable hand warmers
• Fleece neck gaiter 

Things to Do on a Yellowstone Winter Vacation

Winter in Yellowstone means fewer crowds, VERY COLD temperatures, and steaming geyser basins. There are quite a few Yellowstone winter activities to enjoy this time of year.

Drive the North Entrance Road in the Winter

If you’re close to the north entrance, be sure to drive the one open road from Gardiner to Cooke City, it’s a fun day trip. As you drive through Lamar Valley, look for bison and elk… and if you’re lucky, you’ll see wolves, fox or moose!

The Albright Visitor Center in Mammoth remains open year-round and is a great resource for information about the park. There’s also a museum in the lower level of the Visitor Center, and rangers are available to answer any questions about closures that you may have.

Yellowstone Winter Tours

Winter in Yellowstone is not your ordinary vacation. In mid-December, the roads open to oversnow travel only via snowmobile, snowcoach, snowshoe and cross-country ski. 

We highly recommend booking a Yellowstone National Park winter tour! Many of the tours will provide hotel pick up and drop-off. Most Yellowstone winter tours do NOT include gratuity for the guide.

Yellowstone National Park may require all guests to pay the entrance fee or show your National Park pass.

We enjoyed traveling along Yellowstone’s snow-covered roads in a bomardier snowcoach. There were no streams of cars, RVs or tour buses crowding the roads. If you’ve ever visited Yellowstone in the summer, you know this is a welcome change.

• Yellowstone Snowcoach Photography Tour
• VIP Private North Yellowstone Winter Excursion
• Yellowstone Winter Tour With Naturalist Guide
• Yellowstone Winter Wildlife Safari

Yellowstone Cross-Country Skiing and Snowshoeing in the winter

All unplowed roads and trails are open to cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. Here’s a list of Yellowstone ski and snowshoe trails by region.

Canyon Ski & Snowshoe Trails: Canyon Rim, Cascade Lake, North Rim, Old Canyon Bridge, Roller Coaster

Mammoth Hot Springs Ski & Snowshoe Trails: Bighorn Loop, Bunsen Peak, Indian Creek, Sheepeater, Snow Pass, Upper Terrace Loop

Northeast Ski & Snowshoe Trails: Bannock, Barronette, Pebble Creek

Old Faithful Ski & Snowshoe Trails: Black Sand Basin, Divide, Fairy Falls, Fern Cascades, Lone Star Geyser, Mallard Creek, Mallard Lake, Observation Point Loop, Spring Creek

Tower Ski & Snowshoe Trails: Blacktail Plateau, Chittenden Loop, Lost Lake, Tower Fall, Yancey’s Hole

West Yellowstone Ski & Snowshoe Trails: Bighorn Pass, Black Butte, Daly Creek, Fawn Pass, Gneiss Creek, Riverside, Specimen

Yellowstone Snowmobiling in the Winter

The road between Mammoth Hot Springs and the northeast entrance is the only road in the park open to regular traffic all year long. All other roads in the park close in early November to prepare for the winter season.

By mid-December when enough snow accumulates on the roads, they open to “oversnow” travel only. This means the only way to visit Old Faithful, the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, and other areas in the park during the winter is by guided snowmobile or snowcoach.

In addition to the tours listed above, here’s a list of more authorized tour companies for snowmobile tours.

• See Yellowstone Alpen Guides 
• Backcountry Adventures
• Old Faithful Snowmobile Tours
• Scenic Safaris
• Yellowstone Expeditions

Geysers and Hot Springs in the Winter at Yellowstone

Not many people visit Yellowstone during the winter. Finding quiet in the summer months is hard. During the winter months, Yellowstone offers miles and miles of solitude in a landscape that is unmatched by any other.

It was a welcome change to stop at popular locations like Old Faithful and Grand Prismatic and the only sounds we heard were the flowing river and bubbling hot pools.

If you enjoy a destination that offers quiet and solitude, Yellowstone in the winter should be at the top of your bucket list.

Yellowstone Winter Photography is Spectacular

The winter landscape at Yellowstone is covered in a blanket of snow. There is frost on the trees and mist rising from the geysers. As you can image, taking Yellowstone National Park winter pictures is a unique adventure for any nature photographer.

We recommend you book a Yellowstone snowcoach that offers photo tours where there is flexibility to stop and take pictures at any time.

One of our favorite stops in the park was visiting Grand Prismatic where we captured the reflection of the winter landscape and rising steam in the water.

We were awestruck by the ice formations on the trees near the areas with hot pools and steam.

You’ll capture images that you can only get when photographing Yellowstone during the winter months.

Wildlife at Yellowstone in the Winter

The animals who call Yellowstone National Park home are even more exciting to watch in the snowy landscape. Winter is one of the best times to visit Yellowstone for wildlife!

We love to photograph the contrast of the white snow against the dark hair of the animal. You’ll see the bison plow away the snow with their massive heads.

Be patient and wait long enough for them to look at you and you’ll get that awesome shot of snow all over the bison’s head!

Photographing the wolves in Yellowstone is pretty tough. You’ll see wolves, but they are usually too far away to get a good photo. Most of the photos of wolves in Yellowstone are shot through spotting scopes with cell phones mounted to the eyepiece to get a snapshot.

We were lucky to see wolves ‘near’ the road when we were there. Even with the 500 mm telephoto lens we had, it was hard to get an image where the wolf fills the frame.

We didn’t get the perfect photo where the scene is sharp due to the bad light and weather, but wow, being able to see about 8 wolves in close proximity was amazing. 

During the winter Coyotes are fun to watch mousing. They sneak around the snow to hear noise from a mouse.  When they hear it, their whole body stiffens up and they suddenly spring into the air and dive head-first into the snow to grab the mouse.

Elk, trumpeter swans, river otters and other animals can also be seen in Yellowstone during the winter.

Yellowstone Waterfalls in the Winter

During the winter, the snowy landscape provides a unique setting to showcase the Yellowstone waterfalls.

A snowcoach can take you to see the Firehole Falls on your way to Old Faithful, or you can see the Lower Falls on a trip to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.

You can also stop and see Undine Falls along the one road open to vehicles from Mammoth to Cooke City.

Keep your eyes open for wildlife along the rivers. We saw trumpeter swans, elk and bison as we ventured through the park.

Yellowstone Winter Lodging

• Yellowstone Winter Lodging
• Cabins Near Yellowstone National Park
• Holiday Inn, West Yellowstone
• ClubHouse Inn, West Yellowstone
• Kelly Inn, West Yellowstone
• Yellowstone Gateway Inn, Gardiner
• Park Hotel Yellowstone, Gardiner
• Absaroka Lodge, Gardiner
• High Country Motel and Cabins, Cooke City

Yellowstone Vacation Planning Guide

Plan your dream vacation to Yellowstone! Click the graphic below to get your Yellowstone planner includes a 4-day itinerary of things to see, do, and photograph in all the regions around the park!