My wife and I have wanted to ski in Yellowstone for years but due to reservations at Old Faithful Snow Lodge being hard to come by and then COVID shutting down the lodges completely last winter, it took us awhile to finally pull it off. We just got back from 4 days of touring around Geyser Basin and the trails surrounding the Old Faithful area. The heavy storms that hit Yellowstone and the Teton Valley (where we live) in late December and early January had just abated, and we had perfect bluebird/greybird days for our trip with fresh snow.
We didn't have much trail beta before we left and the maps provided by the concessionaire leave a lot to be desired. We had planned a shuttle drop at Fairy Falls trailhead planning to ski out to the falls and then back to the lodge area which is about 10 miles, but none of the trails had been broken out since the storms and 5-7 plus miles of trail breaking between the two of us sounded challenging. The other option was to return by skiing on the main road with the hundreds of snowmobile tours and snowcoaches which REALLY seemed unappealing! After talking to a knowledgeable ski guide who was driving our shuttle, we were dropped at Biscuit Basin in order to ski into Mystic Falls.
It was early, and still single digits in the basin and everything was rimed up from the steaming hot pools and geysers.
The 1.5 mile ski up to Mystic Falls was perfect snow and we were alone the entire time.
After skiing out from the falls, we crossed the busy road area where snowmobile tours were gawking at Bison, so we quickly moved thru to the Artemesia trail.
The sheer number of geysers and hot springs along this trail is staggering. We saw two people the entire time we skied it.
The aptly named Firehole River was spectacular with many geysers erupting right on its banks.
Often we skied on the opposite bank from the main trail which kept us well away from other folks snowshoeing, giving us a quiet and intimate experience of Yellowstone which can be hard to come by.
This was just day one of our trip and we explored many other areas of the basin which according to the Park Rangers, has over 300 geysers. Winter is the time to see them. The crowds are a fraction of the hoards of summer and they don't stray far from the beaten paths near the Lodges. By asking questions of certain staff, many who have been working, skiing and guiding the Park for decades, you can find total solitude, even close to the resort area. We stayed in one of the small winter cabins, which I highly recommend over the Snow Lodge. We could easily ski right from our door to trails taking us up and away from the busier areas. And you can also watch Old Faithful erupt by yourselves if you time it right either very early, or in the moonlight. Exceptional!
Alone at Old Faithful at 6am.
