Winter Camping in Yellowstone Park
Richard Rathe 1986 Camping
We were three college buddies with lots of skiing and camping experience between us. So when I moved to Wyoming we decided to take a little winter trip inside Yellowstone National Park.
We checked in at the South Entrance Ranger Station. Our first task was to ford the Lewis River (we’d brought hip-waders for this, which we cached for the return trip).
Once across we followed the Snake River for a mile or two and then decided to camp before it got dark. My winter camping experience had taught me that tents weren’t very practical. Instead we shoveled out a sleeping platform in a shallow trench. We topped this with a tarp anchored on three sides. It was really quite cosy!
The next day we proceeded along the river and encountered small thermal features flowing into the river.
We indulged ourselves with a hot bath in an outflow stream. It’s not safe or legal to enter the thermal features directly.
Later that day we crossed the river and started climbing up a saddleback ridge.
It was hard going so we quit early to make our second snow camp and do a bit of skiing without packs.
We dined that night in sight of our destination, the Heart Lake Geyser Basin. So close and yet so far!
The next day we skied down the valley back to our first camp and out the next day. As we forded the stream for the second time a family of River Otters entertained us slipping and sliding on the snow!
