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Winter Weather Means Show Shoe Tours and Winter Hours at National Parks Like Yellowstone

December 16, 2010 at 9:00 AM | by | Comments (0)

Snow has started to blanket much of the nation, but some of the country’s national parks are far more white than green right now. Parks like Yellowstone, Olympic, and Grand Teton are some of the best places to explore the great outdoors under a fresh blanket of snow this month, as the parks have opened their doors for winter exploration.

Since some of these parks get so much of the fluffy stuff during the winter, hours and access to the parks change during the colder months. As of yesterday, Yellowstone has opened for the winter, which means fewer roads for normal cars and more roads and access points for over-snow vehicles. Access to some of the main attractions—like Old Faithful—is now only accessible via snowmobile (this would be awesome to do) or through a snow coach operator. The park limits the amount of vehicles allowed in the park per day, so be sure to plan ahead if you want to visit this winter.

There are plenty of tour companies and tour vehicles from which to choose, but expect to shell out around $100 per person to hitch a ride into the park in one of these converted vehicles. Just look for one with big windows and skis instead of wheels and you should be all set.

For those that want to take in the park by foot, snowshoe tours will start up just after Christmas. Rangers will be leading groups from December 26 on, from the park’s visitor center starting at 1:30pm each day. It’s just $5 per person, and they’ll teach you the ins and outs of walking on the snow and will even provide the snowshoes—it’s also totally fine if you’ve never done it before.

Most of the stuff at Yellowstone remains under a winter weather schedule now through the beginning of April, so it’s a long time until the minivans start hitting the main park roads in full force. So if you want to experience one of the country’s best national parks without the tourist trap factor, now would be one of the best times to visit.

[Photo: sociotard]

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