Yellowstone Winter Wonderland

Yellowstone National Park on a winter morning

Winter can be harsh in Yellowstone National Park. Indeed, heavy snowfall means closure of most of the park roads to automobile traffic. While some animals, most notably bears, escape the harshness of winter through hibernation, many species have to adapt and endure to survive. For some carnivores such as wolves, coyotes, and foxes, the blanket of snow may provide a convenient backdrop to better spot their potential prey. For the grazing herbivores, the snow cover is an impediment to access their food.

Bighorn sheep and mountain goats are exceptionally agile and prefer steep terrain where they are safer from less agile predators such as wolves. But the steep terrain can provide the additional benefit of allowing less snow to accumulate, making it easier to access the ground surface to graze.

Bison are well suited for the long, cold Yellowstone winters. Underneath their skin is a thick layer of fat that provides insulation from the extreme cold. But they still have to graze, and accessing the ground surface isn’t always easy. So they use their massive heads to whip back and forth against the snow cover to uncover a patch of ground where they hope to graze. An individual bison will work a spot for several minutes, uncovering and eating what vegetation they find, and then move a few feet to start a new spot. As a result, their faces can become caked with snow to provide an interesting mask.

The northern section of Yellowstone National Park tends to be at lower elevations than the other parts of the park, and consequently is a bit warmer with less snow. Fortunately the road from Gardiner to Silver Gate is the one road plowed to stay open during winter. The towns of Silver Gate and Cooke City depend on it for access. As a result this northern stretch is a great place to conveniently observe the winter wonderland that is Yellowstone during the snowy months.

I spent a couple of days along this northern stretch last week. The campground at Mammoth Hot Springs remains open in winter, although few people choose to spend those long, cold nights camping in the elements. I was one of three campers there my first night, and four on the next. The days are short, but there’s lots to see. At dawn, most of the wildlife seem a bit surprised to see humans, as if they know we are much less well-suited for that environment. By mid-day, the animals are fairly used to people staring at them, since such co-existence has become a routine part of their lives.

Below are two exclusive limited editions from my recent trip. The first is a massive bison at dawn, with a face encrusted in snow. He was lying down where he’d slept for the night, and not quite ready to begin another day moving snow to find food. The second shot is a coyote slinking through the snow looking for prey. Coyotes can’t compete for the same habitat as wolves, so they often are close to the road which wolves generally avoid. After I’ve processed more images from the trip, and completely thawed, I hope to go back for a couple more days (and nights).

Yellowstone bison with snow mask

The Face of Winter Exclusive Limited Edition

 

Coyote slinking through the snow

On the Prowl Exclusive Limited Edition

Check out these and other exclusive limited editions here.

This entry was posted in Yellowstone and tagged , , , , , , , , .

10 Comments

  1. Garcinia January 12, 2016 at 7:44 pm #

    Hi there! I know this is somewhat off-topic but I needed to ask.
    Does running a well-established blog such as yours require a massive amount work?
    I’m brand new to running a blog but I do write in my diary on a daily basis.
    I’d like to start a blog so I can easily share my personal experience and thoughts online.

    Please let me know if you have any kind of suggestions or tips for new aspiring blog owners.
    Thankyou!

    • Greg January 12, 2016 at 8:27 pm #

      Hello. It’s not much work once the format is established. Getting everything set up initially can be time consuming. Once that’s done, however, adding content is usually fairly quick and simple. Doing it consistently can take some discipline (which I occasionally need more of).

  2. Lois Bryan January 13, 2016 at 1:57 am #

    Wonderful captures, Greg!!! I can’t imagine camping out in these conditions … who am I kidding, can’t imagine campting out period, lol, but your beautiful captures surely make it worthwhile!!! Well done!!

    • Greg January 13, 2016 at 3:49 am #

      Thanks Lois. I probably get colder walking the dogs at night at home. And hey, camping is fun! 🙂

  3. Tim January 14, 2016 at 3:07 am #

    Nice blog right here!

  4. Windows Visitor January 14, 2016 at 5:02 am #

    Great article.

  5. interesting read January 14, 2016 at 11:03 am #

    Hi there, You have done an excellent job.
    I will definitely digg it and personally recommend to my
    friends. I am sure they will be benefited from this site.

  6. Penny January 14, 2016 at 6:16 pm #

    Wonderful blog!

  7. Isı Yalıtım February 6, 2016 at 10:57 am #

    Great post.

  8. James February 15, 2016 at 11:14 am #

    Hi there! Someone in my Myspace group shared this website with us so I
    came to take a look. I’m definitely enjoying the information. I’m bookmarking and will be tweeting this to my followers!
    Exceptional blog and amazing design and style.