It is 7:00 on a cold, gray and rainy morning in September at Yellowstone National Park. As a tour guide here in Yellowstone, I am driving myself to Grant Village at Yellowstone Lake to pick up my tour bus. Today I am to “step on” one of the outside tour buses coming into the Park. I’m spending the day with them, having fun interpreting the Park’s flora and fauna, history, geography, geology and ecology. What an opportunity! To share my joy, enthusiasm and knowledge, while helping them appreciate the many amazing qualities of Yellowstone National Park.
I start up over Craig Pass (rising up to over 8,000 feet) and see a sign reading, “Road Closed Ahead.” I pull over at Kepler Falls and radio my Dispatcher, “Ralf, I’m at Kepler; sign says the road’s closed ahead. What do you want me to do?” His response: “Well, it’s probably the South Entrance because of the fire closure. Let me know if you run into snow up there and call me when you get to Grant.” Right . . . Snow?! Okay, I can do this. But snow? I can’t remember the last time I drove in snow. I’ve lived in the southwest my entire driving life. Snow? Okay, Melinda, you can do this. It’s only rain.
It is absolutely beautiful though . . . and oh so quiet. Only a bit tense, I enjoy my drive to Grant Village, which actually isn’t far at all, and the rain pretty much subsides by the time I arrive. I call Ralf, “Everything’s good; no snow and it’s almost stopped raining.” “Okay, great. Thanks for letting me know.”
I pick up my tour bus and our first stop is the beautiful 125-year-old Lake Yellowstone Hotel. By the time we leave it is snowing. First the flurries. As we continue north the trees are absolutely magical with white everywhere . . . snow.
It truly is a “Wonderland.”
“If you’ve ever wondered what Yellowstone is like in the winter, this will give you a bit of a glimpse,” I tell them. We saw bison herds in the Hayden Valley all covered in snow and even the white Trumpeter Swans in the Yellowstone River. White everywhere. By the time we arrive at the Upper Falls of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone the falling snow is covering everything . . .
and we only heard the Lower Falls (with its 308-foot drop). “Listen. That is the sound of the biggest waterfall in Yellowstone.” It was totally socked in.
Later we actually see Gibbon Falls over on the west side of the Park, with snow blanketing everything . . .
Amazingly, every single one of these folks get out in the snow and walk all around the Lower Geyser Basin (Fountain Paint Pots) with me . . . in the snow. It is absolutely beautiful seeing the thermal features, explaining how they work . . . in the silent falling snow.
And then . . . on to the Old Faithful area in the Upper Geyser Basin.
I am even more impressed with myself. I’m not cold. Mind you, I’m a low-desert rat from Phoenix, Arizona—having lived there for almost 23 years (and before that in Southern California for 30+ years). When I first arrived up here in late April I was always so very cold. I got teased by all the seasoned guides for being such a wuss. But I’d bark back, “Yeah, just you wait ‘Enry Iggins’ . . . When you guys are oh so hot this summer, who’ll be the wuss then!” We’ve had many great laughs this summer. And I’ve definitely acclimated to this incredible place I love so much.
The snow has all but melted off now. We’ll be heading back to Phoenix in a few weeks . . . where we know how to do winter (none of this -40 to -65 below stuff)! But we’ll be back next summer. It has been a joy having this opportunity to show people the Park and just how unique, yet fragile, this amazing place is called Yellowstone National Park.
It could still snow again before we leave, but I’ve shown myself I can handle whatever happens . . . with joy and excitement because I live in Yellowstone National Park!
