BOU AVENUE
Yellowstone National Park
Zosia Zgolak and I spent Christmas Day (25 December 2024) in Wyoming's Yellowstone National Park.  Although some popular attractions like Old Faithful can still be visited via commercially-guided snow-coach or snowmobile tours, most of the park is generally inaccessible in winter due to road closures.  Having said that, the park is less crowded at this time of year, and there are still worthwhile things to see and do despite the limited access.

After a brief stop at the park's visitor centre, Zosia and I began our visit by touring the various thermal formations of Mammoth Hot Springs.  The convenient boardwalks here are generally easy to walk on but can become icy due to all the moisture in the area.  Zosia donned her ice cleats, but I managed fine with just my winter hiking boots.  At the end of our tour of the thermal formations, we crossed the access road to climb up officially-named Capitol Hill.  There are no trails going up this inconsequential mound, but tagging the summit was dead easy and granted commanding views of the entire Mammoth Hot Springs area.
It's no longer necessary to drive through the arch to enter the park. The iconic Roosevelt Arch marks the northern entrance to Yellowstone National Park.

Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak

Less tourists make this an ideal winter destination.

While most of Yellowstone National Park is closed in winter, Mammoth Hot Springs remains accessible year-round.

 

How is Capitol Hill an officially-named summit? Zosia walks along the boardwalks at Mammoth Hot Springs.  Diminutive Capitol Hill is visible at centre while the background is dominated by Mount Everts.
Who the heck comes up with these unimaginative names? Mound Terrace is one of many named thermal features at Mammoth Hot Springs.
Good place to hide your secret farts!

Travertine terraces are formed by rapid precipitation of calcium carbonate near the sources of hot springs.
They need to build better viewpoints if they're going to restrict access! Zosia gets as close as she is allowed to Narrow Gauge Terrace.
Hard to see in this photo, but from here, we could see blue water bubbling from Canary Spring. Grassy Spring in the foreground is not steaming nearly as much as Canary Spring in the distance.
Probably the best feature to see at Mammoth Hot Springs. Here is a more comprehensive view of Mound Terrace as Zosia hikes out the boardwalk.
Look both ways before crossing! Zosia crosses Highway 89 to ascend Capitol Hill.
With more snow, this might be a good ski ascent! The ascent of Capitol Hill is completely off-trail.
Bagging peaks doesn't get much easier than this! Zosia stands on the summit of officially-named Capitol Hill (1955 metres).
Do you really need the GPS track for this one? Total Distance:  430 metres
Round-Trip Time:  13 minutes
Cumulative Elevation Gain:  30 metres

GPX Data
Upon returning to our car, Zosia and I drove eastward along the open section of Grand Loop Road for about 29.0 kilometres to Tower Junction.  Motorized traffic can turn left here onto Highway 212 and continue to Cooke City, but beyond the junction, Grand Loop Road is normally blocked off in winter and track-set for cross-country skiing.  Given the general lack of snow in the surrounding landscape, we both had our doubts about skiing this road, but since we made the effort to drive this far, we decided to at least give it a try.  As it turned out, the snow coverage was surprisingly better than expected, and we had no trouble doing an out-and-back ski to Tower Fall Overlook.  Tower Fall itself was, in my opinion, rather underwhelming since the Overlook is situated a bit too far away to appreciate the grandeur of the waterfall.  Much more impressive were some big cliffs that we had to ski under just before getting to the Overlook.  On our return ski to Tower Junction, we made a short detour to Calcite Spring Viewpoint which features a nice panoramic view of Yellowstone River valley.  When we finished our ski, we simply drove back to Mammoth Hot Springs before exiting the park.
Smart bison! Some bison in Yellowstone National Park like to walk along the plowed highway.

Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak
Yellowstone's Moraine Lake Road! Zosia skis along Grand Loop Road en route to Tower Fall.
Wasn't expecting this! Zosia skis under some surprisingly impressive cliffs.

Probably don't want to linger underneath the cliffs here for long!

Basalt columns are featured along the bottom of the big cliffs.

 

Good enough for a wheelchair! Zosia approaches Tower Fall Overlook.
Meh. The Overlook grants this distant view of Tower Fall (bottom left).
Good thing there are railings here! Zosia skis to Calcite Springs Viewpoint.

Hope this place doesn't blow anytime soon...

Steam can be seen rising from molten sulphur along the bank of Yellowstone River.

 

The journey is more interesting than the destination! Total Distance:  7.9 kilometres
Round-Trip Time:  2 hours
Cumulative Elevation Gain:  91 metres

GPX Data