WEST YELLOWSTONE, Montana — Yellowstone Vacations offer a variety of ways to enjoy Yellowstone National Park in the summer and the winter.
It can be more difficult to explore this geological wonder during the winter because the park closes all the roads we can access easily from Idaho. However, people can take a snowcoach tour and it's a completely different experience from visiting the park in the summer.
Jason Kladiva, better known as Gypsy, is a tour guide. He takes people deep into the heart of Yellowstone as Yellowstone Vacations features a fleet of snowcoaches.
"This is every kid's dream, it might as well say Tonka on the side," said Gypsy. "We have very low pressure so you are going to feel that little bounce inside the coach as we are going through, but they are extremely safe and take a look at these windows you are getting a 3D experience."
The only way to visit Yellowstone National Park in the winter is on cross-country skis, snowshoeing, snowmobiles and snowcoaches. Yellowstone Vacations will take people from the north and west entrances to either Old Faithful or the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.
"When you get out there and you see the snow, it is absolutely perfect," said Gypsy. "You have the falls and we typically get quite a lot of wildlife such as otters, occasionally we are seeing wolves out that way, coyotes and you are going to catch your frosty bison too."
I've never been inside Yellowstone National Park during the winter, but my parents have taken the snowcoach to Old Faithful. They told me it was a magical experience during the solitude of winter and they really enjoyed seeing the steam come off the thermal features.
"You got that extreme heat, but you have that extreme cold," said Gypsy. "It's amazing."
Gypsy advises people to dress for winter, bring a lunch, and a sense of adventure. If you want to try this adventure perhaps you will get lucky and get Gypsy as a tour guide because he loves his job.
"Oh, my boss will tell you I’m a complete park junkie," laughed Gypsy. "I live for this stuff, I work for smiles so every day that I get to go in I’m getting the experience, but I’m also getting to share it with someone new each and every day."
Yellowstone Vacations also features snowmobile tours and rentals. The season of adventure starts on Dec. 15 and that includes the snowcoach tours. For more information on this bucket list experience, click here.
