Snowmobiling in Yellowstone National Park

Today, Joe and I went snowmobiling to Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park. I’ve wanted to make this trip ever since reading an article in "Powder" magazine about ten years ago. There’s been a lot of debate around whether or not this activity should be allowed in the park, so I wanted to make this trip before it was outlawed by Congress.

Our tour was with Hart 6 Ranch, who delivers one of the better snowmobile tours in the area and is ranked up there with Togwotee Snowmobile Tours and American National Park Adventures (ANPA). After being picked up at my apartment in the morning, we were driven to their ranch that’s 45-minutes north of Jackson and served a hot breakfast. Their ranch is in the middle of nowhere, consists of a large log cabin that has several large taxidermy "trophies", and is frequented by snowmobilers and cross country skiers in the winter time. Like the town of Jackson, its population is five times greater in the summer time than the winter time.

Soon after eating breakfast and getting setup with snowmobiling gear, we made the 45-minute drive north from the ranch to the Yellowstone National Park. Once inside the park, Joe and I hopped on our own Arctic Cat T660 Touring snowmobiles. The highlight of the 42.2-mile inbound trip was the roadblock of Bison, who can be up to 11.5 feet in length, up to 6.5 feet in height and up to one ton in weight. Even though they kept us in place for 15-minutes, it was amusing to watch another group of snowmobilers navigate around them. When it was our turn, I just hoped that I wouldn’t be charged by one of these huge animals and gorged by one of their horns. Thankfully, it’s not in their nature to do either action.

It was cool to be at Old Faithful. I’ve heard and read so much about it that it was a small dream come true. After getting there and scoping out the area with its great meadows, short hills and various geysers, we sat down for a large hot lunch and waited the average 90-minutes for the next eruption. Yellowstone kind of reminds me of Tuolumne Meadows, or the high country, of Yosemite National Park with less granite rock and primarily a single type of tree, the Lodgepole Pines.

The eruption consisted of a mixture of boiling water and steam and lasted for just a few minutes. On Wikipedia, it states that "eruptions can shoot 3,700 to 8,400 gallons (14–32 kL) of boiling water to a height of 106–184 feet (30–55 m) lasting from 1.5 to 5 minutes. The average height of an eruption is 145 feet (44 m). Eruptions often occur about 90 minutes apart, but this interval can range from 45 to 125 minutes on occasion… Old Faithful is not the tallest or largest geyser in the park; that title belongs to the less predictable Steamboat Geyser." It was surprising to read that Old Faithful isn’t the tallest or largest geyser in the park. I might have to check out Steamboat Geyser this spring.

The highlight of the 42.2-mile outbound trip was the shenanigans that Joe and I got involved in on the trail. I hoped that the tour would cut us loose in an open field so that we could race around on the snowmobiles, test their handling around corners, and catch some air on small bumps and jumps. This opportunity was never given to us, so we created it. We were able to get the snowmobiles up to 48 mph and enjoyed zig zagging like a Formula 1 race car at the start of a race.

Overall, it was a good tour. We got a good taste for the beautiful scenery of Yellowstone and got to see one of the natural gems of our country, Old Faithful. We also got to check out these two cool touring vehicles.