The Road Goes Ever On

Friday, March 6, 2026

Snowmobiling The American West, 2026: Grand Canyon Of The Yellowstone

We wanted to do one more good ride but had to wait out the weekend to get enrolled in Three Bears' Canyon tour on Monday, March 2nd. It was a very good ride, from West to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, and back.

Again, something else other blogs won't show you...
a bison patty in the snow in Yellowstone

Another waterfall; after Iguazu, I can hardly remember any of the others' names

Us, there; wherever

Seeing Yellowstone in the winter vastly outweighs seeing it in the
summer; however, sometimes the steam vapor obscures one's vision...

Yellowstone (River) Falls...note especially the snow bridge, formed
entirely from the freezing spray; and the icebergs

Us, there

Looking down from the rim upon the river

The view from Artist's Point, wherefrom Thomas Moran did some of
his most famous western landscapes...

On the 40+ mile ride back, a little-known vent on the road side;
chocolate volcano

Our group

One of the more interesting sights of the day...very loud steam vents
right on the road; the video someday might be posted on my YouTube
channel; probably not; impressive, nonetheless

Last bison of the campaign (note asphalt)

Wile E. Coyote, last wild animal specimen of the campaign

The Tetons, from the air, over Idaho, last photo of the campaign

Snowmobiling The American West, 2026: Two Top And Environs

With temperatures rising well into the 40s and the melt well underway, we decided to go out again the next day (Friday, the 27th), renting another two-up, and heading onto the trails west of West Yellowstone, including our favorite in the area, Two Top mountain. Unbeknownst to us at the time, two of Island Park's three groomers were out of action--they're responsible for grooming many of these trails--and so it was a generally bumpy day, although we reached our goals and made a discovery or two along the way.

En route through the winter wonderland to Two Top, Vicki driving

Street scene

Looking toward the summits of Two Top, the higher one a bump
to the right

Ghost trees

After Two Top, we thought we'd head further west to Big Spring, Mack's
Inn, Island Park...but the trails were so awful we decided instead to stay
in Montana and do the long Black Canyon trail...eventually, we did it twice

At the higher elevations, snow on the trees is common, but here we
began noticing a different and new to us phenomenon: ice on the trees

With the higher temperatures, the snow melts, then re-freezes over
night...we theorize

All these on the lightly-used Black Canyon trail

Looking north

Coffee break

Sawtell Peak, in Idaho

Again on Two Top, clouds have parted, and we get a good view of
the Tetons

Wednesday, March 4, 2026

Snowmobiling The American West, 2026: Old Faithful

As students of this blog know, we are into snowmobiling, from our Montana years, and also our retirement years. The basic history of all this begins here. And continues through 2022. Just enter "snowmobiling" in the search box. We had planned on going to West Yellowstone and doing the Park, again, in early January, but there was so little snow the Park was not allowing snowmobiling within its boundaries. So we can cancelled and hoped for more snow in February. It came, just enough, and on February 24th we flew to Idaho Falls and then took the shuttle to West Yellowstone, planning to spend a week in a motel there, snowmobiling every other day or so, both in the Park and in its western environs. Our first day out was a guided tour (the only way to snowmobile in the Park) to Old Faithful...

Our steed for the day, from Two Top rentals...a Skidoo two-up
grand touring machine, 900cc, pretty much like the one we owned
earlier in this century

Just a couple miles into the Park, the first of several hundred bison
we saw that day

It looks like a crowd, but this is probably half the snowmobilers in the
Park, gathered at the first major pit stop, at Madison; our tour consisted
of 18 people, 9 sleds