I came out of hibernation a bit early to go out west and do a little snowmobiling in and around Yellowstone National Park. Four of us arrived in Bozeman, Montana on Thursday, January 24th for three days of snowmobiling beginning with a guided tour within the park on Friday. Obviously you can’t visit Yellowstone without seeing Old Faithful. We took a nice leisurely trip into the park ending up at Old Faithful around noon.  After viewing the obligatory eruption (right on schedule, I might add), we had lunch at the Inn and then headed back out.

The next two days were spent exploring the various trails throughout the surrounding Gallatin National Forest.  Although the speed limit is supposed to be 45 mph, the GPS seems to indicate that I just barely missed a top speed of 70 mph at some point.  I have no idea how that could have happened…

We originally planned on staying a few more days for some cross county skiing.  Unfortunately the snow didn’t let up long enough for the trails to be groomed.  We managed to get in a couple of hours at the Rendezvous Ski Trails in about 2 feet of ungroomed powder.  Felt more like snowshoeing with long, skinny snowshoes.  Nevertheless, it was a beautiful place and I’d love to get back there sometime.

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