Most people have
never seen the beauty of a Yellowstone winter. And maybe I should keep it
quiet, since a big part of the magical quality is experiencing the solitude of
the season in Yellowstone. But here we go...
This weekend, we cross country skied one of the more popular ski trails in Yellowstone
(that’s relative!) to Tower Falls. - You'll see the crowds in the photos below :) -
An easily accessible trail with a FABULOUS destination...with options to take it further. So it can work for both beginning to advanced skiers. And when conditions are this great, who couldn't have a wonderful ski outing?
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| John skiing in front of me on the Tower Falls trail. |
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| A snowy view with Cutoff Mountain in the distance. |
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| The views in this area of the ski trail are incredible - near Tower Falls. (That's the ski trail beyond. In the summer, it's the road.) |
We just went for a quick ski - but you can certainly turn it into a long one from here...with more incredible scenery to be had.
By far – we saw many more animals than
people…. Pretty typical of Yellowstone and Gardiner
in the winter.
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| Lots of bison... |
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| We followed a bison herd in our car for a bit, too. (Glad we were in our car and not on skis here!) |
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| Big horn sheep in the snow near Tower Falls. |
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| More big horn sheep grazing - a couple big rams are in this photo. (The photo was taken close to Gardiner.) |
And speaking of big horn sheep -
At the
Yellowstone Heritage and Research Center, there is an amazing big horn sheep
skull. (I painted it several years ago.) I thought it would make a great pencil drawing....
I finished the drawing today - I think. (I’ll let it sit and then see if I consider it ‘done'.) The curve and texture of the horns were really a lot of fun to draw!
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| Big Horn Sheep skull in pencil 22" x 28" by Shirl Ireland (I made the drawing about life size.) |
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| This is the skull at the Yellowstone Heritage and Research Center. (The photo is at a slight different angle than I did the drawing from, but you can see those interesting horns.) |
Our Yellowstone Zoo
- photos from our property -
Pronghorn antelope - another interesting creature with horns in Yellowstone.
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| Pronghorn antelope as seen from our windows yesterday. |
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| A small herd of pronghorn wandering by... |
We're lucky enough, to not only have amazing wildlife wandering by, but we get to watch the sunrise on Electric Peak (one of the highest peaks in Yellowstone National Park) - right from our windows...
When the moon is setting, on a clear morning, as the sun comes up...WOW....
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| The colors in there are amazing! |
Winter Wonderland seems to be a fitting title.
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