New Years in Yellowstone
Credit: Sebastien Burel
Trip Type: Small Group Adventure
Territory: North America
Region: Rocky Mountains
Trip Price: From $3,695
Single Supplement: $850
On-Trip Airfare: $0
Duration: 6 days/5 nights
Trip Begins/Ends: Bozeman, Montana / Bozeman, Montana
Minimum Travelers: 2 travelers
Maximum Travelers: 24 travelers
Pricing detailed for this Small Group Adventure is based upon double occupancy. Additional charges for single travelers and any on-trip airfare required for the trip apply. A booking deposit is required to reserve your space. Small Group Adventure pricing includes all lodging, meals (unless otherwise noted), activities, baggage handling, transportation, and guide service. Not included are travel costs to/from gateway cities, guide gratuities, and personal incidentals including, but not limited to, trip cancellation/interruption insurance, alcoholic beverages, and laundry service. Travel with Off the Beaten Path requires agreement to our standard Terms & Conditions.
No Sweat - 1-2 miles of walking or hiking per day, plus easy activities
Nice & Active – 3-6 miles of hiking or walking per day, plus physically active exploration
High Five! – 5-12 miles of hiking per day, plus possible peak bagging or other action-oriented fun
Outdoors for up to 4 hours each day in winter temperatures at elevations ranging from 5,000 to 7,500 feet. Daily walking on boardwalks and pathways in snowy and possibly slippery conditions. Activities include walks of up to 1.5 miles, optional cross-country skiing and snowshoeing.
Most all of our Small Group Adventures can be made private to just your traveling troupe. Just give us a call at (800) 445-2995 and tell us that you would like to “make it private”!
Generally, there are two ways to make a small group adventure private. First, you could capture one of our published departure dates for just your group. In order to achieve this, we have to have sufficient space available to create a separate private trip. Second, we could take the details of this itinerary and fashion it for just your group on dates of your choosing. For this, too, we just need to review your interest, group size, and preferred timing in order to create the trip.
In all cases, the process begins with a phone call so give us a ring at (800) 445-2995 and after just a few minutes gathering information, we can set to the task of making your trip a reality!
Travel south along the Yellowstone River through breathtaking mountain scenery to Mammoth, at Yellowstone’s north entrance. Explore the steaming limestone terraces of Mammoth Hot Springs, and photograph elk as they wander along the terraces and among the buildings. Try walking in snowshoes to explore the Upper Terrace on a short trek through trees and around giant boulders to steamy hot springs.
Today is all about wildlife. We’re in the Lamar Valley by sunrise to scan the hillsides for secretive gray wolves. The wildlife viewing is incredible, with vast herds of bison and elk, coyotes, bighorn sheep, and eagles all calling this valley home in the winter. Knowledgeable naturalists explain the wolf reintroduction story, and teach you how to identify different types of tracks. Enjoy a hot lunch in the small mountain town of Cooke City and return to Mammoth by late afternoon.
Board a special over-the-snow vehicle and take the scenic route to the Old Faithful Snow Lodge, sharing the road with wandering bison. Stop to peer into the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone to see the incredible sight of the massive, iced-over falls, then continue on, watching for the great herds of elk, playful otters, and other wildlife of the Hayden Valley and Yellowstone Lake area. Upon arrival at the Old Faithful Snow Lodge, settle into your room then walk out to catch the eruption, which is far more dramatic in winter, when the hot water hits the cold air. Tonight, ring in the new year with another toast to America's first national park and your own spirit of adventure! Happy 2019!
The Upper Geyser Basin contains the largest concentration of geysers on earth. On your walking exploration, along with Old Faithful you’ll see Grand Geyser, the largest regularly erupting geyser in the world! See the striking colors of Morning Glory Pool, watch mud pots bubble, and learn how this amazing network of thermal features was formed. Walking through this landscape of active geysers and hissing fumaroles pouring steam into the clean, cold air is an otherworldly experience. After a hot lunch, you can rent snowshoes or cross-country skis if you'd like and head back out with your guide to continue exploring the forested trails. There are great active and non-active options for everyone, including the kids, this afternoon.
Catch the snow coach back to Mammoth, stopping to walk the trails at Fountain Paint Pots to see the bubbling mud and other unusual features. Arrive in Mammoth by early afternoon and travel north through the spectacular Paradise Valley to Chico Hot Springs, where you can enjoy a soak in the hot pool before your festive farewell dinner.
Start the day with Chico’s generous breakfast buffet and then return to Bozeman for flights home.
Located just a few short blocks from the north entrance of Yellowstone National Park, the Best Western by Mammoth Hot Springs offers guests a clean and comfortable place to relax after exploring the wonders of the park.
Situated near Old Faithful and the Upper Geyser Basin, Old Faithful Snow Lodge make a wonderful base for exploration. The lodge is one of Yellowstone’s newer accommodations and a beautiful example of classic “parkitecture,” with its heavy timber accents, exterior log columns, and cedar shingle roof.
Chico Hot Springs Resort is without a doubt one of the most well-known and all-time favorite Montana hideaways. The Victorian Chico Warm Springs Hotel, built of wooden siding typical of the era, opened in 1900 with a grand celebratory ball. Within the next two years, the resort doubled in size, and over the past century has continued to grow in both popularity and size, all the while retaining its appealing casual, friendly, and intimate atmosphere.
I’ve just finished ten weeks of travel in three of my favorite places on the planet: Japan, Greece, and France. One of the great lessons I’ve re-learned on this trip is the importance of slowing down. Wherever you may be—a garden in Kyoto, or an Inca ruin in Peru, or a canyon trail in Utah—the […]
With Scotland‘s summer travel season now in full swing, it may seem premature to be looking ahead to autumn and winter. But this is the exact right time to let us start planning your off-season independent custom travels, so we can get you booked into those much sought after lodgings with the “wow” experiences to match. […]
Off the Beaten Path Custom Travel Planner Julianne Mohr recently returned from a scouting trip to Samoa. Here’s her report… I wasn’t sure what to expect when I stepped off the plane into the warm air of Samoa, but it didn’t take long to fall in love with this idyllic, friendly place. If you’re looking […]
When your family is ready for an entry-level adventure vacation, tiny Costa Rica is the perfect place to start. Costa Rica family vacations have it all, beaches, jungles, volcanoes, and abundant wildlife, all in one beautiful and relatively safe and compact package. Costa Rica has bestowed some of my kids’ favorite travel moments and memories […]
