Off-season

Off season has plenty to offer Park County area visitors
- from Park County (Montana) Visitor's guide 2000

It's called the "off season," but the fall, winter and spring in Park County are "on" with lots of recreational opportunities.

The traditional summer season begins on Memorial Day and ends on Labor Day. That leaves the rest of the year for visitors to enjoy hunting, skiing, snowmobiling and fishing; It's also one of the best times to sightsee in Yellowstone National Park.

The park is home to thousands of elk that migrate north to winter pastures during the late fall, driven from the higher elevations in the park by deep snow in search of food.

The snow also drives other wildlife in the park down to lower elevations. Elk, bison, big horn sheep and antelope graze peacefully along the roads and rivers, making them more accessible for viewing and photographing.

Those same deep snows provide endless wintertime fun for thousands of snowmobilers and skiers. Yellowstone Park has a winter season that caters to those who come to enjoy the quiet solitude and see the nation's first national park during a time of year many miss.

Guided walks and ski tours provide a unique view of the park's winter solitude. Mammoth Hot Springs, just south of Gardiner, is the hub of the park's winter activities because it has the only year-round access by road. The hotel there is open and snow coaches provide transportation to Old Faithful, which is also open during the winter. Both Mammoth and Old Faithful give slide shows on topics such as winter adaptations of wildlife arid the park's history.

Snowmobilers enjoy the park's roads during the winter, and the snow coaches transport, cross-country skiers and sight-seers throughout the park.

For those who want to cross-country ski on their own, the road between Mammoth and Cooke City provides access to dozens of ideal spots for skiing, including the Blacktail Plateau and the road to Tower Falls.

Cooke City bustles during the winter with skiers and snowmobilers who travel along the Beartooth Highway, which can be buried under more than 10 feet of snow at certain times, and the wide-open spaces of the high mountain plateaus.

There are countless other areas in the surrounding national forests in the Absaroka, Crazy and Gallatin mountains which are ideal for skiing and snowmobiling.

Two nearby downhill ski areas - Bridger Bowl and Big Sky - provide excellent skiing for everyone from the novice to the expert, and are home to some of the best powder skiing in the country, Each area also offers groomed cross-country ski trails and lessons.

Some of the best fishing can be had in the fall and early spring when area rivers are low and clear. The Caddis and other early spring insect hatches make for some of the hottest fishing of the year.

Spring runoff usually starts in May and while the Yellowstone River can run high and muddy - much to the dismay of fishermen - whitewater rafters and kayakers are delighted with the challenging water to be found running through Gardiner and Yankee Jim Canyon.

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