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article and photos by Steve Dodds
FLYING OVER the Rocky Mountains, I’m headed for another adventure with my buddy/writer Bill Bruzy. I get excited as I see that I am directly over the Rocky Mountain National Park, a place I had visited a few years prior. I can see the roadway that travels right over the tops of the mountains where I had driven on an early October day. I mention October because my time in the Rockies didn’t really involve snow, though I had seen (some) snow on a Christmastime trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico about 15 years ago. However, I know that I was not prepared for what I found in Wyoming in February: SNOW! So much snow... Our flight takes us right over Jackson Lake and right past the Teton Mountain Range, home on the range for such magnificent peaks as the South Teton, Middle Teton, and the biggun’, the Grand Teton (13,770 feet above sea level). We’re landing in Jackson, Wyoming where the average snowfall in the valley known as Jackson Hole is 500 inches of snow each Winter. So much snow... Most of our first day in Jackson is spent on a kind-of self-enforced hiking tour of the town, checking out funky bars — we sit on saddles turned into bar stools at a bar inlaid with silver dollars at the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar — down-home sandwich shops, the beautiful town square — two large arches made entirely of antlers — and the road back to our hotel. The road itself isn’t all that interesting, it’s only that it now seems wildly longer than the van ride into town made it seem. But, hey, it’s only 12 degrees outside and the sun is going down. Merely a good test of my recently acquired Winter gear (never really needed ‘em before): new hiking boots, new thermal underwear, new sock and glove liners, new gloves, new ear muffs (the new, groovy kind), and who-knows-how-many new top layers. It’s really not that cold and the gear is kinda cool — Bill and I are both professed gear heads (doesn’t matter what kind of gear...). Our second day is also a great test of our new gear. And almost a failed test at that. We hop up to the top of Rendezvous Peak (10,927 feet). As we exit the tram at the peak, it’s really, really cold and the wind is blowing like a West Texas storm. I try to take photos of this magnificent vista — Tetons are popping up all around, and, look!, there’s Idaho! — but it’s tough to walk anywhere, tough to get my camera to respond, and I’m really noticing that it’s even a little tough to breathe. We take refuge in Corbit’s Cabin for hot chocolate and a quick, private tour of the Ski Patrol station. We take better refuge by being the only folks returning on the tram. There are only two ways down, and I’m thinking that the only reason that the skiers go down the mountain is just to get out of the wind. Though, hey, it does kinda look like fun (!?!). But Bill and I have planned our own brand of fun for the next day. We’re gonna snowmobile on a 90-mile roundtrip to the Old Faithful Geyser in Yellowstone National Park. No, really. In the dead of Winter, Detroit Bill and Island-Boy Steve are headed into the white wonderland of Winter on snowmobiles. No, really. I had fashioned this part of the plan when Shannon Brooks, the publicist for Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, came to Austin and we had lunch. She said, “When you’re in Jackson Hole, you can also go to Yellowstone. In Winter, there’s practically nobody there and the only way in or out is by snowmobile or snowcoach.” Of course, I didn’t believe her. But I could imagine myself being in Yellowstone without the typical Summer crowds and propelling myself through the wilderness spot in the American West. And anyway, Yellowstone is said to have four seasons: Winter, Winter, Winter, and Summer. I chose Winter. Yellowstone Park is often referred to as a Cathedral |
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