Winter in Yellowstone’s Lamar Valley can be unpredictable, frigid, scary at times, intimately closed in, and gorgeous. Each day can bring surprises of all kinds, and weather is no exception. One winter day the sun rose, the clouds gathered, the storms came, and the snow blanketed both the valley and our adventure. Come along and share winter’s embrace.
A dazzling sunrise hindered by heavy clouds at 7:40am became magnificent surprises in every direction. The sun found exits turning the sky a myriad of purples and pinks. Druid Peak’s icy summit to our north is splattered with lavender and purple. The eastward-facing cottonwoods stand vigil for spring yet await winter’s next surprise.
Looking south . . .
. . . looking west. How could the morning be more glorious?
As colors fade, the sun loses its dominion to the gathering clouds. There are storms coming from the north . . .
. . . the east and south. Snow will conquer the day and we will not escape.
Beginning as flurries and building to huge snowflakes, the landscape closes in around us adorning the grasses, bushes, and trees with a mantle of white.
The historic ranch nestles in its winter wrap.
The enveloping stillness calls us to buckle on our snowshoes and set out in the new-fallen powder. Winter creates frozen beauty that feels intimate in the shallow views afforded us. One step at a time, surrounded by silence broken only by our next step that packs the snow in our path. No other season offers the stillness, silence, or restful time-out offered by winter’s cloak of frozen white beauty. What a wonderland!
A foot of snow later, the new morning’s sunrise brings a promise of victory over storms, at least for today. Time to bask in the quiet solitude of Lamar Valley’s winter wonderland.
Until next time . . .
