Day 1: Arrival in Salt Lake City

Welcome to Salt Lake City, Utah. Meet your group in the lobby of the base hotel in downtown Salt Lake City at 5:30 pm.  Welcome dinner is in the historic Mormon temple district. Travel Dream West invites you to an appetizer and drink.  You get to know your traveling companions, and your driver/guides who hand over important travel information and travel documents.

Day 2: Park City – Bear Lake –  Jackson

We leave Salt Lake City and visit the grounds of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Park City. Optional shopping in nearby outlet stores. Stop in Park City for optional lunch. We travel along the border to Idaho, then along Bear Lake enjoying scenic rural Star Valley. Through dramatic Snake River Canyon, we reach beautiful Jackson Hole, Wyoming. 2 nights in attractive town of Jackson.

Day 3: Teton National Park – Jackson

Today’s highlight is the Teton National Park. In the morning, a horse-drawn sleigh offers a chance to get a close-up look at the wild wapiti herds outside of Jackson. Eat lunch in one of the good restaurants in Jackson. Weather permitting, we join a naturalist/ranger for a guided snowshoe walk (no experience needed, just like hiking). We discover wild-animal tracks and with a bit of luck some deer or moose. Evening in quaint western town Jackson Hole with its beautiful galleries and good restaurants.

Day 4: Jackson – Harriman State Park – Island Park, Idaho

Today we drive over the Jackson Pass to Idaho. We explore Harriman State Park, using shoe-chains, snowshoes or cross-country skis. Option to rent a snow mobile for the afternoon.  We spend the night at a rustic lodge on the Snake River.

Day 5: West Yellowstone – Day Expedition into Yellowstone

Take a snow coach from West Yellowstone into the Yellowstone National Park, inaccessible to regular traffic during this time of year. Look for wildlife in the snow Madison River area, and stop at the Norris Geyser Basin, the most active geothermal region within Yellowstone NP. Next a visit to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone with impressive waterfalls which can be surrounded by frozen icicles. Return to West Yellowstone for a comfortable night in this well-located town right by the park entrance.

Day 6: West Yellowstone – Gardiner

Stop at the Bear and Wolf Center in West Yellowstone. Dependent on the weather we continue our drive to Earthquake Lake where visible signs of the last great earthquake can easily be observed. Travelling onward we explore ghost towns in Nevada and Virginia City in Montana. Stop at Livingston, Montana. In the evening we arrive in Gardiner, a small town near the north entrance of Yellowstone NP.

Day 7:  Snow Coach transfer to Old Faithful Inn

In the morning we take Yellowstone’s snow coach to the upper Geyser Basin. We will check into cabins at the Old Faithful Snow Lodge deep in Yellowstone National Park. In the afternoon we will explore the area around Old Faithful, with it’s many geysers and hots springs.  Keep an eye out for bison who frequent this area this time of year.

Day 8: Old Faithful Area

There is a lot to explore in this area, visit Old Faithful, Morning Glory pool, and riverside geyser. There are many hiking trails available or you can rent snow shoes or cross country skis. Guided tours are also available.

Day 9: Old Faithful – Mammoth / Gardiner

Today you bid farewell to Old Faithful and embark for the snow coach ride to Mammoth Hot Springs. This is a half-day drive through snowy Yellowstone, wildlife included. Met by our tour bus at Mammoth Hot Springs, we check into our cabins with kitchens in Gardiner on the banks of the Yellowstone River for the next two nights. Gardiner has good restaurants and places to buy groceries.

Day 10: Mammoth Hot Springs – Lamar Valley

Today we explore the area around Mammoth then drive into the wildife rich Lamar Valley, home to many bison and elk. With some luck we’ll also spot some of the rarer animals, including wolves.

Day 11: Gardiner – Chico Hot Springs

Today we depart for Chico, where a welcoming Resort makes for a comfortable stay, complete with a hot natural mineral spring. Relax and enjoy. Optional activities include a day spa and massage treatment. For those who are more adventurous a mushing class will teach you the basics of guiding a team of sled dogs. After thorough instruction you can choose to take your own team of dogs for a sled ride through the countryside, or hire a seasoned musher (dog sled leader) to take you into the wilderness.

Day 12: Chico Hot Springs – Bozeman

Relax again this morning in the hot springs, and enjoy nature walks. After lunch, we leave for Bozeman, Montana. This medium-sized university town has an appealing historic downtown with many stores and good restaurants and a mall for last minute shopping. Night in hotel with complimentary airport shuttle.

Day 13: Bozeman (BOZ) – Flight home

Our tour ends today. Transfer to airport and flight home.