Last winter my family went on vacation to Yellowstone National Park. I had visited Yellowstone previously in the summer and let me say, it is even more wild and beautiful in the winter. The total remoteness and ruggedness of the terrain and the general inaccessibility to most of the park makes the experience feel so much more real. The reason that this was my family winter vacation was because 30 years previously, my parents had gone winter camping in the park. Stories of their experience then versus what I experienced last year were so incredibly different.

My parent’s experience was very much in the back country. They were snowshoeing and cross country skiing with all of their gear. There were snow holes where supplies had been buried earlier in the season that they had to find and dig out. They were lead by a guide in a small group with other people but they were still very much out in the wild, doing everything themselves. My trip was much more domesticated. We stayed in a lodge with running water and a restaurant. When we went on excursions lead by guides we were either on snowmobiles or snow tanks. These trips were so much more about getting to the destination and viewing the natural wonder than exploring on our own and stumbling upon the beauty of the park. I still loved my experience in Yellowstone but hearing about the possibilities of other opportunities of how to see the park left me feeling unsatisfied. It is something that I aspire to do some day in the future.