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This week in Yellowstone National Park, from February 19th to February 25th, 2026, I talk toilets, share a cool next-level hike once you’ve done the easy ones in Mammoth and up to Tower, talk about Hellroaring, and tell you about where you can see wolves and moose. I will also give you the complete weather forecast, the snowpack update, the wildlife report, and everything else you need to have an incredible time, “This Week in Yellowstone.”
LISTEN TO THIS AS A PODCAST
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-yellowstone-national-park/id1789397931
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RSS: https://rss.com/podcasts/this-week-in-yellowstone-national-park/
Disclaimer: I may miss a few details, so please feel free to reach out with any questions. I also mention park locations casually. If you’re unfamiliar, a quick search can help. This report only covers drivable areas of the park.
Also, this podcast is a passion project. If you enjoy it, I’d love a review or a quick email! To support my work, check out my hiking and wildlife-watching guidebooks, or join me for a guided hiking tour in Yellowstone’s backcountry. For more information, visit outdoor-society.com or contact me directly. Seriously though, come book a trail tour with me.
EXPERIENCE OF THE WEEK
The Upper Terrace of Mammoth
Most people think of Yellowstone’s winter experience as seeing Old Faithful by snowcoach or watching wolves in Lamar Valley. But there’s a quieter, more geological winter experience, right at the park’s northern edge, that is great for all ages: walking the closed Upper Terrace Drive at Mammoth Hot Springs. Sure, it is a slower-paced adventure, and requires one to get out of their car, but it is a unique thing to do. This week, with a return of cold weather and some snow, it will finally feel like winter in this area of the park, making this the perfect week to take this adventure.
Mammoth Hot Springs is one of Yellowstone’s oldest known thermal areas, with terraces of travertine built by hot water dissolving limestone deep underground and depositing it in delicate stair-step formations at the surface. These terraces constantly change, and Indigenous peoples long knew this landscape as a dynamic place in the Northern Range before it was ever written into survey maps. Today, the terraces still grow, shift, and morph as water flows and minerals are deposited.
In summer, most visitors drive the Upper Terrace Drive, a scenic 1.5-mile one-way road that winds among thermal features like Prospect, New Highland, Angel, and Orange Spring Mound. The road loops above the Lower Terraces and offers views of unusual formations shaped by travertine deposition, fumaroles, and steaming vents at every turn.
But in winter, this road becomes something entirely different, and I feel much more rewarded. Once the seasonal plowing ends and interior park roads close to vehicles, the Upper Terrace Drive still remains accessible on snowshoes or on skis. By the way, a real quick note: do not walk in regular boots, as it is not allowed. Well, double-check on this. With the lack of snow, rules may be a bit looser this winter, but I doubt it.
Even getting to the parking area is something not everyone who visits Yellowstone in the winter knows that they can do. The road from Lower Mammoth to Upper Mammoth is open to the upper terraces parking area, but closed beyond that as you head to the interior. That means you can park at the Upper Terrace lot and walk right onto the loop road itself. While driving this loop in the summer is nice, seeing it on foot allows you to slow down substantially, truly appreciating the sights, sounds, and smells of the thermal area.
Walking the Upper Terraces in the snow is like stepping into a different Yellowstone. Steam rises uninterrupted into the cold air, creating a surreal mix of fog and frost. The terrace’s features, like Orange Spring Mound and Canary Spring, feel more sculptural against the snow-white backdrop. You’ll be sharing the path with silvery steam more than crowds, and the ordinary chatter of summer gives way to birdsong, distant wind, and that steady hiss of geothermal energy. One thing I love that should be pretty prevalent this week is ice covering everything. Where steam rises, it freezes in the cold air, frosting over everything near the moisture.
When snowshoeing or cross-country skiing here, know that the route isn’t a flat stroll. If you follow the groomed Upper Terrace Loop Ski Trail, which parallels the old drive, you’ll gain a bit of elevation, sometimes more steeply than people realize. I recommend doing the loop clockwise, getting the majority of the elevation gain done earlier. Besides the thermal features and relative solitude, the route also gives panoramic views of the historic Mammoth district and the surrounding mountains. This loop, about 1.5 miles long, is usually groomed for skiers but also navigable on snowshoes. Just remember that if you are on snowshoes, don’t walk in the ski path, as doing so will ruin the path for them. There is plenty of room to avoid their paths.
Safety in winter is still critical. While you can walk on the road, stay off the Upper Terraces themselves. Staying on designated paths and roads keeps you above fragile hydrothermal ground that can be thin and unpredictable when covered in snow.
Upper Mammoth isn’t just a pretty winter walk. It’s an experience where geology and wonder converge, where you can feel the contrast of frozen land and flowing heat, and where Yellowstone’s most unusual landscapes speak in silence. Few visitors make this trek in winter, but those who do often call it one of the park’s most memorable surprises.
TIP OF THE WEEK
Toilets, Their Styles, And Their Locations
When you picture Yellowstone in winter, snow-covered terraces, bison drifting through Lamar Valley, wolves howling in the distance, and steam rising in the cold air, around every corner and nearly every second of your trip, you’re probably thinking about wildlife and scenery. But if you’re spending a day exploring the Northern Range with your car, the section open year-round from Gardiner through Mammoth Hot Springs, Tower Junction, and Lamar Valley to Cooke City, one practical question becomes surprisingly important:
Where are the bathrooms?
Yellowstone stays open 24/7 year-round, but services are very limited from mid-December through mid-March. Roads are plowed only for oversnow travel except for the North and Northeast entrances, and most visitor facilities close or reduce hours during winter. Toilets, like other infrastructure, follow that schedule, meaning you won’t find the same level of comfort you do in summer.
If you’re driving on your own, or even on a tour, through the magical snow-draped Northern Range, your best bathroom opportunities are a mix of vault toilets (pit toilets) and, where open, year-round facilities in buildings. Your bathroom options are as follows:
- Mammoth Hot Springs, the Bathrooms, the Visitor Center, and the Mammoth Hotel: Probably the most reliable heated restroom with running water and multiple stalls. Use this before heading out into the country; it’s your best “comfort stop” before a long drive. There are also pit toilets that are occasionally open near the base of Canary Spring, just past the lower boardwalk parking areas.
- Upper Terrace Parking Area (near Canary Spring): There are pit toilets here, unheated and without running water, but a crucial stop if you’re snowshoeing the Mammoth terraces or driving out toward Lamar.
- Lava Creek Picnic Area & Blacktail Deer Creek Parking Area: Along the road between Mammoth and Tower, these pullouts have vault toilets that are typically stocked with toilet paper and hand sanitizer.
- Tower Junction Parking Area: One of the larger pit-toilet facilities between Mammoth and Cooke City. Because it’s a common stop for winter visitors and tour groups, it’s often busier, but it’s one of the most dependable stops on the Mammoth–Lamar stretch.
- Slough Creek Parking Area, The Hitching Post on the eastern edge of Lamar Valley, and Pebble Creek: Further east toward Lamar Valley, you’ll find vault toilets tucked off the road. They’re not glamorous, but they’re functional and open when other services are closed.
These vault toilets are simple: no heat, no running water, and seasonal cleanliness can vary, sometimes dramatically. That’s why winter travelers routinely bring their own toilet paper and hand sanitizer. More than likely, the toilets will be stocked, but you don’t want to be left empty-handed.
Planning your bathroom stops is a surprisingly important part of Yellowstone winter logistics, because distances are long, temperatures are cold, and once you’re out past Tower or Lamar Valley, your options get sparse fast.
Now, if there is an emergency, please have a ziplock bag for your waste. Do not leave TP or solid waste in the snow on the side of the road. Bring disposable gloves, as well. Trust me.
RANDOM YELLOWSTONE FACT OF THE WEEK
The History of Hellroaring
If you’ve ever driven the road between Mammoth and Tower in Yellowstone, you’ve probably passed the sign for Hellroaring Creek and maybe even pulled into the trailhead. It’s one of those names that makes you do a double-take. Hellroaring. It sounds dramatic. Intense. Maybe even a little exaggerated.
But once you understand the history and landscape out there, the name makes perfect sense.
Hellroaring Creek earned its name the old-fashioned way, through sound and survival. In the spring, when snow melts off the high country north of the Yellowstone River, the creek transforms. What’s a modest stream in late summer becomes a violent, churning torrent. Early trappers, surveyors, and explorers had a habit of naming places exactly as they experienced them. And when that runoff came crashing down off the plateau and into the Yellowstone River canyon, it didn’t whisper. It roared. So they called it Hellroaring.
The name appears in late 19th-century survey maps, not long after Yellowstone became a national park in 1872. But of course, people were moving through this country long before it had English names. The Yellowstone River corridor was used seasonally for thousands of years by Indigenous peoples. They hunted the open grasslands, followed migrating herds, and knew these plateaus and river crossings intimately. The written name “Hellroaring” reflects frontier-era mapping traditions, but the human history here runs much deeper.
Geographically, Hellroaring sits in the heart of Yellowstone’s Northern Range, that stretch of sagebrush, grassland, and rolling benches between Mammoth and Lamar Valley. It’s not geothermal Yellowstone. There are no boardwalks or erupting geysers. This is wildlife country.
Hellroaring Creek drains the high plateau north of the river and cuts its way south into the Yellowstone River. Over time, that water carved steep terrain and rugged canyon walls. And as you hike down to where the creek meets the river, you’ll find one of the park’s most underrated structures: the Hellroaring Suspension Bridge.
That bridge was built in 1937 by the Civilian Conservation Corps. Back then, anglers wanted better access to cross the Yellowstone River, and the CCC delivered, stringing a 240-foot suspension bridge across the canyon. It still sways gently in the wind today. Walking across it, you can look upstream and downstream at one of the wildest sections of the river. And in early summer, when runoff is high, you can imagine what those early travelers heard echoing off these canyon walls.
The broader Hellroaring region has always been about movement. Elk drift across the benches. Pronghorn cut through the sage. Wolves travel between the Blacktail Plateau and Lamar Valley. In winter, especially, this is wolf country. The open terrain makes it ideal for watching packs move across the landscape, just as they have for decades since reintroduction.
The geology tells its own story. Volcanic deposits from Yellowstone’s ancient eruptions form the base of the plateau. River erosion shaped the canyon. Just east of here, Specimen Ridge holds fossilized forests, trees buried by volcanic activity tens of millions of years ago. Hellroaring is a meeting point of deep time and raw present-day wilderness.
And maybe that’s why it feels different.
It’s quieter than Lamar. Wilder than Mammoth. Less polished than the geyser basins. There’s no grand hotel. No thermal steam rising from the earth. Just wind, grass, river, and sky.
Hellroaring isn’t famous. It doesn’t make the top-ten lists. But it holds the kind of Yellowstone history that’s easy to miss, the era of trappers and survey crews, of CCC builders and anglers, of migrating wildlife and roaring spring water.
And if you stand near that creek during runoff season, when the snowmelt is hammering its way toward the Yellowstone River, you’ll understand something simple and honest about frontier naming.
Sometimes, the landscape speaks for itself.
And sometimes, it roars.
WEATHER FOR THE COMING WEEK
I am too lazy to type it all out, so you’ll have to listen to the podcast to get the weather forecast, or just contact me.
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-yellowstone-national-park/id1789397931
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/41E5WWldz4s7n6NXh2Lahr
RSS: https://rss.com/podcasts/this-week-in-yellowstone-national-park/
SNOWPACK UPDATE
As of February 17th, the snowpack is around 100% of normal for this time of year. The eastern and northern range of the park is 108% of normal, while the west and south side of the park is 92% of normal. Last year on this date, we were averaging around 100% of our normal level.
ROADS CONDITIONS
The only road open is the road between Gardiner, Montana, and Cooke City, Montana. Please be aware that this road can close at any time due to inclement weather.
For up-to-date information, call (307) 344-2117 for recorded information, or sign up to receive Yellowstone road alerts on your mobile phone by texting “82190” to 888-777.
CAMPING INFO
There is only one campground open in the park right now, and that is the Mammoth Campground, which is open year-round.
WILDLIFE WATCHING UPDATE
You have to listen to the podcast to get this information. Sorry.
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-yellowstone-national-park/id1789397931
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/41E5WWldz4s7n6NXh2Lahr
RSS: https://rss.com/podcasts/this-week-in-yellowstone-national-park/
PICK UP A GUIDEBOOK
Love what you have heard on this podcast and want more information on wildlife watching? Get a copy of my wildlife-watching guidebook to the region! Available in both ebook and paperback formats, my book will help you spot wildlife like a seasoned local. Please consider buying a book directly from me, as I make next to nothing when they are sold on Amazon. Grab your copy now at outdoor-society.com!
TRAIL ALERTS AND UPDATES
There are no official trail alerts this week.
TREK OF THE WEEK
The Blacktail Plateau Snowshoe & Cross-Country Ski Route
Winter in Yellowstone can transform the landscape into a quiet, otherworldly realm. Among the best ways to experience this stark beauty, away from the steam of geysers and the crowds along cleared roads, is a visit to Blacktail Plateau. This broad, rolling expanse of meadow and forest sits between Mammoth Hot Springs and Tower Junction along the park’s Northern Range and becomes one of Yellowstone’s most rewarding snowshoe and cross-country ski routes once the summer access roads close.
In summer, Blacktail Plateau Drive is a scenic dirt road that winds through broad grasslands with views of the Absaroka and Gallatin ranges. But when winter arrives, that road becomes a trail, and one of the simplest and most satisfying ways to explore Yellowstone’s quieter side. The official Blacktail Plateau Ski Trail uses a section of that closed road as its backbone. It stretches about 8 miles one-way between trailheads east of Mammoth and near Tower Junction, following an unplowed corridor across open meadows and into forested sections that feel incredibly remote in deep snow.
Starting Near Blacktail and Getting There
The most common access point for this winter route is a parking area about 8 miles east of Mammoth Hot Springs. This lot sits just across from a self-guiding trail, making it easy to transition from car to trail gear. You can also drive up a little more and park near the closed gate at the start of the summer road. I personally like starting near the self-guided trail, as the elevation gain to start is more gradual, and wildlife is often hanging out in the area. Just know it is like a mile longer.
From that first trailhead, the route begins with a gradual climb through open, windswept meadows. There’s about 900 feet of elevation gain over approximately 6 miles (9.7 km) up toward the feature known locally as The Cut. This is the “long day” turnaround spot for most. You can turn around anywhere you desire, though. The terrain here feels more like a backcountry adventure than a groomed trail, with gentle hills, wide views that stretch toward distant ridgelines, and long expanses of prairie that feel almost alpine in winter.
Terrain, Scenery, and Wildlife
What many visitors remember most about this route is not just the physical experience, but the visual and wildlife elements you encounter along the way. Early snow drifts, large open fields, clusters of trees, and rolling hills create a rich mosaic of terrain. Because this isn’t a summer hiking trail but a seasonal, usually ungroomed route that follows a closed road, you’re often breaking trail or following ski tracks left by earlier visitors, which adds to the sense of solitude and adventure.
Wildlife is a huge part of the Blacktail experience. In winter, elk and deer forage across the meadows and forest edges. Coyotes trot along the open flats, and it’s not uncommon to spot bison wandering into the area if conditions push herds out of lower valleys. Tracks of wolves and foxes may also be visible in the snow, evidence of the region’s full predator–prey dynamics. For those who move quietly and stop often, Blacktail feels like a real Yellowstone winter wilderness, with long sightlines that make animal watching particularly rewarding.
Approaching The Cut and Return
After climbing steadily for miles, the trail reaches a kind of plateau point known as The Cut. Here, the vista opens even wider, giving panoramic views of the meadows and mountains beyond. It’s a great spot to pause, catch your breath, and scan for wildlife, especially on crisp, clear mornings when the views stretch for miles.
From The Cut, the route descends for about two miles through a forest of spruce and fir back toward the Mammoth-Tower Road (about 1.4 miles from Tower Junction). This descent is moderate and can feel quite satisfying after the steady climb, especially on skis. It’s also a chance to enjoy a change in vegetation and the sense of moving from open headlands to more enclosed woodland.
Snowshoe vs. Ski Experience
Both snowshoeing and cross-country skiing work extremely well on Blacktail. Snowshoes are ideal if you want a slower, more deliberate experience where you can pause frequently for photography or wildlife observation. Classic cross-country skis, especially if there are existing tracks, allow for efficient travel and a smoother feel through open sections. Either way, you’re engaging with the landscape in a way impossible on cleared roads.
Planning for cold temperatures and drifting snow is essential. The Blacktail Plateau route isn’t usually groomed like some of the lodge-supported trails near Mammoth or Tower, so you may be following skier or snowshoe tracks rather than packed tracks. Bring proper winter gear, layers, windproof outerwear, gaiters, and plenty of food and water, and always check current conditions at the Mammoth Visitor Center before heading out. As always, wildlife distances apply here, too: stays of at least 100 yards from bears and wolves and at least 25 yards from bison help protect you and the animals.
Why Blacktail Plateau Is Worth Your Winter Visit
In a park famous for geothermal wonders, Blacktail Plateau offers a very different kind of winter adventure. There are no geysers, no steam vents, but there are broad, open landscapes, abundant wildlife, and a true sense of Yellowstone’s less-traveled winter world. Whether you’re gliding across wide meadows on skis or crunching along in snowshoes, this route captures the quiet drama of winter in the Northern Range.
NEXT WEEK
In the next episode, I’ll return with all of the information you need to have a good week in the park, including wildlife, weather, and trail updates.
Until then, book a tour with me, pick up a guidebook of mine, and happy trails!
