2015 West Yellowstone for Valentines Day

Henry's Lake Flats in the snow

I grew up in West Yellowstone, at least in the summertime.  One of my best childhood friends called me up and needed a little help with a project.  We drove up on Valentines Day and stayed over and went to Church the next day.  It was really cool to go back to that congregation.  It had been twenty-seven years since I had been to church there.  It was so good to see some of the old timers that I haven't seen for all that time.  I still recognized them and they all recognized me.  It will not be another twenty-seven years before I go back to church there.  It was so nice to see old friends.

We weren't in a hurry to get up to West Yellowstone because our friends weren't going to be available until evening so we decided to take the scenic route through Bear Gulch.  I wanted to see Mesa Falls in the snow.  I think it would be really beautiful.  We drove down through Warm River Canyon and up the side of the caldera and descended into Bear Gulch.  And we discovered that the road was closed due to snow.  Next time we'll have to take skinny skis or snowshoes to make it into Mesa Falls.  So we backtracked and headed up the regular way.

The Tetons from Marysville, Idaho

The Tetons from the observation point at the top of the Island Park Caldera

The old stone bridge in Warm River Canyon

We drove up through Island Park and on up to West Yellowstone.  Our friends still weren't back from their obligations so we kicked around a bit in town.  We saw a spectacular sunset and a murder of crows.

Sawtell in the snow

February on the flats

Spectacular sunset over West Yellowstone

A murder of crows

Stunning

Beautiful

We conducted our business with our friends and the next morning we attended church services.  After that, we headed home.  Once again, we decided to take a scenic route.  We weren't in a hurry.  There is a scenic byway that takes off in Island Park, Idaho and travels over to the Camas Battlefield on the Nez Perce Trail.  There is a wildlife sanctuary that one of my colleagues goes to frequently and I wanted to visit.  Once again, after we had gone ten or twelve miles down the scenic byway, the road was closed to all but snowmobiles.  So we turned around and headed home.  We'll hit the scenic byways later in the year when the snow has melted.

Creek near Shotgun Village in the snow

White on white, aspens in the snow

Another creek in the snow

I love the look of aspens in the snow

Again

It's why I keep taking pictures of it

It was a quick trip up and back, but it was a nice time.  We didn't get to spend a great deal of time with our friends, but we did see them.  We saw some beautiful scenery in the snow and that was nice.  I keep wanting to get up to Yellowstone and take a snowcoach tour of Yellowstone National Park.  It'll have to wait until next year now.