Yellowstone's Grand Loop

Until now, we have been in a bit of a rush to reach the famous Yellowstone park in time for the fall season. Once we noticed that some of the scenic routes in Montana are already closed until spring because of poor road conditions, we decided to make a dash for Yellowstone. And we arrived just in time for a winter storm.

The storm hit us unexpectedly. We had not yet learned to look at weather forecasts and did not notice the huge incoming snowfall and -21°C (-6°F) temperatures until it was too late and we were already next to the park. This was going to become a serious test of our winter camping abilities.

Thankfully there were no major losses apart from a frozen sewer hose. The trailer felt comfortable until the temperature dropped below -15°C. At that point the condensation that collected on the interior aluminum walls froze over and we were sleeping next to lumps of ice next to our faces. We had to wrap t-shirts around our heads to fight the cold.

Even though it was costly to keep filling up propane tanks each day because of the constant heating, the Airstream held up very well. Everything, including the shower and toilet, worked perfectly and I have only myself to blame for the frozen sewer hose and a burst of poop juice covering my hands*.

We have survived, we managed to see Yellowstone both with and without the snow and I loved spending time in dry and cold weather again. When you live in California, you end up missing the cold seasons and the whole year passes in a blur without any climate reference points.

* Because of this sentence, Marija told me specifically to mention that I (Lukas) wrote this post.