To my pleasant surprise, it was only a 15-hour drive (without speeding
tickets) from Minneapolis to Gardiner, WY, little town at the North Entrance to the
Yellowstone National Park. We arrived on Saturday afternoon - early enough to have
time to ski around the upper and lower terraces of Mammoth Hot Springs before it gets
dark. Then, on Sunday morning we were ready to start exploring.
In winter, only the north road from Mammoth Hot Springs to Cooke City is
open to motorized vehicles and maintained. The rest of the park roads are open only to
oversnow vehicles (snow-coaches and snowmobiles). The only tourist center open within the
park outside of Mammoth Hot Springs is the Snow Lodge in the Old Faithful area (in the
south corner of the park). That is where we scheduled to spend most of our time. Our coach
was leaving on Monday morning, so we had one day to explore the north part of the park.
We found a cross-country-ski trail in a narrow valley not far from Cook
City, where we went for an 8-mile trip. However, more interesting part of the day was
wildlife watching. 
In addition to seeing bison in a distance and many coyotes along the road,
we have also watched a gang of about 200 elks in the Lamar river valley and a pack of
wolves. The pack has killed an elk. Coyotes, ravens and a bold eagle were trying to get
their share, too.
Just before sunset, driving back to Gardiner, I noticed a mountain that
looked reachable from the road within an hour or so. The snow was not too deep, so hiking
up was possible. It turned out to be a quite steep hike. It took me hour and half to
ascend about 350m. I reached the summit just at sunset. As usually, there were only a few
minutes to enjoy the scenery. Descent on the snow-covered slopes was very easy and quick.
Only the wolves' howling from the valley below was awakening some uncertainties. Despite
their proximity, we have not spotted the wolves at this time.