With many traditional roads in the Teton Range closed due to snow and ice, a snowmobile ride adventure through the Wyoming backcountry is the perfect way to behold the mountains come winter. Bundle up for a windswept snowmobile tour departing from Jackson Hole, which highlights scenic destinations in both Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks.

Just 10 miles south of Yellowstone is a smaller, but no less magnificent, national park that preserves some of the most majestic mountains in the country. This truly picturesque location, Grand Teton National Park, boasts a diverse ecosystem with terrain ranging from summertime wildflower meadows to rushing whitewater streams. There are also numerous serene lakes with deep blue pools, echoing the stillness and color of the glaciers that shaped them.

Situated in northwestern Wyoming, Grand Teton National Park is a serene area comprised of approximately 310,000 acres (125,000ha) of beautiful scenery. From majestic peaks that rise from the land to clear lakes to lush forests and more, the national park, declared in 1950, is bound to impress anyone who visits. Along with the natural elements, including a great variety of wildlife, an impressive cultural history can also be explored through various old homesteads and ranches.

Towering 7,000 feet above the valley floor, the Teton Range welcomes more than two million people a year. In the winter, they come to snowshoe or cross-country ski through fir-lined backcountry trails. In the summer, hikers explore 200 miles of trails and scale rugged granite peaks. The Snake River is a magnet for amateur rafters, pelican-watchers and fishermen, who cast lines for trout. Nestled within the mountains are glaciers, alpine lakes and fields of larkspur and lupines.

This run is a longer alternative to the classic Two Ocean Lake loop, beginning at the same trailhead and sharing much of the same path. Both Two Ocean and Emma Matilda Lake have a surface elevation near 6,900 feet, with many of the high peaks in the Teton Range towering well above the lakes at 12,000 feet. Many of the mountain peaks are a full mile above the surface of the lakes!

Just south of Yellowstone is a smaller, but no less magnificent, national park that preserves some of the most majestic mountains in the country. While most amenities and services shut down for the winter season, the park remains open for exploration, and lodging is available in nearby Jackson, Wyoming. Snowplows keep the outer park road clear through winter, but the inner road closes, giving winter adventurers a near-private tour of many of the park’s favorite sites and trailheads.