Filmmaker Ken Burns and Tauck are launching two new wintertime journeys that explore Yellowstone National Park and the surrounding area. The new itineraries – a one-time, eight-day event with the opportunity to personally meet Burns, and a nine-day Tauck Culturious journey with multiple departures – will debut next January. Both will offer unparalleled access to the park, to naturalists and other park experts who will share their insights, Tauck reports.
Burns was the creator of the acclaimed PBS documentary “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea,” and Tauck is the award-winning leader in premium quality guided tours and cruises. The new Yellowstone trips are the latest product of the “Ken Burns American Journeys” partnership announced last year, which crafts travel experiences based on the themes and topics explored in Burns’s films.
“When I signed on to work with Tauck, our very first idea was creating an exploration of Yellowstone in winter. The park hosts three-and-a-half million people each year, but less than 3 percent of those visitors experience Yellowstone at its very best, during the winter months,” said Burns. “In winter, the normal crowds are gone, the park has a special majesty and serenity, and the opportunities to see wildlife are incredible.”
The eight-day “Winter In Yellowstone” event is limited to 210 attendees, split into two groups of 105, starting on January 6 and January 8. The two groups will come together to personally meet Ken Burns and attend his keynote address at the Old Faithful Visitors Center on January 11. Throughout the rest of the event, the groups will experience the various itinerary components in staggered schedules on different days.
The event (from $4,190 per person, double, plus air) features stays at the Chico Hot Springs Resort, Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel, Old Faithful Snow Lodge and Spring Creek Ranch. Activities include explorations aboard heated, motorized snowcoaches (specially equipped vehicles with treads and skis instead of wheels) and wildlife viewing in areas, including the Lamar Valley, Norris and Lower Geyser Basins, Yellowstone Lake, Hayden Valley and Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Optional activities during free time include ice skating, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing and snowmobiling.
Tauck has assembled an all-star roster of experts who will offer special presentations on the history, culture and biology of Yellowstone, the world’s first national park.
Included in the event price are airport transfers, accommodations, most meals, all sightseeing, lectures and other presentations, and a farewell cocktail reception and dinner at the National Museum of Wildlife Art.
Tauck reports it is also offering six departures of a similar itinerary as part of its Culturious collection of immersive, small-group trips for active boomer-age travelers. The nine-day “Wonderland: Yellowstone In Winter” itinerary will operate in January, February and March with an average group size of just 20 travelers per departure, and conclude with two nights at the Wort Hotel in Jackson, Wyoming (rather than the event’s one-night stay at the Spring Creek Ranch). The price: from $3,490 per person, double, plus air.
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