What to see in Yellowstone in 2.1 days during the off season:

We had three days scheduled in the park but a snowstorm closed most of the park and made staying much longer that day rather silly, giving us an entire 2.1 days to enjoy the entirety of a park that might take months (or years) to explore.  We stayed just north of the North Entrance, which is open all year, the rest of the park opens gradually throughout May and was mostly open when we arrived, but closed due to snow.  The first day was beautiful and we spent it driving around the lake and checking out Artist's Point and were very glad we did, as that section was closed for the rest of our stay.  The second day it snowed, we were 5 miles on the road to Old Faithful and decided those curvy mountain roads combined with the ever increasing wind and wet, sticky snow were a bad combination: we didn't want to see the bottom of any of those cliffs too close and turned around; they closed the roads shortly thereafter.  We did bum around Mammoth Hot Springs for a bit, which was rather interesting and strangely pretty in the midst of a snowstorm, then we went home and had a quiet day.  The third day the south of the park was still closed but we were headed to Lamar Valley anyway and the north section is usually open (saving blizzards) year round.  We missed Old Faithful and the geyser basins but there will be other visits!  So what is worth seeing when the park is deserted and half frozen over?  Here are a few of our highlights:

The South Section (Day 1):

Artist's Point/Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone/Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River:

An easy walk to view this spectacular waterfall and the gorge through which it flows (and the photo everybody on the planet undoubtedly has taken!).

Yellowstone Lake:

A giant lake with mountain views (and ice), what could be better?  You drive along it for miles too!  Look for Harlequin ducks around the Le Hardy rapids and Barrow's Goldeneye along the lake.

Hayden Valley:

An expansive mountain valley with rivers, trees, grass, and wildlife.

West Thumb Geyser Basin:

This is the Black Pool, I thought this was a nice place to stop and view the lake but discovered it was actually a geyser basin, which as it turns out, was a good thing we stopped the first day since we would never get back to the others.

Snowstorm (Day 0.1):

We hung around Mammoth for a while (after chickening out of driving on towards Old Faithful) and it was really cool in the snow, but eventually we gave up and went home!:

Mammoth Hot Springs (snowstorm optional):

The North Section (Day 2):

The North section is always open and even though the rest of the park was closed, we still had quite a bit to see on our last day.

Undine Falls:

A very nice waterfall just off the road.  Wraith Falls is nice too and is only a short hike through some pretty conifer woods.

Calcite Springs:

I had no idea what this was, I just stuck it on my list, thinking it just another geyser basin, but it is actually a beautiful overlook of the river (with steaming geysers on the cliff face).  Very cool!  The Tower Falls are also nice; there were also several black bears in the area.  Tower Junction is also the place to look for Bighorn Sheep:

Lamar Valley:

Another mountain valley, this one more sagebrush than grass.  Supposedly the place to see wolves, but we only saw bison and pronghorn and a coyote or two.