• What to know if you go

MARION LITTLEFIELD/Travel Arts Syndicate (ENLARGE)

Winter's snows cloak Bryce Canyon's hoodoos, such as those below Sunset Point (above). Bison are easily spotted in Yellowstone in winter; snow keeps them in the parkÕs lowlands (below).

National Park Service (ENLARGE)

The Emerald Lake Basin is a popular backcountry destination for winter travel in Sequoia National Park.

National Park Service (ENLARGE)

With average winter snowfall of 400 inches, Olympic National ParkÕs Hurricane Ridge lures skiers, snowshoers and snowboarders.

What would Thomas Moran and Albert Bierstadt have made of Bryce Canyon National Park in midwinter? How would these great 19th-century landscape artists have portrayed its ginger-colored rock sentinels and fantastic wind-, water- and ice-hewn formations? How would they have painted its massive spruce, fir and bristlecone pine forests contrasting with deep-piled snow?

There are no ugly seasons in the National Park System, least of all winter, when crowds are scarce and wildlife can be more visible. Along with the beauty, park lodges often offer great bargains. Here are some examples:

Acadia in Maine

If you long for a quiet park that features wave-battered seacoast and tree-lined carriage paths along with a charmingly eclectic gateway town, Acadia is your destination.

Though most of its roads are closed to wheeled vehicles when the snow falls, they are open to snowmobiles, even to the top of Cadillac Mountain. Better yet, when snowstorms blanket Mount Desert Island, skiers and snowshoers descend on the park's 45 miles of carriage paths. Sometimes locals set tracks for skiers; sometimes you just have to ratchet up your workout a notch and break trail yourself.

Of course, when winter isn't snowy, you can take to the park's hiking trails, admire the coastline or browse Bar Harbor's shops and museums.

Complementing these possibilities is the fact that winter is Acadia's "slow season," so lodging rates plummet. While many of the hotels, motels and bed-and-breakfasts close for the winter, a good number remain open with wonderful accommodations.

For instance, in downtown Bar Harbor at the Acadia Hotel (www.acadiabarharbormaine.com, 1-888-876-2463), rooms start at $60 a night. At the Heathwood Inn (www.heathwoodinn.com; 207-288-5591), a B&B that occupies a lovingly restored farmhouse, the master suite has a king-size bed and fireplace, while the Eden Suite features a Jacuzzi. Rates start at $69 per night.

For more possibilities, call the Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce (www.barharbormaine.com, 207-288-5103).

Bryce Canyon in Utah

Bryce is a rare beauty in a region of gorgeous national parks. Often overlooked because of nearby Zion and Grand Canyon national parks, Bryce with its hoodoo collections (towers of limestone, mudstone and sandstone) at times can feel like your own private park in winter.

When storms blanket this southern Utah park, rangers hand out snowshoes and lead visitors along the rim of the Paunsaugunt Plateau, interrupting their natural history lessons with expansive views into the stony maw of the Queen's Garden and Fairyland Canyon.

More accomplished fans of winter take to cross-country skis and negotiate the dead-end road that runs 18 miles along the plateau rim to Rainbow Point, where they can gaze south across the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and, on clear days, south into Arizona.

Though the historic Bryce Canyon Lodge is shuttered through the winter, at Ruby's Inn (www.rubysinn.com, 1-866-866-6616), which stands right outside the park entrance, winter offers great lodging deals. For just $110 you can get a three-night stay at the inn. Only have time for two nights? Opt for the $103.50 Snowflake Special that includes two days of cross-country ski or snowshoe rentals.

Plan your visit for Presidents Day Weekend in February and you can partake in cross- country ski tours and races, snowshoe races, archery clinics and even a snow sculpture contest.

Death Valley in California

Twice I've sweated out summer visits to Death Valley, the hottest place in the Western Hemisphere. It's far more comfortable during the winter, where high temperatures range from the mid-60s in January to 80 in March.

Not only are these conditions optimal for hiking, but they're perfect for golf at the Furnace Creek golf course, although being 214 feet below sea level definitely takes some of the zing out of your Pings. You can enjoy the summerlike conditions via Furnace Creek's golf packages, which start at $212 per couple, including accommodations and greens fees.

While non-golf-related stays at the posh Furnace Creek Inn start at $265, those at the ranch with its cabins and motel units begin at $116 (www.furnacecreekresort.com, 1-888-297-2757).

Not to be overlooked during a Death Valley trip any time of year is a visit to Scotty's Castle. This palatial mansion in Grapevine Canyon started out as an early 1900s winter retreat for Chicago insurance tycoon Albert Johnson but became a year-round home for "Death Valley Scotty," a somewhat eccentric cowboy-turned-schemer-turned-Death Valley-raconteur. Tour tickets cost $11 for ages 16-61, $9 for age 62 plus, $6 for Golden Access Card Holders and ages 6-15, and free for age 5 and under.

Olympic in Washington

On Washington state's peninsula just a three-hour drive from Seattle, Olympic offers storm-swept beaches, deep mountain snows and precious solitude come winter. Storm-watching is a spectator sport along the park's cobble-strewn coast, where churning waves explode as they crash into the towering sea stacks, slowly eroding sentinels hewn from the mainland by thousands of previous storms.

The Kalaloch Lodge (www.visitkalaloch.com; 1-866-525-2562) offers a Storm Thriller package Sundays through Thursdays that lands you in a log cabin — complete with wood stove, kitchenette, two queen-size beds and hiking staff — on a bluff overlooking the Pacific for $119 a night between Jan. 2 and Feb. 22.

Farther inland, Hurricane Ridge often is buried in snow from those same storms. The average annual snowfall of 400 inches is enough to keep the Hurricane Ridge Ski and Snowboard Area open on weekends from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with three surface lifts and 800 vertical feet of skiing spread across 10 trails. For more adventuresome skiers and boarders, additional bowls and gladed areas are nearby (www.hurricaneridge.net, 560-457-2879).

Hurricane Ridge, which offers panoramic views not only of the snow-clad Olympic Range but also of the Strait of Juan de Fuca that leads ships to Seattle from the Pacific, also has cross- country ski and snowshoe trails and a tubing area.

Sequoia in California

Sequoia is best known for its big trees. In winter when storms blanket the High Sierra with deep snows, those trees offer a stunning cinnamon-hued backdrop for cross- country skiing and snowshoeing. Ranging through Sequoia's Giant Forest and Lodgepole areas and in neighboring Kings Canyon National Park's Grant Grove are 74 miles of marked, but not necessarily groomed, cross-country trails.

Park rangers typically offer guided snowshoe tours in Grant Grove and from Wuksachi Lodge in Sequoia on Saturdays and holidays, when conditions allow. The park even tosses in the snowshoes for these free, two-hour, one-mile-long jaunts. To reserve a spot, call 559-565-4480 to participate in the Wuksachi tour or 559-565-4307 for the Grant Grove walk.

Hardy, experienced skiers or snowshoers can rent the Pear Lake Ski Hut for more of a backcountry experience. Set six miles above Wolverton Meadow and roughly three-eighths of a mile north of Pear Lake at an elevation of 9,200 feet, this wood stove-heated hut sleeps 10 ($24 per person). While a lottery conducted in November doles out many of the hut's available nights, visit the Sequoia Natural History Association's Web site (www.sequoiahistory.org/pearlake/calendar.htm) to find vacancies throughout the winter, then call 559-565-3759 for a reservation.

Lodging specials at the Wuksachi Lodge in Sequoia start at $79, Sundays through Thursdays (www.visitsequoia.com, 1-888-252-5757).

Yellowstone in Wyoming

It could be the aura that surrounds Yellowstone or the remoteness of this rugged park, but a winter's journey here is like none other in the park system.

Simply watching Old Faithful erupt into the teeth of a snowstorm, strolling the steam-flocked boardwalk through the Upper Geyser Basin, gazing into the azure beauty of Morning Glory Spring or standing on the lip of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone is sufficient to enjoy a day in Yellowstone.

Yet you also can lash snowshoes or cross-country skis to your feet and venture into the forest; enroll in a Lodging and Learning program that features wildlife viewing and guided snowshoe or ski treks to Tower Falls; build a five-day adventure around daily ski excursions to such places as Blacktail Plateau, the Lamar Valley and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone; or sign on for the Family Winter Holiday package best suited for families with children 8 to 12. This package, new this winter, blends animal tracking and wildlife-watching with photography, skiing and snowshoeing, plus a snow coach trip to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

These and other packages start as low as $99 per night (www.travelyellowstone.com, 1-866-439-7375).

Kurt Repanshek is the author of "National Parks of the West for Dummies" and "National Parks With Kids." He also writes for Smithsonian, National Geographic Traveler and Hemispheres and is the blogmeister of www.nationalparkstraveler.com.

IF YOU GO

Information

• Acadia National Park: www.nps.gov/acad, 207-288-3338

• Bryce Canyon National Park: www.nps.gov/brca, 435-834-5322

• Death Valley National Park: www.nps.gov/deva, 760-786-3200

• Olympic National Park: www.nps.gov/olym, 360-565-3130

• Sequoia National Park: www.nps.gov/seki, 559- 565-3341

• Yellowstone National Park: www.nps.gov/yell, 307-344-7381