Hmm. Is a trip to Yellowstone Park and Big Sky, Mont., in the middle of October a good idea?

It's great if the weather is. We were lucky as it was sunny and in the 60s despite snowing two days before.

Last week, a friend offered our family her condo in Big Sky, a high-profile ski area about an hour north of Yellowstone Park.

From Coeur d'Alene, drive seven hours to the village of Big Sky, a stoplight on Highway 191 about 25 miles south of Bozeman. A mile north of Big Sky we saw several bighorn sheep beside the road.

Then you turn west and ascend for about eight miles. As you see the gleaming orange and white top of Lone Peak, you also see several hundred condominiums and huge vacation homes. Most are on the mountainsides, with access to the ski areas.

Our condo was a second-level, two-bedroom place with two balconies on a small man-made lake.

Within 15 minutes we saw a bald eagle swoop from its tree branch and catch a fish right below our deck. Half an hour later, a female moose walking by the condo. Then a fox with a huge, bushy tail ran through the parking lot.

Wow! What a start. Was this a sign for the week?

Indeed. The next few days we went into the park from the town of West Yellowstone. We hiked around all the geysers and mudpots that were on our map.

We saw Old Faithful erupt right on time and checked on "hot" streams that were orange, green and red, depending on the rocks and clay they bubbled through. We walked to the tops and bottoms of several waterfalls.

We saw many bison, elk, deer and swans.

The highlight of our critters was a grizzly bear right beside the road. At least 20 cars had stopped on both sides. The park ranger tried to keep them from stopping traffic.

The ranger was somewhat frustrated at the possible danger as people would leave their cars to get closer photos of the bear.

It ignored everyone.

The grizzly was still there on our return trip two hours later. Two rangers now kept watch.

The grizzly was farther from the road so it was safer for the closest ranger to chat.

He explained that the bear was digging through caches of seeds and berries which smaller critters had buried.

Possibly the most interesting waterfall for me actually was Ousel Falls close to the main part of Big Sky village.

You follow a sign from the village and then hike less than a mile to the falls.

Its uniqueness is accented by the fantastic rock formations on its sides - layers of "perfect" horizontal and then vertical sheets of rock. That evening our condo had two foxes which barked at each other.

On the way to Bozeman we walked a handicap-accessible path to Palisade Falls in Hyalite Canyon.

So. Is a mid-October visit to this area worth it? We lucked out with perfect weather.

Also, the places weren't at all crowded - too late for the summer tourists and too early for the skiers. A few busses from Salt Lake City were loaded with tourists from Asia.

However, many Yellowstone commercial places (food, beverage and souvenir shops) had closed for the season the previous week, and a few of the connecting highways were closed.

Maybe the second week of October would be the best. However, for us, it would have been snowy.

North Idaho is so close to Yellowstone. Definitely worth the trip.

Nils Rosdahl is a former journalism professor at North Idaho College.