I've often wondered what Thomas Moran and Albert Bierstadt would have made of Bryce Canyon National Park in mid-winter. How would these great 19th-century landscape artists have portrayed its ginger-colored rock sentinels and fantastic wind-water-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:

		If you go... National parks Acadia National Park: www.nps.gov/acad; 1-207-288-3338. Bryce Canyon National Park: www.nps.gov/brca; 1-435-834-5322. Death Valley National Park: www.nps.gov/deva; 1-760- 786-3200. Olympic National Park: www.nps.gov/olym; 1-360-565-3130. Sequoia National Park: www.nps.gov/seki; 1-559-565-3341. Yellowstone National Park: www.nps.gov/yell; 1-307-344-7381.

Acadia National Park, Maine

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

Although 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 descend on Mount Desert Island, skiers and snowshoers are lured to the park's 45 miles of carriage paths that were created with funds donated by John D. Rockefeller Jr. Sometimes locals set tracks for skiers, sometimes you just have to ratchet up your work out 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 museum s.

Winter is Acadia's "slow season" so lodging rates plummet. Not all accommodations stay open during the win ter, but there still are a good number avai lable.

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

For more options, c all the Bar Harbor Area Chamber of Commerce (www.barharbormaine.com;1-207-28 8-5103).

Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah

Bryce is a rare beauty in a region of gorgeous national parks. Often overlooked due to nearby Zion and Grand Canyon national parks, Bryce with its hoodoo collections (towers of limestone, mudstone and sandstone) 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 th e plateau rims to Rainbow Point, where they can gaze south across the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and, on clear days, south into A rizona.

Although the historic Bryce Canyon Lodge is shuttered through the winter, you can get great deals at Ruby's Inn (www.rubysinn.com; 866-866-6616), which stands right outside the pa rk entrance. 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 snows hoe rentals.

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

Death Valley National Park, 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 opti mal for hiking, but also they're perfect for golf at the Furnace Creek golf course, although the elevation of 214 feet below sea level definitely takes some of the zing ou t of your Pings. You can enjoy the summer-like golfing 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.

Olympic National Park, Washington

Located 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 cab in -- 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. Further 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; 1-360-457-2879).

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 claims cross-country ski and snowshoe trails and a tubing area.

Sequoia National Park, California

Sequoia is best known for its big trees. In winter, when storms grace 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 s nowshoes for these free, one-mile jaunts. To reserve a spot, call 1-559-565-4480 to participate in the Wuksachi tour or 1-559-565-4307 for the Grant Grove walk. Hardy, experienced skiers or snowshoers can rent the Pear Lake Ski Hut for more of a back-country 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 woodstove-heated hut sleeps 10 ($24/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 and then call 1-559-565-3759 for a reservation. Lodging specials at the Wuksachi Lodge in Sequoia start at $79, Sundays through Thursdays (www.visitsequoia.com; 1-888-252-5757).

		Kurt Repanshek is the author of "National Parks of the West for Dummies" a nd "National Parks with Kids."

Yellowstone National Park, 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 are 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 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 snowcoach 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).