Yellowstone
Yellowstone was the World’s first national park and is the crown jewel of the American National Park Service. Established by President Ulysses S. Grant in 1872, Yellowstone preserves the environmental remnants of an ancient caldera spanning hundreds of square miles in northwest Wyoming. As a geologic hotspot, Yellowstone is famous for its wide array of geysers and hot springs (with old faithful being the most famous geyser in the world). However, the region is also home to one of the best wildlife viewing opportunities in North America. My visit to Yellowstone in the summer as a kid became the spark of my love for National Parks and the outdoors. With more outdoor experience under my belt, I decided to revisit Yellowstone in the winter for a completely different experience. While Yellowstone in the summer is a hotspot packed with tourists, winter Yellowstone is a desolate and frigid wonderland. With cold weather isolating much of Yellowstone’s wildlife, visiting the park in the winter feels like an ‘American Safari’.
With winter conditions closing nearly all park roads, Lamar Valley road is the only park area open to personal vehicles. Given this, the Mammoth Lodge (and nearby Bozeman) is the primary starting point for most winter Yellowstone trips. For my winter Yellowstone trip, I had 3 nights reserved at the Mammoth Lodge, giving me plenty of time to explore the Lamar Valley and Mammoth Hot Springs regions of the park. On my first full day in the park, I drove towards Lamar Valley. Along the drive, I was treated to views of numerous wildlife species. Early on the drive, I found a herd of bull elk and was able to photograph them with a wintery mountain scene in the background. Soon after, along the Lamar River, I found a family of river otter’s and bald eagles. With such small crowds during winter, I had almost all the wildlife viewpoints all to myself. I continued past the Lamar Valley to the park border at Cooke City for a lunch break. Although Cooke City has a population of only 77, its proximity to Yellowstone fuels numerous attractions and eateries. A herd of bison next to the side of the road in Cooke City made the trip especially worth it. So close to bison in a protected environment, I was able to capture perfectly focused panoramas– some of the best photos in my career. I then made my way back to the hotel and was treated by one more wildlife surprise, seeing a badger. While I was unable to get good photos of the badger, it was easily the rarest wildlife encounter I had that day.
The next day, I stayed mostly around Mammoth Hot Springs and the nearby town of Gardiner Montana. The 5 mile stretch between Mammoth and Gardiner are known to be hotspots for Bighorn sheep. In search of these animals, I slowly drove along the road and inspected the rocky outcroppings nearby. Just before the end of the road, I found a herd of bighorn sheep in a prime photography spot. I pulled over at a parking lot and began photographing. After about 15 minutes of waiting, a pair of bighorn’s head-butted each other for a cool wildlife photography experience. After a subway lunch, I drove back to Mammoth Hot Springs, where I spent the back half of the day walking around the geothermal features. Some Mammoth Hot Springs night photography closed out my day.
Day 3 was a big day, it was my snowcoach journey from Mammoth Lodge to the famed Old Faithful Inn. With major roads in the park closed in the winter, a van converted to snowcoach is the park’s main method of transportation. I boarded my snowcoach early in the morning, ready for another winter safari opportunity. Along the drive, I saw herds of bison and elk, and a stunning sunset near the Midway Geyser Basin. After checking into the Old Faithful lodge, I set my alarms for night photography at Old Faithful Geyser. I missed the 11:00 geyser eruption, forcing me to move my alarm for the 12:30 eruption. Just past midnight, I took my camera gear and went out to the geyser in -15 degrees temperatures. At 12:30, the geyser erupted and I snapped photos of the steam clouds pressed upon a starry night.
Day 4 was my only full day in the Old Faithful Region. Located much deeper into the park, the Old Faithful area consistently has some of the coldest temperatures in the lower 48. Today the area was comfortably below 0 with wind chills hitting between -10 and -20. Despite the finger numbing temperatures, most of the day was booked with a wildlife snowcoach excursion throughout the Old Faithful and Madison regions. A light snowfall blanketed the region the night before, giving a glistening white tint to my photos from the tour. The first stop on the showcoach was at Grand Prismatic Springs, where I was treated to views of colorful hot springs and snowy bison. After seeing the springs, the tour headed towards Madison where I was treated to hot chocolate and up close views of bison, elk, and coyotes. The tour continued towards West Yellowstone and then looped back into Old Faithful. I spent that evening walking the trails of the Lower Geyser Basin and enjoying the amenities of the rustic lodge.
I took the midday snow coach back to Mammoth, arriving at the lodge just past noon. I spent my final full day in the park just as it began, wildlife searching along the Lamar Valley Road. While I was treated to more views of what became common animals (bison, elk, antelope, otters and even a moose), I had not yet found anything new. Cutting my losses, I began driving back towards the park entrance when I drove by a group of about 20 people standing just off the road. Realizing that this probably indicated something cool, I turned around and pulled off next to the large group. At the edge of the overlook, someone pointed out a pack of wolves far in the distance (almost a mile away). I looked through a pair of binoculars and sure enough, there was a pack of about 6 wolves eating a recently killed elk deep in the Lamar Valley. Yellowstone has one of the only permanent wolf populations anywhere in the country and seeing the rare animal was the cherry on top of an already great trip. Unfortunately, being so far away makes all my wolf photos feel like a ‘Where’s Waldo’ image. With a wolf spotting in my back pocket, I continued all the way through to Bozeman, where I boarded a late night flight back to New York.
Winter Yellowstone exceeded my expectations in every way. The tranquility of the park in the winter is a feeling that is almost unmatched anywhere else in the national park system. With dozens of fun wildlife species, every day feels like a new adventure with endless possibilities. When visiting national parks now, I almost exclusively plan to visit the busiest ones in the off season to try to replicate the feelings from winter Yellowstone.