Yellowstone...Finally.

[jay]

I am happy to finally be able to say that I managed to make my trip to Yellowstone.  My wife and I spent a week there and I was able to spend some great, albeit wet, time on the Lamar River trail.  We managed to avoid the worst of the recent snow storms and saw a lot of amazing scenery.  I have been trying to put this trip together for the last several years and am happy to say it was worth the effort.  By the time I got into the backcountry, the weather was turning sour again and I ended up coming out a day early but the time there was worth being a bit cold and wet.  The weather did keep most of the wildlife denned up but I managed to spot some wolves at a distance on the second day.  There were loads of buffalo, as well. (They are essentially weatherproof, it seems).  spending a week in the park only gave us time to barely scratch the surface of the place and we are going to plan a second trip next fall, as well.  Attaching a few pictures for your enjoyment.

On a side note, the wolf track in the photo is in one of my boot tracks from the day before.  I thought that was pretty cool.

[wspscott]

One of these days/years, I'm going to make it to Yellowstone. Pretty cool that you saw some wolves, that would make my year.

[jay]

I didn't actually see the wolves, just the tracks overlaying mine the next day.  There were plenty around, though.  There were black bears and grizzlies, as well.  I did  see both types of bears, thankfully from a respectable distance.  If you are able to make it, I recommend going when I did, early October.  The crowds have essentially gone and park services are still functioning almost fully.  While the weather is a bit hit and miss, traffic and construction has wound down to the point of not being much of an issue.

[alcap]

I have been out there twice now, once in early spring (1st week of May) and once in early Sept. Both seasons have benefits of course. For our spring trip the bears were ravenous and VERY active. We saw grizzly every single day we were there, usually more than one. Watched as one grizzly came out of the woods and chased some wolves off an elk carcass.  

The cool think about the fall trip was the rutting elk. They were bugling and chasing cows constantly, and if you aren't from the mountain west that is really an impressive thing too. 

The bottom line is there probably is not a bad time to go. Just go!

[jay]

I agree with getting there anytime you can.  I am not a fan of going when there is a high density of other visitors, personally, I head to the wilds to avoid people. 

We did see bears, fattening up before winter, and just about every other form of wildlife there.  The best part of that time of year for me was that there were no mosquitos or other biting insects.