# planning a yellowstone trip



## billybob (Oct 27, 2008)

Planning a trip to yellowstone for memorial day weekend. Looking for some ideas of places to go and things to see. We have two little girls ages 8 and 6, so I will need to be able to keep thei attention, but I really want to see some wildlife. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

It's still winter/early spring that time of year in Yellowstone.


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## orvis1 (Sep 7, 2007)

Dress for winter, I would go go about the first of July if you can. If not go to Roosevelt junction they have a wagon ride chuck wagon dinner that is a blast for kids. They also have a fun JR ranger program my daughter liked that will take you around the park looking for animals and gathering stamps for them to get their JR ranger prize.


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## trout bum (Oct 5, 2010)

I was there last year the first week of June. Weather was great. In fact, the earlier in the year the better in my opinion. Thats when the bears are down near the roads.


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## goonsquad (Sep 15, 2010)

Memorial day in Yellowstone is great. All the animals are down low, but yes dress for the cold and be happy if its nice and warm. I go almost every year around memorial day and only once have I had truly bad weather. You will see a lot more animals in the spring than you do during the summer or the fall.


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## wes242 (Jan 2, 2010)

I used to go late May many different years to shoot wildlife photos, but last year I went early June and I missed a ton of the bear sightings. I did find a few but if you do the upper loop around Mammoth Hot Springs you could get lucky. Check out this forum for Yellowstone tips...
http://forums.yellowstone.net/

Here is what I have spotted over the years.... http://www.wesleyaston.com/yellowstone.html


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## Dannyboy (Oct 27, 2010)

I go up around that time every year to open the cabin up and we always take a trip into the park. The Bison are always around with their young by the junction near west yellowstone but the bears are always up at Mammoth and Tower. Old faithful is always fun for the kids but once you go past it there is a lot of nothing until the lake and can get boring for the young ins. On the way up to mammoth are some mud pots and geysers that are a fun walk. And if you have the patience the wolfs are up in Hayden valley. Have Fun!


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## tye dye twins (Mar 8, 2011)

I have gone there every year for 12 years in both the spring and fall. Everywhere between old faithful and madison campground (west yellowstone) will be filled with bision and their young, elk, and bears. Typically all the animals stay in the south end of the park until fall where they reside to the north end. For bears the south end isn't a bad place to see one in the spring. As the year progresses tower area is good but really I would say the Mt. Washburn area is the best for bears, which is just before Tower. I would avoid the Hayden Valley area, the traffic is horrible. Although last year I saw they were in the process of creating new pullouts to resolve the traffic issues. Best bear and moose area in my book is Teton National Park at Signal mountain year round.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Hey billybob, how was that that Yellowstone Trip?


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## billybob (Oct 27, 2008)

We did the Yellowstone trip over Memorial Day Weekend. Now that I have done the park as an adult, we are going to go every year. We spent Saturday going from West Yellowstone down to Old Faithful. The weather was pretty good. An occassional shower, but for the most part, we were able to get out and see the hot pots and bubbling mud pools. It was amazing. It was opening for fishing in the park, so, lots of guys were out in the water. The water, especially along the Madison, was not too high, and was very fishable. Saw lots of guys pulling in some nice Cutts. 

Sunday it just rained all day. So, we drove for most of the day. We drove from West Yellowstone, up to the Falls, down to the lake and then through Teton. It was a quick trip but it at least gave us a good overview of the park and gave us ideas of where we want to go next time we go (maybe later this summer or early next fall)

Despite the weather, we did see a good amount of wildlife. We saw Bison all over the park and quite a few Elk. The kids were very excited to see the Bison's newborns. We never saw any bears or wolves, but read a lot of reports of bears and wolves in Hayden Valley a couple of days before we got there, but when we went through Hayden Valley on Sunday, nothing was out because of the storm.

My wife and kids were ready to kill me by the time Sunday was over because the ducks and geese were out in full force, and of course, I had to stop and look with the binocs. Lots of Canadian Geese and saw some Swans. All kinds of ducks in the Yellowstone River in the miles leading up to the lake. I saw tons of diver ducks, including plenty of Bufflehead and Common Goldeneyes. In fact, I swear one of the Goldeneyes I found in the river was a Barrows Goldeneye... I guess I'll never know, he never got close enough to be able to tell. Plenty of puddlers out there too. Lots mallards and teal (green wing and a few blue wing).

We finished Sunday by drivng through Teton. The cloud cover was so thick we couldn't even see the Tetons. But, we did see a Cow Moose on the south end of Jenny Lake. The kids loved watching her from the comforts of our Ford Expedition, while they got a little lecture from Dad about how they can be more dangerous than bears and how more people are injured every year by moose than by bears.

I finished the day by dropping everyone off at the Jackson Hole Lodge (across the street from the Orvis shop), and heading back up to the wildlife viewing area on the north end of town. Watched several pairs of widgeons and several pairs of ring neck ducks paddle around on the water until the sun went down. I had never seen a ring neck duck in person, but I've decided I need to get one on the wall somehow this next year.

Before the night was up, we went to Bubba's BBQ for dinner. If you are looking for good BBQ that won't break the bank account, you can't beat Bubbas. It was so good, we went back for breakfast on Monday morning. The breakfast was fantastic too. I burned about three of the calories from breakfast by heading over to the Orvis shop. I bought some over-priced flies, just to say I had been there, and done it. 

Then we hit the road and headed back to Utah. We were able to get through the pass from Jackson Hole to Alpine without any problems because they had cleared the mudslide. But, man, there is a ton of water coming down the Snake and other surrounding riviers right now. When we got to Alpine, we were able to see tons of Snow Geese over the edge of the Pallisades. We stopped at the local Texaco, which has my favorite tackle shop in town. Talked to the old guy that runs the place, and he said he didn't expect the rivers to be fishable until July. So, we moved our annual father's day trip to Jackson Hole to the middle of August. I'm stoked for our trip up there in fall, but now that I have been through the park, I will have a hard time staying in Jackson.

If I can upload some of the pics from our digital camera, I will post them. But, we've got to get them put on a cd first. In any event, thanks for all the insight guys. It gave us some great ideas of where we should go, and where we are going to go next time. The next trip will definitely include a trip up to Mammoth and Lamar Valley. Can't wait to do it again. Thanks again for all the insight guys.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Nice report billybob, glad you had a good time.

Yellowstone is the 2nd coolest place on the planet!


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## xxxxxxBirdDogger (Mar 7, 2008)

> Yellowstone is the 2nd coolest place on the planet!


Amazon?


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

home


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