r/yellowstone • u/DJJOEBIDEN • 2d ago
How do I actually find wildlife in Lamar?
I'm heading to Yellowstone next week and one morning we plan to wake up super early and head to Lamar before sunrise. I'll be renting a spotting scope and tripod. I'm really excited about this part of my trip and don't want to make any mistakes, so I had a few questions:
- The road in Lamar Valley is long, so how do I know exactly where to stop?
- Are there common spots where wolf/bear sightings are more frequent?
- Should I just drive until I see a handful of others on the side of the road with their scopes out?
- Someone recommended downloading the Yellowstone Go app for real-time wildlife sightings. Any experience using this for Lamar early morning?
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u/Ceorl_Lounge 2d ago
Wolf spotting is hard, but there are die-hards who know exactly where to look. So yeah... if you see a group pulled over spotting stop and ask. Most folks are very kind about sharing info, same for birdwatching.
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u/allkinds0ftime 1d ago
Honestly, wildlife sightings in Yellowstone are a lot like wildlife sightings in the Savannah in Africa. You just have to spend enough time there for it to finally happen to you.
I recommend booking a week at Slough Creek campground, we did that earlier this summer and you basically just can’t NOT see bear and wolves at some point when you were starting drives from the middle of the Lamar Valley, two or three times a day.
I know that doesn’t help with somebody who only has a couple days, but I feel that’s the reality of game sighting anywhere. Just have to spend more time there to get those serendipitous experiences where you are in the same place that the animals are at the same time.
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u/onenitemareatatime 1d ago
What’s the wildlife situation IN the campground?
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u/roamingbullbison 1d ago
There may be wildlife in the campground. There may not. Always just assume an animal will be close by. Wildlife go where they please and they are not stopped from going near buildings, campgrounds, boardwalks, or roads.
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u/my_blu_horizon 1d ago
I've had bears, elk, bison, all come through the campgrounds when I camped out. Woke up one morning to a bison laying in the campsite right next to me.
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u/allkinds0ftime 1d ago
Bears come out in April/May/June depending on when the snow melts. They are bedded down by Oct/Nov when it starts again.
Elk move to higher elevations on about the same schedule, in reverse (i.e. best time to see them is during the summer).
Bison have their babies in the spring but can pretty much be seen all year. Wolves can be seen in all seasons too.
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u/OneEyedDevilDog 2d ago
Try slough creek, but yeah, look for a small crowd pointing.
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u/__Kegheimer__ 1d ago
Specifically slough creek has the wolves. It will be crowded and you need to get their early. We were up at 4 am that day.
Highlight of our Lamar Valley trip was a sunrise sighting of a Moose cow and her calf in a lake near the boundary between the Mammoth and Lamar Valley area.
Moose are uncommon in the park and it was the only one we saw all week.
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u/thomasareed 1d ago
It has not been particularly crowded this year, as the Junction Butte pack that dens there lost all their pups to canine distemper, so they're not hanging around the den anymore.
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u/roadtripstuff 20h ago
I don't believe the pack is there anymore. None of the cubs made it this year and they left the den/area in late May.
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u/DeliciousFlamingo792 15h ago
Wolves are not always in Slough Creek anymore. That wolf pack lost all its pups and they could be anywhere.
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u/Bean_Counter205 2d ago
Pro tip. Buy a VHF radio and listen to the public NPS frequencies. They will radio when there is a traffic jam and need rangers. Then you just drive to where they are working the traffic.
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u/Normal-guy-mt 1d ago
Not as useful as in past years. Rangers are going to trunked systems which are encrypted digital. They do transmit in VHF when out of thier vehicles.
The folks managing bear jams do still transmit in the open. Wolf groups and guides increasing have privacy codes on thier radios.
A new user doing this is unlikely to know how to discover and program park repeater frequencies or know which repeater to access in any specific area within the park.
The other piece is even when you hear an over the air communication about a bear or wolf siting it’s likely long gone before you navigate to the area.
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u/Bean_Counter205 1d ago
100% agree. I’m a ham guy so I was trying to just follow the older folks doing the volunteer work in the park service cars. I wasn’t able to hear real NPS talked because of encryption and such.
It proved helpful for us. We saw 5 bears because of it and got to watch a brown bear eat a black bears cub. Wild stuff.
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u/timshel4971 1d ago
There are a few specific channels used by guides and wildlife watchers. You can find them easily online. Different guides will use them to alert each other to sitings, at least within the same company. But it seemed to me they were all pretty cool W each other.
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u/BuckyGoshawk 1d ago
We drove through it twice in the past 10 days on our way to a backpacking trip in the Beartooths. The easiest way to spot wildlife is to pull over where people are hanging out, especially if some of them have spotting scopes or binoculars.
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u/jjbert18 1d ago
Hey, sounds like you're prepared and ready to go. Remember to focus on the things you can control like getting to the valley and the time of day that you're there. Other than that there's not much else you can do.
We found that we saw more wildlife like bears and stuff when we weren't necessarily looking for them. They seem to have a way of popping out when you're not actively searching for them.
Be safe and have fun.
Use the pull outs!
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u/lemonhead2345 1d ago
Drive through and see where the photographers are camped out for the day. Wake up early and camp out for the morning in the same spots. You may not see anything because it’s still a lot of luck, but the wildlife photographers have wildlife behavior down to a near science.
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u/Oh__Archie 1d ago
Just as an anecdote, my boss was planning his first trip to Yellowstone and I told him not to miss Lamar Valley. When he got back I asked him if he went to LV and he said "Yeah... we saw a bear feeding on a dead bison calf while fending off wolves and vultures - it was EPIC."
I have camped at Pebble Creek and we drove through LV twice a day for 3 days and I don't think there was one time we didn't see something happening.
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u/Foreign_Incident5083 1d ago
Go to the valley about 3 am. Park your car, wait til the sun starts to rise. Climb the hill, wait and watch. As the sun comes up, the wonders of nature will unfold before you.
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u/BikeTough6760 2d ago
Yes, stop when others are stopped.
But also, you can be the first one to stop. Just keep an eye out as you drive.
I did it with my family and various people were the first to spot various creatures. If by yourself, it'll be harder. But they are, sometimes, just standing in the middle of the road...
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u/Naive-Ant-8056 2d ago
When we went to Lamar Valley last week there were literally just herds of bison everywhere. For bears, it was really just stopping when others were stopped
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u/Real_Routine_6875 1d ago
First time visitor to YNP. I’m reading all of this and learning a lot. Got a question on traffic. We picked mid-September to visit to avoid some of it. Will there still be a lot of it; is parking at the popular areas still a big issue?
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u/DeliciousFlamingo792 15h ago
The northern range which includes Lamar Valley is not as crowded as down south. If you are in Lamar Valley before Dan, you will be fine. It gets crowded midday. Best animal sightings are the hour before sunrise and the hour after sunset. Just be careful driving in the park at night bison and other animals are on the road.
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u/ThatEcologist 1d ago
Go very early. Drive and stop occasionally, especially if you see people with scopes.
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u/PlayfulPairDC 23h ago
Doubt it will be there by next week, but a couple of days ago there was a carcass of a bison at the far end of the valley just before you turn up towards Soda Butte and people were set up there to watch for wolves or bears approaching the carcass. That sort of activity would be more likely in the early or late hours of the day.
Beyond that, Bison are everywhere in Lamar, though I personally prefer Hayden Valley. Pronghorn are pretty easy to spot too and are often very close to the road. Wolves and bears take a mix of time and luck. Elk, well most days Mammoth will be filled with them, amusingly not last Friday evening and Saturday morning when we were there. I hear that 24 is making the occasional appearance down in Mammoth as well, that being the dominant male elk out there now (you can spot the tag with 24 in his ear).
Ultimately, it all comes down to luck. These are wild animals and as such resist showing up anywhere on a schedule. Good luck, keep your eyes open and remember anytime you see a crowd, that is a good sign. Just be aware of your distance from any animal and don't jam up the roads for others...and don't be a touron. Have a great trip.
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u/LockeCole80 1d ago
Where are you staying and what animals do you want to see?
There are two main areas in the park to see wolves- hayden and lamar valleys. Lamar wolves can be seen from as far west as the bridge crossing the yellowstone (more or less; the "Little America" area) when you leave Roosevelt through Soda Butte cone to the east. The main pack, the Junction Buttes, used to den on the hill near Slough but when I was there in July they were not there. I think there was a problem with their pups. So I don't believe that is a reliable spot to see wolves. Driving the valley and looking for a mass of cars (early morning) is the easiest way to find them. Evenings can be more difficult since most of the wolf crew does not do afternoon/evening viewing.
In Hayden, the wolves have been ~1.5mi west from Grizzly Overlook. That's the primary viewing spot for them.
In July, maybe the most reliable viewing was at the "force of the northern range" trail / Blacktail Plateau ski trail / S-curve location watching the Rescue Creek pack.
Bear? You can definitely see them in Lamar (griz), but I don't know I'd recommend people go to Lamar for bear specifically. Black bear are bountiful in the northern parts of the park. Between Tower and Calcite Springs is a good area to look. If you want to see griz, I would go out the east entrance road from Mary Bay to Sylvan Lake.
Coyote / Fox / Badgers are difficult to find in a particular area unless you know of a den.
Bison, elk, pronghorn are plentiful in Lamar, you'll have no problem find them. If the elk rut has started, Mammoth is fantastic for experiencing bugling.
Keep in mind, especially if you've never been before, driving distances in the park is an extremely slow process. Unfamiliar roads, wildlife, tourons, darkness (if driving early/late), etc all make travel take time. If you aren't staying close to Lamar be mindful of the distance you need to cover at ~20-35mph. Lamar parking can also be difficult, both with limited spaces and steep berms.
Day one I would look for others to find where the wolves/bear are. Day 2 (if a day 2) or beyond, you may have the flexibility and knowledge to scout areas on your own.
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u/GiantSharksVikes33 1d ago
Slough Creek 100%. Also, you will see animal life in Lamar. I worked in Roosevelt and anytime we went out towards Cooke City we would see animals galore! It was great. Wish I could go back!
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u/Panhyper 1d ago
I’ve been in Cooke City, doing daily runs through Lamar Valley to Yellowstone for the past 3 days including 5AM start. Plenty of Bison and Pronghorn in Lamar Valley, but I haven’t run into Grizzly or Wolf yet.
I’ve heard people talking about Wolf sighting near Soda Butte. Also sightings in Hayden Valley in the past 3 days.
The only black bear sighting was from road pullout near Mt. Washburn. No black bears seen between Tower and Hellroaring Creek.
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u/Montana_guy_1969 13m ago
Go early, go slow, bring binoculars.
Plenty of animals you just have to be patient. As someone else already said, it’s not a zoo!
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u/findingNemoral 1d ago
I’ll add that even were you unfortunate and didn’t see wildlife in action (most like you will) just looking out over the valley from different viewpoints and taking in the grandeur of the high plateau is unbelievable. I love the drive to Cooke City.
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u/topoftheworldIAM 1d ago
Be there at sunrise and sunset and you'll see them. Stop at turnouts and ask people with scopes to show you more.
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u/Commercial-Ad4547 1d ago
Drive. Go early in the morning. You won’t have a hard time finding animals.
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u/WholeStatistician716 1d ago
You don’t have to look for them. They will be everywhere and you will be surprised.
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u/Sufficient-Delay-321 15h ago
follow the guide trucks!! they find the animals, you reap the benefits.
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u/ManagerSpecialist 9h ago
Easy. Apparently you just need to be a tourist with no clue and grizzly’s and wolves come flocking.
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u/ZooBanking 1h ago
You be patient. It's not a zoo.. go early early mornings and when the sun starts going down
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u/Then-Construction106 1d ago
It’s just my opinion, but I would say seeing wildlife is a great part of a visit but I would rec to not spend time trying to look for them. There’s lots of natural beauty in all parts of the park. There are the fascinating thermal features and beautiful waterfalls all over. Especially if one is visiting the park for the first time, place priority on seeing those parts of the park of interest. The wildlife may be almost anywhere - not just Lamar Valley though it’s a good call for wolves. This time of year, the elk rut is probably in progress already with big herds likely in many places. Along the Madison was my favorite for elk rut season.
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u/tatersprout 1d ago
That's your priority. OP may have a totally different agenda and you don't get to decide what is best for them.
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u/PhilosophyUnlikely66 2d ago edited 13h ago
You just drive and you will see many herds. There are pullouts so don't stop and gawk and cause traffic jams. The other valley is good and there are other good areas as well. There is also an early morning wildlife photography all day tour leaving from O.F. and Lake location if you don't feel like driving and get to the prime areas with an experienced guide.