Yellowstone

Yellowstone is a magnificent place, but it wasn’t at its best this July. The sky was really hazy from fires, and landscape shots were pretty much out of the question. So, we concentrated on wildlife.

The Haden and the Lamar valleys yielded the best photographs. These are special places that present the best of the west: wide open spaces, rivers, and wild animals. It’s as scenic as it gets. Everywhere you look, you can imagine a scene for a movie. As an added bonus, they are less crowded than Mammoth or the western areas along the Madison River, the Firehole River, and the geyser basins.

Speaking of crowds, we’re never going back in July. It’s just too crowded, and many of the crowd behave poorly. I’ve been skeptical of national parks requiring reservations and limiting the number of people allowed in the park on a particular day, but I’m afraid that the time has come to limit the crowds, as controversial as it is.

We were surprised to see almost no wildlife along the Madison and Firehole rivers. We did see the only elk of the trip about halfway between the entrance station and the Madison campground, but they were few and too far away for photographs. These valleys are as iconic as the Haden and Lamar valleys, and on previous visits held abundant wildlife. Maybe it was the crowds.

I could go on about the crowds, but that would just reveal what a cranky old guy I am. So, I won’t. I will say, please don’t harass the animals. You are visiting their home. Leave them alone.

When to go back? Not summer for sure. Fall is excellent, but there are lots of great fall destinations. Spring, with new calves, new life, and the wildlife recovering from winter, would be a good choice. But, we’re thinking about winter. Only the Mammoth area and the Lamar Valley are open then, but winter wildlife photography in the Lamar Valley is as good as it gets. Besides, January rents in Gardener are really inexpensive.