p.2 #2 · Yellowstone is a Winter Wonderland...Various Critters, Landscapes
Lovely photos, Richard!
Could you share some more details about the tour you did with the foundation? Is that something you pre-arranged? Any info you can provide would be great. Thanks!
p.2 #3 · Yellowstone is a Winter Wonderland...Various Critters, Landscapes
Our trip was basically two parts. The first part was a three day 'winter wolf expedition' with the Yellowstone Forever foundation. This is the big foundation that works in and around the park, with all sorts of educational and other programs. This program stays in the northern part of the park, where there are roads open and plowed in the winter. This includes the Lamar valley which is where we focused our attention. They take you around in a small bus, provide some meals, and you do at least one other outdoor activity each day weather permitting. We did a couple of easy snow shoes to interesting spots. Otherwise you are driving around looking for critters, with a focus on the wolves. They all have radios so there is pretty good communication on where the wolves might be. Our guide was terrific, amazingly knowledgeable in just about everything about the park. He also gave us some interesting educational talks at our lunch break.
As for the wolves, I will say this. If you see any up close, either it is because they made a kill near the road, or the wolf made a mistake. They do not like humans, unlike some of the other animals in the park that don't seem to care much. Although we saw 3 different wolf packs or parts thereof over the three days, for the most part they were very, very far away. Very few cameras there, mostly spotting scopes. All my wolf pics were taken with my 500 with 1.4x attached. It worked really well, but conditions were tough with mostly grey, overcast light with a snowy background. Also handheld, I just didn't have room to take my big tripod with all the other camera gear I brought along...all of which I used. We stayed in Gardiner, just outside the north entrance to the park. After this part of the trip we took the snowcoach and headed down to Old Faithful area.
If you have any other questions let me know. YF runs these wolf trips all winter, until the end of February. That's basically the end of the winter season for the park. We are already talking about going back next winter.
p.2 #4 · Yellowstone is a Winter Wonderland...Various Critters, Landscapes
Thank you! We will definitely look for professional guidance on our next trip. We did ok the last time on our own, but clearly, having an expert guide would make a big difference!
p.2 #6 · Yellowstone is a Winter Wonderland...Various Critters, Landscapes
Thanks. The nice thing about winter vs summer is that not only are there few people around, but those who dare go to YS in winter really, really want to be there...given the inhospitable climate, lack of lodging/food, etc....No big tour buses of people just checking the box that they have been to the park. Everyone is keenly interested in the wildlife in particular, at least up in the north. In the southern part of the park, most people are there for cross country skiing, snow shoeing and the like...but there are obviously critters down there as well. The weather is much better in the north...a little warmer usually, and a lot less snow. The south gets dumped as you can see from my pics. I have some crazy snow pics that I didn't bother to share here, since I get 'yelled' at for posting too many pics on a topic.
p.2 #7 · Yellowstone is a Winter Wonderland...Various Critters, Landscapes
Looks like you had a great trip and I was likelythere at the same time leading a group.. I did 4 winter tours this year From late January to early March... I'd guess you stayed at Absaroka Lodge in Gardiner. We had great otters this year in the interior. Saw 14 in one day... Had great wolves in Hayden Valley Mollies and Wapiti Lake Packs. Only had the bobcat once along the Madison. Quite a few wolf sightings in the Lamar but rarely close enough for decent photography....
p.2 #8 · Yellowstone is a Winter Wonderland...Various Critters, Landscapes
Sounds like I should go with you! Our best otter sightings (a couple of pics above) were literally taken right from our hotel room in Gardiner...we stayed at the best western which wasn't fancy, but was fine. We didn't look for wolves in the south, but I guess you were in a snow coach in Hayden..we didn't go to that part of the park. Too many other things we wanted to do, including an amazing day cross country skiing in the canyon section.
p.2 #10 · Yellowstone is a Winter Wonderland...Various Critters, Landscapes
cohenfive wrote:
Sounds like I should go with you! Our best otter sightings (a couple of pics above) were literally taken right from our hotel room in Gardiner...we stayed at the best western which wasn't fancy, but was fine. We didn't look for wolves in the south, but I guess you were in a snow coach in Hayden..we didn't go to that part of the park. Too many other things we wanted to do, including an amazing day cross country skiing in the canyon section.
Wow behind Best Western.. Very cool have never heard of otters being seen there but no surprise. they cover lots of ground... We do 3 days of chartered snowcoach in the interior from West and then 3.5 days in the northern range. I love the Hayden in winter.. Most of our otter sightings were on the Yellowstone River in the Hayden..
p.2 #11 · Yellowstone is a Winter Wonderland...Various Critters, Landscapes
Great shots. Gardiner is actually located on the northwestern entrance and not the eastern entrance. Just a minor typo. At first I thought you stayed at the Absaroka motel which overlooks the river, but I believe the Best Western is further up the main road?
p.2 #12 · Yellowstone is a Winter Wonderland...Various Critters, Landscapes
You are right of course. I knew that, just had a brain error. BW in Gardiner is right as you get into the main part of town, and it is on the river of course...
p.2 #15 · Yellowstone is a Winter Wonderland...Various Critters, Landscapes
Clothing--we basically dressed warm, like we were going skiing. Lots of layers, ski pants, long underwear, snow boots, ski hat...my wife even brought ski goggles, I used regular sunglasses. I wore my ski shell with a couple of warm layers underneath. When looking at the wolves we were pretty exposed out on a bluff in Lamar valley. Feet were just a bit cold but nothing terrible. Hands were a problem only in that I had to take off gloves to shoot at times, but that's what you have to do. I guess I could have used glove liners which might have enabled me to shoot with them on. Next time that's something I will try. The hood on my ski shell came in very handy when the wind was blowing. With all this gear, we were only cold one morning when we went out to YS lake to see some geothermal features. The wind was really whipping off the frozen lake as we walked around. Otherwise not terrible, just dress well with high quality modern gear and you should be fine. We skied and snowshoed in the same clothing, and actually were very comfy because we were exercising. Big thing is to have warm boots and socks, maybe use sock liners as well as warm ski type socks.
On the camera front, I didn't do anything special with my gear. Didn't have any issues with batteries, always had a couple of spares with me which I never even came close to using. Not much I can do to protect a 500mm lens, can't stuff that under my jacket! It obviously was wearing a lenscoat and I had the neoprene lens cover on it when I wasn't actively shooting. We had some light snow that didn't pose a problem. Heavy snow would have required more elaborate cover. I also did not use a tripod, that put me in the minority for sure..but I had so much other camera gear I just didn't bother bringing my big tripod/gimbal. I was fine hand holding, just shot at a fast shutter speed..But I could see having a tripod being a big help if you are going to stay in one place for an hour or more.
p.2 #18 · Yellowstone is a Winter Wonderland...Various Critters, Landscapes
Nice shots. I really want to go back in winter. Only time I went in winter was back in 2010 as part of a photography tour group, and we didn't see much wildlife. No fox, no wolves. I've seen plenty of wolves close up in Spring, and most of the time they have carcasses they're on, but sometimes you can catch packmembers who cross the roads at around the same time every day, if you keep your ears and eyes open.
p.2 #19 · Yellowstone is a Winter Wonderland...Various Critters, Landscapes
Well, Richard surely lucked out because the times I have been to YNP the wolves were seen at great distance (as he mentions, although he did get some closer shots). Sighting is touch-and-go, IMO. Some people make use of scanners and are able to connect with Park Rangers' observations.
Rik, did the park ranger who drove the yellow Nissan Xterra (I think his name was Rich) and who patrolled the Lamar eastern corridor retire?
p.2 #20 · Yellowstone is a Winter Wonderland...Various Critters, Landscapes
dalite wrote:
Rik, did the park ranger who drove the yellow Nissan Xterra (I think his name was Rich) and who patrolled the Lamar eastern corridor retire?
If you mean Rick McIntyre, he's not actually a Ranger, per se, he's a biologist and researcher. As far as I know, he's still there, but he drives a Prius now.
