Blog & Trip Reports

One thing I like about guiding in Yellowstone National Park is that every day is different. There are some days where we have to work hard to find wildlife, and there are other days where Yellowstone smiles upon us and decides to share her bounty at every bend in the road. This was one of…

The howl of a wild wolf cuts right through to the soul. It is a haunting and beautiful sound, full of ancient wisdom, yearning, passion, and sorrow. I have heard that call many times, usually from a great enough distance that there is a few-second lag between seeing the howl in our spotting scopes and…

It was cold, dark, and early when I picked up the mixed group for day one of four we would have together. People in this group came from all over: a couple people from the Midwest; England was represented along with Canada; and someone even traveled all the way from Australia! They were strangers, soon…

“Only the mountain has lived long enough to listen objectively to the howl of a wolf,” wrote philosopher, forester, and conservationist Aldo Leopold. The words appeared in his famous essay “Thinking Like a Mountain,” which eloquently examines the presence—or lack of—wolves in the environment and how it affects deforestation of the landscape. Here in Yellowstone,…

“Brrrr! But isn’t it cold visiting Yellowstone National Park during winter?” While outdoor temperatures certainly drop in the world’s first national park during December through early March, rest assured we at Yellowstone Wild Tours are prepared and well equipped to help you enjoy frost-covered wildlife and snowy landscapes in comfort and style while on tour…

“Owl!” I heard excited voices calling from the front of the snow coach. It was a beautiful December morning on the road between Mammoth Hot Springs and Norris Geyser Basin in Yellowstone, and I was in the back seat of a snowcoach – a tricked-out van with massive low-pressure tires for navigating the snowed-over roads…

Photo Courtesy Al DeNoise Yellowstone National Park is a winter wonderland with its pristine, snow-covered landscapes and abundant wildlife. Among the park’s most fascinating creatures are the weasels, which seem to perform their own magical transformation as they turn the color of their fur and hair coats, called pelage, from a sleek, chestnut brown to…

Yellowstone Wild guides work to understand the tracks left by a pack of wolves. Photo by Emil McCain Navigating snow, sagebrush, and downed timber, Yellowstone Wild Owner Emil McCain and 2023-24 winter guides came across telltale prints in the mid-December snowpack: wolves! The tracks merged, converged, showed signs of trotting and loping, and at times crisscrossed…

Photo courtesy of Rob Harwood Wildness will always envelop the North Entrance gateway community of Gardiner, Montana, the only year-round entry to Yellowstone National Park. Every autumn, as cold air threatens the highlands and snow skiffs across the landscape, grass-eating animals start long, stoic treks toward the fields and river valleys waiting below them. Like…

The grizzly bear, (Ursus arctos horribilis), has become an icon of Yellowstone National Park and of the wilderness in general. For a large portion of Yellowstone visitors, a grizzly bear sighting ranks right up toward the top of the bucket list, alongside witnessing such famous attractions as Old Faithful Geyser, the Grand Canyon of the…

It’s 6am in Lamar Valley. I wonder what we will see. You’re probably asking why there are already 100 vehicles lining the roadsides near the Lamar Buffalo Ranch, and whether the hundreds of visitors pointing spotting scopes out into the distance are seeing something. As it usually turns out, those people are watching–looking for or…

And just like that, our summery, late-August days recede, and Yellowstone’s natural calendar tells us autumn is fast approaching. Willows, cottonwoods, and aspen trees crisp yellow at their leafy edges with this shift at high elevations our first intimation of the change of seasons. Grasses and wildflowers wave brown, white headed, and weather beaten, testifying…