Yellowstone in Winter: Lamar Valley Wolves and a Snowcoach to Old Faithful

1. Jour 1 : Arrive in Bozeman

   Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport to your hotel in downtown Bozeman

   • Environ 15 min de route
   • Repas du soir
   • Nuit : Bozeman
   Détail du jour 1

   Fly into Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport (BZN), about 15 km from downtown, where a driver meets you for the short ride into town. Most flights connect through Denver, Salt Lake City, Seattle or Minneapolis; plan to land by about 4 pm, and the exact time is confirmed with your final itinerary. Bozeman is a college and ranching town in a wide valley ringed by the Bridger and Gallatin ranges, and its brick Main Street stays lively through the winter. If you arrive early, the afternoon is yours to walk Main Street. In the early evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for the briefing: how the dawn wolf mornings work, what the snowcoach day looks like, and how to dress for twenty below. Your guide checks everyone's boots and layers and hands out the ice cleats, binoculars and warmers we lend you for the week. Then we walk to a welcome dinner together in town.

   Compris

   • Pick-up at Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport (BZN)
   • Welcome briefing and kit check with your guide
   • Loan of ice cleats, binoculars and hand and toe warmers for the trip
   • Welcome dinner in downtown Bozeman

   Temps libre : Free until the early-evening briefing

   

2. Jour 2 : Gallatin Canyon to West Yellowstone

   Bozeman, the Museum of the Rockies, then the Gallatin Canyon by Big Sky to West Yellowstone

   • Environ 2.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : West Yellowstone
   Détail du jour 2

   After breakfast we start at the Museum of the Rockies on the Montana State University campus, known for its dinosaur halls of fossils dug from Montana rock, and its galleries on the people and landscapes of the Yellowstone region. Then we drive south into the Gallatin Canyon on US 191, where the road follows the half-frozen Gallatin River between steep, snowy walls. Watch for bighorn sheep and moose along the river. Lunch is a sit-down meal at Big Sky, about an hour from Bozeman. The road then climbs on along the river, crossing a corner of Yellowstone National Park, to West Yellowstone, a small town at the park's west gate about 145 km from Bozeman. In the afternoon we visit the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center, a non-profit centre where gray wolves and grizzly bears that cannot live in the wild are kept in large outdoor habitats. The bears and wolves are out in their habitats all year, winter included, and the centre's staff explain how packs live and hunt before you look for wild ones. Dinner is free tonight.

   Compris

   • Museum of the Rockies, Bozeman
   • The Gallatin Canyon drive on US 191
   • Sit-down lunch at Big Sky
   • Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center, West Yellowstone

   Temps libre : Late afternoon and dinner free in West Yellowstone

   Activité : US 191 through the canyon can close for a few hours in a storm; if it does, your guide reorders the day.

   

3. Jour 3 : Snowcoach to Old Faithful

   West Yellowstone by snowcoach along the Madison River to the Midway and Upper geyser basins, and back

   • Environ 3.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : West Yellowstone
   Détail du jour 3

   In winter the road from West Yellowstone into the park's geyser country is closed to cars and open only to guided oversnow vehicles, so today we ride a snowcoach, a heated van on tracks, with a licensed driver-guide; your See Sight Tours guide comes too. We leave after breakfast through the West Entrance and follow the Madison River, which stays open in the cold and draws bison, elk and wintering trumpeter swans. At the Lower Geyser Basin we walk the boardwalk at Fountain Paint Pot, then stop at Midway Geyser Basin, where Grand Prismatic Spring throws a wall of steam over the snow. Around midday we reach the Upper Geyser Basin, time a hot lunch at Old Faithful around the park's eruption prediction, and watch Old Faithful go up into the cold air. There are about two hours to walk the boardwalks among the steaming geysers before the ride back in the late light, about 3.5 hours of riding in all with frequent stops. Dinner together in West Yellowstone.

   Compris

   • Full-day guided snowcoach tour from West Yellowstone, with a licensed driver-guide
   • Fountain Paint Pot, Lower Geyser Basin
   • Midway Geyser Basin and Grand Prismatic Spring
   • Old Faithful and the Upper Geyser Basin boardwalks
   • Hot lunch at Old Faithful
   • Dinner in West Yellowstone

   Option plus facile : Watch Old Faithful from the warmth of the visitor centre or the lodge, and stay on the snowcoach at the shorter stops.

   Option plus active : Walk the Upper Geyser Basin boardwalks beyond Geyser Hill toward Castle and Grand geysers, about 3 km with your guide.

   Activité : Boardwalks are packed snow and can be icy; wear the ice cleats. If a storm cancels the snowcoach, the day moves to day 4.

   

4. Jour 4 : Round the mountains to Gardiner

   West Yellowstone through the Gallatin Canyon to Bozeman, then Livingston and the Paradise Valley to Gardiner

   • Environ 4 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Gardiner
   Détail du jour 4

   The morning is free after yesterday's long day: sleep in, ski the groomed Rendezvous Ski Trails at the edge of town, or walk West Yellowstone's quiet streets. In winter the park road between the west and north sides is closed to cars, so to reach the Lamar Valley we drive round the mountains, about 275 km and 3.75 hours, the trip's longest drive. We leave at about 10:30 am, go back down the Gallatin Canyon and stop for a sit-down lunch in Bozeman, about halfway. Then we cross the Bozeman Pass to Livingston and follow the Yellowstone River south through the Paradise Valley, between the Absaroka Range and the Gallatin Range, with a stretch stop on the way. We reach Gardiner, at the park's North Entrance, at about 3:30 pm. In winter, elk, pronghorn and bison often graze on the flats around town. Before dark we walk to the Roosevelt Arch for the last light on Electric Peak. Dinner is free in Gardiner, and the briefing for tomorrow's early start comes with it.

   Compris

   • Sit-down lunch in Bozeman
   • The Paradise Valley drive along the Yellowstone River
   • Roosevelt Arch, Gardiner
   • Briefing for the dawn wolf mornings

   Activités en option

   • Cross-country ski rental for the Rendezvous Ski Trails, West Yellowstone (at local rates, paid on the spot)

   Option plus facile : Sleep in, then read or nap in the vehicle on the drive; the lunch stop in Bozeman is a sit-down meal indoors.

   Option plus active : A morning on the groomed Rendezvous Ski Trails before we leave, or a snowshoe walk with your guide.

   Temps libre : Morning free in West Yellowstone; dinner free in Gardiner

5. Jour 5 : Lamar Valley at dawn and Mammoth

   Gardiner through the North Entrance and Mammoth to Tower Junction and the Lamar Valley, back by Mammoth Hot Springs

   • Environ 3 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Gardiner
   Détail du jour 5

   We leave Gardiner about 1.25 to 1.5 hours before first light, between about 6 and 6:45 am depending on the month, with hot drinks and a packed breakfast in the vehicle. The road through the North Entrance, past Mammoth and Tower Junction into the Lamar Valley is the only road through the park open to cars all winter, about 75 km and 1.25 to 1.5 hours in the dark at winter speeds. At first light we meet a local wildlife biologist and set up spotting scopes at pullouts above the valley. Wolves are most often seen in these first hours, sometimes close to the road, more often a kilometre or more away on a ridge. Your biologist explains which packs use the valley and what their tracks, ravens and howls give away. Most mornings also bring bison, elk, coyotes and bighorn sheep. Late in the morning we drive back to Mammoth Hot Springs for a hot lunch, then walk the lower terrace boardwalks among the steaming travertine. We are back in Gardiner by about 2:30 pm, and the afternoon is free before a farewell dinner.

   Compris

   • Yellowstone National Park entry
   • Dawn wolf watching in the Lamar Valley with a local wildlife biologist and spotting scopes
   • Hot lunch at Mammoth Hot Springs or in Gardiner
   • Mammoth Hot Springs lower terrace boardwalks
   • Farewell dinner in Gardiner

   Activités en option

   • A soak at Yellowstone Hot Springs, about 13 km north of Gardiner (entry extra, paid on the spot)

   Option plus facile : Stay in the heated vehicle with the engine running; your guide fetches you to the scope whenever there is something to see.

   Option plus active : A snowshoe walk of about 2 km in the valley with your guide, conditions permitting, while the scopes stay trained on the ridges.

   Temps libre : Afternoon free in Gardiner

   Activité : You may stand in -20 C for long spells. Wear every layer, keep warmers in your boots and mittens, and bring a spare camera battery.

   

6. Jour 6 : A second dawn, then home

   Gardiner to the Lamar Valley and back, then the Paradise Valley and Livingston to Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport

   • Environ 5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   Détail du jour 6

   One more early start, at the same time as yesterday, for a second dawn in the Lamar Valley with the biologist and the scopes. Wolves move with the packs' hunts, so a quiet first morning is often followed by a good second one, and the reverse; your biologist goes wherever the latest sightings point, which may be Slough Creek or the Blacktail Deer Plateau instead of the valley floor. We watch until about 10 am, then drive back to Gardiner, about 1.25 to 1.5 hours, for a sit-down lunch with suitcases already in the vehicle. The afternoon is the drive north through the Paradise Valley, with a stop in Livingston, to Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport, arriving at about 3 pm. With the Lamar round trip it adds up to about 300 km and 4.75 hours of driving, over our usual 4-hour cap because the wolf road and the airport lie in opposite directions; it comes in four legs, split by the watch in the valley, lunch in Gardiner and the Livingston stop. Book a flight leaving after about 5 pm; if you are staying on, we drop you in downtown Bozeman instead.

   Compris

   • Second dawn wolf watching in the Lamar Valley with a local wildlife biologist and spotting scopes
   • Sit-down lunch in Gardiner
   • Drop-off at Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport (BZN) or downtown Bozeman

   Option plus facile : Sleep in and take breakfast at the hotel; the group collects you in Gardiner before lunch.

   Activité : Book a flight leaving after about 5 pm.

   

Faune et météo : Mid-December to early March is deep winter. Snow pushes bison, elk and bighorn sheep down to the lower valleys of the Northern Range, where they are easier to see, and wolves follow them; January and February are also the wolves' mating season, when packs travel and howl more. Bears are hibernating. Days are short in December (about 9 hours of light) and longer by March. Storms can close the Gallatin Canyon road for a few hours or cancel a snowcoach day; your guide reshuffles the days when that happens.

• Bozeman1 nuit
• West Yellowstone2 nuits
• Gardiner2 nuits