Yellowstone, where to stay?

[david_tibbals2]

I asked a question several weeks ago about Yellowstone and I want to thank all of you for your advice. I still have one more question. I was going to go to Yellowstone the week before Labor day, but most of you suggested latter in the month. So, I have decided to go the last week of September (20th-28th). My question is 1) where should I stay (lodging), and 2) what side of the park? A couple of notes: I want to photograph wildlife, and spend some time fishing. I don't know if the west or east side of the park is better this time of the year for wildlife etc.. I also want the lodging to have a shower and bath in the room, also want a reasonable rate on a room. Please be as specific as possible in towns and hotel/motel names. Thanks again for taking the time to answer my questions!

[bob_atkins]

You have only 3 choices:

<ul>

<li>Stay <em>in</em> the park if anywhere is still open (call and find out)

<li>Gardiner at the North entrance

<li>West Yellowstone at the West entrance

</ul>

There are no other town close to the park. Write or call the

chamber of commerce in each town for an accomodation list (I

know W. Yellowstone has one, I presume Gardiner does too).

[simon_allenby]

I have found the Wyoming Handbook By Don Pitcher (Moon Publications) to be helpful. Contains reviews, pricing, phone numbers etc., of available accomodation by town location. From this source you should be able to determine what meets your criteria. In addition it also contains much other useful information. If you don't want to purchase the book ($13) it should be available at your local library. My personal preferance is to stay at the Yellowstone Village Inn located in Gardiner during the spring (primarily as Dunn Raven pass is closed at that time), and at Al's Westward Ho Motel in West Yellowstone in the fall. If you want any further info please feel free to contact me directly. Regards --- Simon

[ShunCheung]

I perfer to stay inside the Yellowstone National Park because

it'll save a lot of time commuting in and out. In fact, if you

are going to be there for several days, you might consider

staying in different parts of the park to minimize the amount

of driving between where you stay and where you photograph.

[gerry_kruschenske]

I beleive all the info you want is found on the web under National Parks search. Just click on Yellowstone and they explain the whole setup including accommodation and phone numbers for questions!!

[mark_van_bergh]

No one seems to have focused specifically on the "where" question, so I'll give it a try. Depending on the wildlife you are interested in shooting, during my two fall visits to Yellowstone, most of the elk (early morning and late afternoon) seem to congregate somewhere between the Madison Junction and the fields just north of Norris Geyser Basin (they move around and what is a great area one morning or afternoon may have nothing the next day). To me, this means your best options are the Old Faithful area (if you want to stay in the park), or West Yellowstone. Your options in West Yellowstone are far greater than at Old Faithful (as are your dining choices after a long day of shooting). Both locations are located about 15-20 miles from the Madison Junction, so getting to the "prime" wildlife areas is about the same for each (although you will also find wildlife scattered around the Old Faithful Geyser Basin, and may decide you want to spend some early morning light shooting landscapes and other geyser features in and around the Old Faithful area. However, my choice has been to stay in West Yellowstone, where lodging is available considerably cheaper than at Old Faithful. Do not stay at Grant Village (if it is open) or Yellowstone Lake as they are too far from the areas you want to shoot early morning. Gardiner/Mammoth is another option, but the distance from there to the Norris Geyser Basin area is a bit longer than either Old Faithful or W. Yellowstone to Madison, and if the animals are in the Madison area, you still have further to go. However, usually there is a good number of elk that hang out in the Mammoth area, and that is also a better area for shooting pronghorn. If you have a week, you may want to split your time between Old Faithful/W. Yellowstone and Gardiner/Mammoth (the options in Gardiner are a bit less than W. Yellowstone). Finally, if you stay in Gardiner, be sure to check out the burger place that is across the street from the Super 8 Motel (I forget the name, but the burgers and prices are great!). Have a great trip.

[vlf___1]

As a following to Mark answer, one can consider this other arguments:

The road from Old Faithful to Madison Jct is in a really bad shape, it is closed to visitors form 9PM to 9AM with a very slow portion kept as a one way drive (expect half an hour delay at least). As of the end of August 1997, the road was not close to termination at all. I won't expect this road to be finished by the end of September. So if you want to shoot early in the morning and late in the night at a location between Madison Jct and Norris Geyser Basin, West Yellowstone would be my best bet. Mark did not mention that if you want to have a chance to shoot bears and wolves in their natural habitat, your best bet is in the Lamar Valley located at the North East side of the park. The Rose Creek pack lives there and seems to be very active. Their territory crosses the road that goes through the Lamar Valley and bears are always attracted by the rest of the wolves' kills. If you are interested in shooting such actions (wolves hunting) or grizzly bear, you would stay at Mammoth Hot Springs or Gardiner. BTW, there is a management area of the Big Horn Sheep on the road from Gardiner to Mammoth so they are usually easy to spot on the top of cliffs along the road (especially on the side of the river that you cannot access, 300 to 500 required). Your best bet to take pictures of a herd of bisons (not that easy to spot after this last winter kill, 1/3 of the wild heard has been slaugthered by Montana folks) would be to travel in the Hayden Valley (Road from Canyon to Cody Jct). Late in the afternoon sounds good so that you don't need to stay close to this area. Please note that the road from the Cody Jct in the park to Cody is in the same bad shape as the Madison-to-Old Faithful road, and even worse and slower (also closed 9PM to 9AM). However, if you like to shoot bison or elk in the steam of the hot springs, I will explore early in the morning either the Upper Geyser basin (and stay very close to Old Faithful itself) either the first active basin you could find when entering the road that goes from Madison Junction to Norris (accordingly, you would have to stay at Old Faithful Inn or West Yellowstone). Looking for wild Trumpeter Swans, I would look along the Madison river while driving from West Yellowstone to Madison Junction. I think that lodging is best at West Yellowstone but you won't be able to shoot early in the morning in the Lower-Midway-Upper Geyser basin and it is a long long drive to the Lamar Valley (wake up at 3AM necessary !). For birding, I saw many people observing and shooting Ospreys in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, from many of the lookouts located on the West side of the Canyon (nests are easy to spot though impossible to get close, you need a 400-600 bazooka and the Canyon is frequently windy and crowded !). I would split my stay between West Yellowstone and Gardiner while focussing on wildlife only and choose to stay in West Yellowstone and Old Faithful while focussing on geothermal wonders.

Note that from what I observed last week, many of the Mosquitoes already died ! :) Vincent.

[mike f]

Has anyone had experience spending time in Yellowstone in the winter in a motorhome?