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This week in Yellowstone National Park, give an update on what’s closed in the park, share a quick blurb about the bison hunt, and then jump into the meat of this week’s episode. I talk about the first wolves to roam the park in 60 years, share some tips on how to acclimate yourself to Yellowstone and share a cool place to hike outside the park. Of course, I also share the weather forecast, road conditions, and pretty much everything else you need to be ready for This Week in Yellowstone.
Listen to this as a podcast!
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-yellowstone-national-park/id1789397931
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/41E5WWldz4s7n6NXh2Lahr
RSS: https://rss.com/podcasts/this-week-in-yellowstone-national-park/
The standard disclaimer: I might miss a few things, so if there’s anything else you’d like to know, reach out! I also mention park locations casually, so a quick search might help if you’re unfamiliar. Also, this report only covers driveable areas of the park.
Before we dive in, I want to share that these posts are truly a labor of love. I do not get paid to do it, nor do I have sponsors for them. If you’re enjoying this, I’d love to hear from you. If you’d like to show your appreciation in other ways, I do have guidebooks for sale covering hiking and wildlife watching in the park. I also give hiking tours in Yellowstone, going beyond the boardwalks and giving those who book a tour with me a deeper, more immersive experience of Yellowstone. If you’re interested in the books or a tour, reach out to me directly or check out the tabs on this website
Ok, on to the news.
THIS WEEK’S YELLOWSTONE NEWS
The park is mostly closed. The only way to enter the park this week in a vehicle is the north entrance in Gardiner. The road between Gardiner and Cooke City, Montana, is open all year, giving you access to Mammoth, Roosevelt Junction, Lamar Valley, and the rest of the northern range. I bring this up because, as a guide, I have a lot of people contacting me right now asking about tours and they are staying in Big Sky or West Yellowstone. To reach Gardiner from Big Sky, you’ll have to drive 126 miles, which will take around two and a half hours each way. To reach Gardiner from West Yellowstone, it is a 165-mile drive and will take you over three hours each way. That is just to reach Gardiner. Lamar Valley is another hour or so away.
Other than that, it has been a super slow news week in the park. There is the annual bison hunt occurring outside the park by the confederated tribes who have treaty rights to do so, but so far, the hunt has been very slow as few bison are leaving the park. Bison are also being quarantined as they leave the park’s north entrance to test them for brucellosis. If they test positive, they are put down. If they test negative, some continue to be quarantined and will eventually be relocated to lands and tribes that are hoping to restore their bison population. The reason they aren’t allowed to roam free is because of the ranching lobby. I could go into this more, but it would be a very long episode.
EXPERIENCE OF THE WEEK
I am not sure this is really an experience, but I wasn’t sure where else to share this information, and since it’s a slow week, I thought I would plug it in here and see how it goes.
This is the year of the wolf in Yellowstone National Park, as wolves were reintroduced to the region in 1995, 30 years ago. Throughout the year, I will be sharing some wolf history, and this week is an important week for those wolves of 1995. Fourteen wolves in 1995 were captured in Canada, translocated to Yellowstone, and placed in acclimation pens for ten weeks. There were three original holding pens, the Crystal Creek, the Rose Creek, and the Soda Butte pen. After 10 weeks in the pen, they were “soft” released into the wild. The soft release is what I will be discussing today.
On March 21st, March 22nd, and March 27th of 1995, the acclimation pens were “opened” for the wolves. I used the word opened with quotation marks here because of the method of which they used. Instead of just opening a gate for the wolves and saying see you later, rangers and biologists worked together to find a good place to cut a hole in the fence and let the wolves slowly test the outside world. After all, they had been captured, flown into a new country, and then placed inside a pen, albeit a large one, for 10 weeks.
On March 21st, the Crystal Creek Pen was opened. The next day, March 22nd, the Rose Creek Pen was opened, and then on the 27th of March, the Soda Butte Pen was opened. Despite having freedom first, the six Crystal Creek wolves did not exit their pen until March 31st. The five Soda Butte wolves didn’t exit their pen until the 19th of March. The smallest pack of wolves, the Rose Creek wolves, were the first wolves to roam the wilds of Yellowstone in 60 years. The small group of wolves, numbering only three, had two wolves leave their pen to explore on March 24th, 1995.
All of this information is from the 1995-1996 annual wolf report, found on Yellowstone National Park’s official website.
TIP OF THE WEEK
Being prepared for the park’s elevation
Depending on where you are coming from, adjusting to the elevation in Yellowstone National Park may be tough. Most everywhere you will be in the park this week will be above 6,000 feet above sea level. Mammoth sits at 6,200 feet, Lamar Valley is 6,400 feet, and Cooke City is around 8,000 feet. Even Gardiner is 5,259 feet, just 21 feet under being a mile high.
The main issue will be a slightly less amount of oxygen. At real altitude (in the mountains), the barometric pressure of the atmosphere is much lower than in sea-level environments. The result is that oxygen molecules are spread further apart, lowering the oxygen content of each breath. As a result, the reduced availability of oxygen in the air reduces the blood oxygen saturation in the body. As the percentage of oxygen in the body goes down, the body struggles to efficiently deliver oxygen to tissues, muscles, and the brain. If you are coming from sea level to Mammoth, you will be experiencing a decrease in oxygen effectiveness of 4.3%. It is definitely not the 14% you lose at the top of Mount Everest, but it is still noticeable to the majority of visitors to the park.
While you probably won’t notice much of an elevation change if you stay in the car the whole time, the minute you do physical activity, you could be feeling it. To counteract the elevation difference during activity, I have a few tips. The first few are pretty easy. Get plenty of rest, stay hydrated, give your body energy with good foods, and move a little slower. One tip I do tell a lot of people when booking tours is that if they can, give themselves a day or two to get used to the elevation before doing a strenuous activity. While this may not always be possible, if you can, definitely consider it.
WEATHER FOR THE COMING WEEK
Lamar Valley: This week should start off snowy, with highs in the 30s and lows in the teens and 20s. Thursday is a cloudy and snowy day, getting around an inch. Friday will see around an inch of snow in the evening, then two more inches of snow falling on Saturday morning. Sunday sees sun and temperatures climb into the high 30s, with a chance of rain overnight. Monday will be in the 40s, and then highs in Lamar will hit the 50s on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Cooke City: Cooke City will be colder and snowier, seeing a possible total of nine inches of snow through Monday. Thursday and Saturday are the snowiest days, but the current forecast is also calling for snow on Friday night and Sunday night. Highs will be in the low 30s and lows will be in the teens and 20s. By Tuesday, expect things to warm up quickly, with highs reaching the 50s. This will last at least through Wednesday.
Gardiner: As always, Gardiner will be warmer than Cooke City and Lamar. Highs will be in the upper 30s and low 40s through the weekend, with a chance of rain or snow on Thursday, Friday night into Saturday, and then Sunday night into Monday. Highs on Monday will be in the 50s, climbing through Tuesday and hitting the 60s by Wednesday.
We shall see if these temperatures hold up. As always, the forecast is pretty predictable up to three days out, then it’s kind of a guess to an accurate forecast beyond that.
SNOWPACK UPDATE
The snowpack for the park is in excellent shape. It is currently hovering around 100% of normal, higher than that in some places, just slightly under that in others. With more snow in the forecast, it should remain like this throughout the week.
ROADS CONDITIONS
The roads this week will be less than ideal the farther east you drive. Expect early morning snow and ice in places, with it melting out by late morning or midday.
For up-to-date information call (307) 344-2117 for recorded information, or sign up to receive Yellowstone road alerts on your mobile phone by texting “82190” to 888-777. Anticipate possible road closures due to inclement weather and dangerous driving conditions.
CAMPING INFO
Mammoth Hot Springs is still the only open campground in the park and will continue to be so until May. However, camping options are available and will continue to open up outside of the park.
WILDLIFE WATCHING UPDATE
You have to listen to the podcast to get this information. Sorry.
Listen to the podcast!
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-yellowstone-national-park/id1789397931
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/41E5WWldz4s7n6NXh2Lahr
RSS: https://rss.com/podcasts/this-week-in-yellowstone-national-park/
PICK UP A GUIDEBOOK
Love what you have heard on this podcast and want more information on wildlife watching? Get a copy of my wildlife-watching guidebook to the region! Available in both ebook and paperback formats, my book will help you spot wildlife like a seasoned local. Please consider buying a book directly from me, as I make nothing when they are sold on Amazon. Grab your copy now.
HIKING NEWS AND UPDATES
This isn’t really the best time to hike right now, as you’ll be post-holing way too much to have an enjoyable time on the trails. However, it is still decent for snowshoeing and cross-country skiing. We are definitely nearing the end of the season, though.
TREK OF THE WEEK
Yankee Jim Canyon
Accessed from the west side of Yankee Jim Canyon, this figure-eight-shaped trail puts you in the steps of the indigenous populations that called the region home, as well as lets you walk along the original road that led tourists to Yellowstone. Found at the Southern end of Paradise Valley, just below Tom Miner Basin, the Yankee Jim Canyon Trail is one that nobody, aside from a handful of locals, wanders.
After locating the trailhead parking lot, which is nothing more than a clearing off the dirt road and is unsigned, you have two choices. The easiest is to park and then walk down the dirt road to the river, following the old railway grade upstream. Follow this path for 1.5 miles or so. Along the way, you’ll be above the river, so keep an eye out for wildlife, especially osprey and eagles. You’ll also pass through the parking area for Sphinx Creek Picnic Area and an old cabin. Once beyond the parking area, at the 1.5 to 1.6-mile mark, keep an eye out for an old road on the right. It will look more like a boot path at this point. Take this path.
Along the path, you’ll come across interpretive signs, as well as old advertisements for Gardiner and Yellowstone spray painted on rocks. This is the original road to visit Yellowstone. This is only half a mile long before it drops back down to meet the main path, but it is definitely a hidden gem and something few ever see.
Once you reach the main path, follow the river downstream and retrace your steps to the car. In total, this is about 4 miles with around 400 feet of elevation gain.
If you want more information on this hike, or other hikes in and out of Yellowstone, please contact me, as I have a guidebook specifically for this. It covers over 50 of my favorite hikes in the region, with something for every month of the year. Trust me, it is awesome.
NEXT WEEK
In next week’s episode, I will talk about the upcoming biking season, share a cool trail near Mammoth, and give you another tip that should help you get ready for your trip.
Until next week.
