West Yellowstone Favorites

Favorite thing: The 14 mile drive from the West Entrance of Yellowstone to the main park road, gives you the opportunity to watch for wildlife. This Yellowstone Park Road lies along the Madison River, and takes you to Madison Junction. Elk, are particularly common along the open meadows that lie along the river. You may wish to stop at the parking lot you will see along the route, and scan the area with binoculars or a spotting scope. Elk are the second largest member of the deer family. Living near forests, and often seen in meadows lying along forested areas, these animals feed on leaves and other plants. During the fall mating season, the bull elk calls out in what is called a bugle. This sounds like a combination of shrill whistles and grunts. The shrill drawn out whistle of the male’s bugle, carries a long distance, and is done to attract females (cows). Elk weigh around 450 - 1,090 pounds, and grow to about 6.5 to 10 feet in length. Like all the wild animals in the Greater Yellowstone Area, elk can be dangerous, so keep a safe distance away, at least 25 yards, and if they react to you in any way, back off, and stay close to your car. In the fall, especially, bulls have been know to attack cars when disturbed.

Fondest memory: I have not heard elk bugling in the wild very often, but it is one of my most favorite nature sounds. If you are lucky enough to hear this, it is a sound you will never forget. If you happen to visit Cody, Wyoming, step into the Buffalo Bill Historical Center’s Draper Museum of Natural History, and listen carefully to the sounds. Here you will hear a recording of the high pitched whistle of a bull elk during mating season.

4 more images

Favorite thing: West Yellowstone appears to be a cute little town. Most of the time I was driving through to get to the park, or I was in a motel room, or I was in the airport waiting to fly out so I really didn't get to see much of it. The airport is about 2.5 miles from town.

I can tell you exactly what is in the airport (bathrooms, food counter, one gate (photo 2), two car rental kiosks, check in desk, baggage inspection place, TSA scanner (photo 3), private plane parking), but not much about the town itself.

Favorite thing: There is a main thoroughfare running through the center of town. It's lined with stores, saloons, restaurants and a few hotels, all designed with a rustic, western flare. In the distance a range of snow-capped mountains are in view.

Favorite thing: Where food is abundant, bears are generally tolerant of other bears. Though the grizzlies are fed and well cared for at the Grizzly Discovery Center, natural instinct still dictates when to torment or tolerate. Every hour of observation here yields some new and important tidbit of information about how animals interact in the wild. The wolves and grizzlies here pay virtually no attention to those spectators gaping from the fence, but rather to themselves, their food, their issues and priorities, and for the bears, their games and their bath.

Favorite thing: The wolves generally appear in their habitat all at once. The bears are brought out in revolving groups of various sizes, ranging from one to four bears at a time. The largest bear Toby (at 850 pounds) seems little bigger than Sam at 550 pounds. You might hope to see both bears together, but if they have fought together in the past 24 hours, the Center might run them at different times for the next week.

You get the general idea.