Trip Report: Yellowstone (Jan. 15-19, 2024) Part one

Well, I’m back from Yellowstone and what was possibly my least successful trip in a long time. Before we dive into the trip report (which will hopefully still be entertaining to read, I did see a lot of wolves) let’s dissect why.

For four Januarys now, I’ve made it a tradition to pack my warmest sleeping bag and head to the Northern Range of Yellowstone to spend a week with snowy bison, thick coated coyotes, and when I’m lucky, wolves. Often times I’m combining vacation days with MLK Day, so safe to say I have spent many January blankteenths in the park.

I have never seen it like this. Where was all the snow?! Once you got eastward there was pretty consistent snow on the ground, but it was less than half of what it normally is. What is usually a winter wonderland with feet of snow in untouched mounds, covering up all the sage and providing a perfectly white background, was now a muddy, slushy, splotchy mess. Sage was still visible everywhere and bison were easily grazing on grass poking up, where they’re usually snowplowing through three feet of the good stuff.

So let’s get into this trip report! As a reminder, in winter most of Yellowstone National Park is closed. Parts of the interior are accessible by snow coach, but they usually run $300-$500 a seat, so I take my Subaru and my cheap economical ass up to the Northern Range and spend the week ping-ponging between Gardiner and Cooke City.

Up top is the 50 mile stretch of road I have come to know very well.

DAY 1 (Jan. 16):

Temperature: 0°F
Start Time: 6:30am
Miles Driven: 138 (actually more considering I carpooled with Cat at times)

Excited to see the park for the first time in months, I woke up an hour and a half before sunrise and headed in. My friend Cat Wood had narrowly missed the Rescue Creek Pack crossing the road the night before, so we met up in Mammoth to caravan and made note to check that area throughout the day. Thirty minutes later, it was actually colder (-9°F) as we pass Phantom Lake.

By 7:30am we’ve reached Lamar Valley. It’s still -9°F, but what was once pitch black outside my windows is now blue hued hills of snow with lots of sage grass. I remark to my notes app there’s definitely more visible sage than most years, but there is a bit more snow than I was expecting, so I’m happy for now. Best of all, there’s no more traffic light at the Lamar River area! Although it was a nice excuse to stop and fish a snack out of the back of my car, I’m glad to see it gone and the flow of the park returned to normal.

January 16th, 2023 vs. January 18th, 2024

Around 9:30am we spot a group of wolves on the other side of the valley, jogging in a perfectly straight line eastward. Cat and I follow them pullout by pullout until we realize they’re heading to an old bison carcass she told me about, and we jet ahead to sit and wait for them there. Soon enough they arrive, howling and regrouping at the carcass, sniffing and snacking on whatever is left of it. We watch them for a while, too far away for our for our cameras, but still a joy to watch the little pixels play and nap on my camera’s back screen.

We leave them after a couple hours, heading into Cooke City for some hot chocolate at Cooke City Coffee before heading back to the Junction Buttes. All in all we count between 10 and 12 wolves.

Where there are wolves, there are often ravens, especially on carcasses. “Work smarter, not harder,” says the Raven.

Realizing they most likely weren’t going to come closer to the road before sunset, I start to make my way back to Gardiner, stopping along the way to observe some more far off wolves near Elk Creek. Although it was also too far for anything great, I count it as a win because it was my first time seeing Mollie’s Pack! Most of their territory lies in the eastern interior of the park, but it seems like every winter or so they’ll come up to the northern boundaries of their territory to test and antagonize the Junction Buttes.

I get back into Gardiner and treat myself to an early dinner at Wonderland Cafe. I’ve always gravitated to meat on a menu, but am trying to eat a little less meat where I can so I decide to adventure to the vegetarian side of the menu and was not disappointed. The Stuffed Portobello Mushroom was generously filled with pesto, sun-dried tomatoes, and goat cheese, and filled me up just as well as a burger would have. 10 out of 10 would definitely recommend it!

Come back tomorrow for the next day’s trip report, where I meet a living legend and a very hard working rodent.
xoxo Chrissy