Lamar is the other main area in Yellowstone known for animal watching. When I hear the name Lamar, I think of the character from the movie “Nerds.”
We loaded up with lunch and dinner this time at Firehole BBQ and Ernie’s sandwiches (again) so we could stay however late we wanted to without having to get back before restaurants closed for the night.
No pics on the way out at night but all I have to say is that the setting skyline at dusk is absolutely picturesque. What a great trip so far!
Oof. We got gridlocked going in at 1130 a.m. We’d heard rush hour was normally at 8 am so this was a surprise. But it was only a 5-minute wait so not bad, really.
We stopped at a few spots along the different river systems to try our luck. We visited Madison, Gibbon, and the Slough rivers. I began to notice that I was analyzing the different sections of rivers while driving. Depth, cover, speed. Think like a fish. What happens if the waters are warmed by the hot springs? What do trout even eat? Probably not what I’m throwing.
I noticed that I was taking my fishing forceps and nail clippers wherever I went.
Note my bear bell to alert bears of our approach. I didn’t want to pay 35 bucks for a can of bear spray (capsicum) that I couldn’t take home, plus we weren’t straying off the paths too much.
My favorite portion was the Slough as it was calm and deep and located at the end of a road by a campground. In this area at night supposedly you can hear the resident wolf packs howling.
…to the next area!
Norris Geyser Basin
Here at Norris we saw more geysers, hot springs, fumaroles, and mudpots.
Steamboat Geyser eruptions are extremely sporadic ranging between 4 days and 5 decades in between events. We’re not getting our hopes up in seeing the largest (in volume) geyser erupt here in Yellowstone. It can go up to 300 feet high, three times as high as Old Faithful.
From there we went east to Lamar Valley to try our luck at animal spotting. We saw bison galore…
…and one bald eagle while hanging out at one of the many lookouts.
We were hoping to see a bear or wolf to round out the animals spotted so we hung around staring at an old carcass across the way. A regular at the park showed us where the Lamar pack den/home was located up on one of the mountainsides. He said that in the park are a wolf guy and also a bear guy who are local fanatic volunteers who practically live at the park. Apparently each pack has a name and an area that they roam around in. While in the park they are protected however once they leave they are targeted by hunters. The individual wolves have tracking collars and so the resident wolf man goes around with a radar-type device and can tell you which direction a particular pack is. In the end we didn’t have any luck in spotting wolves. The dude we talked to said that natural events like windy days or other conditions may cause the pack to stay put and that the area we were trying to spot them at typically has lots of bison. Only one was at that spot so maybe the stars weren’t aligning for us.
We did see tons more bison on and near the roads while driving in and out of the area. It took us two hours to drive from Lamar back out to West Yellowstone. Although the night driving was more difficult than with daylight, it was peaceful and a joy to be immersed in such beautifully preserved nature.
The WOO family page 