Yellowstone Winter 2025 Trip Report, Days 15 – 16 (The End!)

January 23, 2025

Temperatures plunged overnight, which I thought was great, as it meant we’d have clearer skies, some sunshine, and a little less gray. The familiar drive eastward was quiet until we came across a few bison skipping and skidding down the icy road. Once they got into the snow, we passed carefully… and soon were upon another set of bison.

This pattern repeated itself, until we at last ended up in a small jam behind a couple other vehicles. They did fairly well getting through, though the car in front of me motioned for me to back off… which I would not do, as it would let bison back in between us (at 10 mph, there was plenty of room to break). Remember, one way to expedite your journey through a bison herd is to stick close to the leaders of your line.

Though it wasn’t as smooth as navigating a jam I faced a couple weeks back—that included park vets and wolf project personnel behind the wheel—we made it through in decent time. Once free, we rolled ahead, and soon had more and more bison to our left down the hill.

Wednesday’s mass march through Little America was being repeated between Hellroaring and Roosevelt. As we approached the junction, I saw that the many, many more bison in the flats were heading toward the road. Any planned bathroom break had to be put on hold… we had to beat them to the bridge! We made it, and the efficient work apparently saved us at least 45 minutes, according to the folks who came through behind us.

Our reward? Getting to the Lamar Valley in time to see it blanketed in warm light and a low layer of fog. Same as last week, in fact, and just as I lamented the lack of wildlife we had on that previous glorious morning, I spied a shape in the fog.

It was a bison. A lone bull, marching down the soft slope onto the valley floor, where no bison had previously disturbed the snow. Fortunately, we had a pullout ahead, and were able to pile out and get some shots of this dreamy scene.

The rest of the morning passed in relative quiet. For the first time on this trip, I saw wolves, the Mollies perched high on a northern ridge (just dots for our big lenses). Repeated passes at the Confluence yielded no otter sightings, but we finally did see the first Golden Eagle of the trip. A lone moose wandered the Soda Butte Valley. Up the road a bit, just past Pebble Creek, we spied a moose cow and calf in the road. It’s a scene that worked best for a vertical shot.

We switched things up for lunch, dining at Cooke City Coffee and grabbing treats from the Stop the Car, while ignoring the fed-fox photo ops on the edge of town. Following a tip we received in Silver Gate, we stopped at a pullout and got a glimpse of a nice herd of mountain goats on a high ledge (thanks, K!).

Further onward, another tip (Pygmy-owl) didn’t quite pan out. So we took matters into our own hands and went on a short walkabout, in search of other owls. However, we instead landed a Pygmy-owl—lifer spot by client Leah!—flushed a grouse, and scored a Three-toed Woodpecker (not a good photo, but look how it’s knocking that giant piece of bark off the tree).

While we were wrapping up that search, an elusive Northern Saw-whet Owl was seen briefly near the road a few miles to the east. Crazy!

It was time to head home, and on the way we found time to pause for some lovely pink skies seen from the hills below Mammoth.

One day left for glory!

January 24, 2025

Yellowstone appears to be bouncing back and forth between cold/clear and warm/snowy days quite a bit. Today was the latter. What would it mean for sightings?

Nothing good, initially. The quiet morning drive was interrupted by sporadic coyote sightings, which got my group’s collective shutter fingers warmed up. Eventually we ended up at Round Prairie, where a couple of large bison were relatively close to the road and covered with snow. This type of sighting was still on the wish list for this group, so we turned around and took time to watch one big guy trudge uphill.

While making a pass through the greater Hellroaring area, Client Nicki spied a “small brown bird” flying low across the road. Not having seen it myself, and without an LBJ book for reference, I surmised that the most likely candidates were two birds with names ending in “owl.” But we never found it, and could only speculate.

Following a lunch stop outside the northeast corner, we said goodbye to Silver Gate and Cooke City, and returned for our final pass through the park. The Lamar was oddly quiet in terms of traffic, with most photographers and all wolf watchers absent. It almost feels sad to see this great valley abandoned. There’s so much potential for species, and we’ve managed to see a fair amount of wildlife despite these quieter moments. To see the Lamar shunned feels odd and sometimes wrong.

Anyway, it was dead. So we bounced.

At Roosevelt, we finally landed another Northern Pygmy sighting, with the bird high atop a conifer in an extremely heaving snow storm. Once it flew, Nicki was almost certain that was the bird she saw earlier in the day.

Across the road, a lone raven cawed goodbye.

We drove west. Upon request, we exited the park and drove the boundary road while there was a little daylight left. It took a while, but we eventually found the first pronghorns and bighorn sheep of the trip. Then, back to Gardiner for our farewell dinner.

As a side note, it was wonderful catching up with some old friends and acquaintances today, just in time prior to my departure. The last 2+ weeks have been filled with some happy reunions, both professional and personal, and despite the resulting lack of sleep, I’ve greatly enjoyed taking some extra time to catch up with folks.

Big, big thanks to my group this week: Heather, Leah, Nicki, and Tracy. We had an awesome and fun week together, while enjoying a lot of new experiences for the Yellowstone rookies and veterans alike.

On a related note, there are a few sightings and adventures that were not described here in the reports, so do stay tuned for the publication of the photos in the coming weeks. Thanks for following my trip reports!

I’ve now been photographing the park for over 25 years, and continue to enjoy so many new experiences! Want to join me on a future Yellowstone adventure? My next park tours are likely to occur in 2027, including a return in winter. Visit the Workshops & Tours page and get on the waiting list for future tours!