Yellowstone in Fall

[Nick]

Okay, so let's say I actually follow through and plan a trip to Yellowstone. What's fall like up there? What's the best time in the fall to visit? Any unusual attractions that time of year? I know there are more animal sightings in the spring, what happens in fall? More tourist attacks so the bears can fatten up for winter? Any advice is appreciated.

 

[Yellowstone 1]

Fall is a great time to visit Yellowstone! The skeeters are gone, the elk are rutting and the best part NO crowds. Way less people near the end of September and early October. The animal sightings stay consistent. The bears are fattening up on grasses, moths and white bark pine nuts and looking for dens. You can look at my trip report Yellowstone 2006 "My Honeymoon" It can snow and will! The mornings are usually foggy. The services start to close near the end of September so less places to gas up or get snacks etc in the park. You can look at closing dates here You can get good deals on stuff if you want closeout shirts, sweatshirts and other stuff. You can get off season rates at the motels in West or cabins in Island Park.

 

[JD]

My folks have poperty just outside of west. My 30 plus years of going up there late august the crowds are leaving maybe a bit hectic on labor day but not bad nothing like July. The weather can be all over the place we have a saying up there winter ,4th of july, winter. Bugs start to die down late august. Sept is a great bet, October can be snowy or warm at our cabin we have had the lake ice over thin and a foot plus of snow and other years mid 50's. I believe they still shut down the gates to the park in late October to allow the snow to build for the winter season in December.
As yellowstone said above it can and will snow weve had snow in late July.

 

[HomerJ]

The skeeters are gone, the elk are rutting and the best part NO crowds.

:twothumbs: This is EXACTLY why I LOVE Yellowstone in the fall! I absolutely love it that time of year!

I'd also add NO KIDS (almost none)!!!! Plus the fall colors are on! The Rangers and staff are a lot more laid back!

I think the best time is around the 3rd week of Sept. You have to watch the weather though because it can be cold and snowy and just plain miserable or it can be like my trip a few years ago where we had awesome weather! And like Yellowstone 1 said, most places are still open! I have found that a lot of people will go right after Labor Day and if I wait about a week there are half as many people there.

 

[wes242]

I always go up at the end of Sept early Oct. You catch the end of the Rut, but then get to hit the Fall colors in the Tetons. I will be going up there for a week around Oct 1st to the 7th. I didn't go last year and it was the first time in 8 years, I miss it. I mainly shoot wildlife in Yellowstone, but I might try some night geyser shots. It will be a bit chilly then for sure.

 

[Yellowstone 1]

I always go up at the end of Sept early Oct. You catch the end of the Rut, but then get to hit the Fall colors in the Tetons. I will be going up there for a week around Oct 1st to the 7th. I didn't go last year and it was the first time in 8 years, I miss it. I mainly shoot wildlife in Yellowstone, but I might try some night geyser shots. It will be a bit chilly then for sure.

In 1993 my buddy was working at Old Faithful so we went to see him and stayed in his dorm. One of the nights we were there we went out to watch Old Faithful go off in the full moon light. AWESOME!!! It was so cool to see it like that. With nobody around you could hear it well before it erupted and you could actually feel the ground rumble before and during the eruption. In all the years I've been going I have vowed to myself that I was going to get my full moon shot but never have. A word of caution though if you are going to do night shots towards the mountain side of the Old Faithful geyser basin. Watch for animals. I went out there like an idiot and stumbled upon a bison. The bison charged me and luckily I tripped and fell onto the other side of the boardwalk as the bison passed by. Would it have been able to gore me I don't know, but it scared the livin shit out of me.

 

[Nick]

Question for everyone who knows their way around Yellowstone.. if I was heading up with Audra first week of Oct to do short hikes but no camping, would Jackson be too far from the park for a good trip?

 

[wes242]

My wife and I are going up that way the 1st week of October. Jackson to Yellowstone can be a bit of driving there and back depending where you want to go in Yellowstone. I usually Stay in Jackson a couple days and do the Tetons, then work my way to West Yellowstone and stay a few days and drive from there. I do think about staying in Gardiner then I will be closer to the north end for less driving. I go to yellowstone mainly for Wildlife shots which can mean a ton of driving to find some action.
We are working on getting our trip ready too. Hotel prices are not what they used to be for that week. I used to find places for $35 a night.

 

[Yvonne]

I would stay in West Yellowstone or Gardiner, MT. Much shorter driving time into the park.
What about renting a cabin in the park?

 

[HomerJ]

It's over an hour drive from Jackson to the South Entrance. It's doable, but I'd try and stay closer like in Gardner (like wes242 suggested) or you could stay in West Yellowstone or in Cooke City. It kinda depends on what areas of the park you'll hit the most. For me, I'd pick Cooke City because then I could check out the Bear Tooths!!!

Of course, if you stayed in Jackson you could hit up Teton Park some of the time and YNP when you felt like driving further. The leaves at Oxbow Bend should be at their prime that time of year!!!

This was taken: 9/26/2010

 

[JD]

Nick,
I would suggest you pick the hikes or things you want to see in one half and stay just outside the park or even a cabin in the park to maximize your time. The driving to and from can be very time consuming as the park is so big. Jackson is a haul to get any place north in the park. Is car camping out for you?

 

[Nick]

Woohoo!! Finally booked a hotel for the first weekend in October in West Yellowstone. It's on! So two questions now. What should we do and what size of lens should I rent? 100-400?

 

[Yellowstone 1]

If you're taking pics of wildlife I'd go for the big lens. Places to go Lamar Valley awesome fall colors and chance to see wolves with all the other wildlife. Hiking pretty much any trail depending on what you want in a hike. Where ya staying in West?

 

[IntrepidXJ]

Nick, since you are probably planning on photographing wildlife and renting instead of buying, I'd go with a faster lens than the 100-400mm. I have the 100-400 and it's a good lens for intimate landscapes and inaccessible rock art, but not for wildlife. I'd look into renting a faster prime...maybe a 300 or 400 or even a 500. You could also pick up a 1.4x or 2x extender to make it a little more versatile. Of course, I'm not sure how much more these lenses cost to rent, but if they are significantly more than the 100-400, you could probably get away with it

 

[wes242]

100-400 is what I have and it is nice cause sometimes the animals are close to you. However there a many times that my 500 with a 1.4x on it wasn't enough. The lens I have always wanted for yellowstone is the Sigmonster... 300-800mm I would have bought it too back in my single days. My uncle uses the Canon 300 f2.8, the nice thing with this is you can get the 1.4x and 2x and still be in good shape. I guess it depends on what you want to shoot and how lucky you are at finding it. I am hoping to bring the 500mm this trip myself.

 

[Nick]

I think I'm going to rent the 100-400 with an extender. The 400 and 500 primes are bloody expensive! If I just get one extender, is there any benefit to the 1.4x vs the 2x other than the 2x obviously extending more.

 

[wes242]

The downside to having that 2x on the 100-400 is your shooting at f11 and it won't auto focus on a crop body. But yeah the price to rent those bad boys are expensive.

 

[Nick]

Ahhh.. I see. So if I go with the 1.4 will I still have autofocus on my 60D? Is it even worth getting the extender? It's $30 for a week.

 

[wes242]

I haven't looked into that in a long time, but from what I remember was that the Canon 1.4x wouldn't work either unless you taped off 2 of the contacts. I bought a tamron years ago and it worked fine. I rarely use the 1.4x just cause it isn't as sharp. But still handy to have durning some of those shots. Depending on what your shooting most of the animals aren't moving to fast so you can still manual focus on them with the 2x

 

[IntrepidXJ]

The 100-400mm with the 1.4x won't autofocus on my 5DII.