This Week in Yellowstone: February 6th to February 12th, 2025

This week in Yellowstone National Park, I give an update on the wolf hunting bills, tell you about a lesser-known road in Yellowstone to drive, share a cool snowshoe and cross-country ski route, and also let you know how the wildlife sightings have been. Hopefully, this will help inspire you to take a trip to the park.

Episode Transcript

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From the windy and frozen banks of the Yellowstone River in Livingston, Montana,

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mere miles from the nearly one million acre AB wilderness,
and a short drive through Paradise Valley to get to Yellowstone National Park,
welcome to a new episode of This Week in Yellowstone,
for the week of February 6th to February 12th, 2025.
Hosted by me, that Scott Guy, aka the guy with a bison tattoo.

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What's up everybody, coming in with a little more energy, the only note I've received from anyone so
far is I tend to trail off in energy toward the end of this, so I'm starting up very high,

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so then when I get to the end of it, I'm at my normal like NPR voice level, so let's see how that goes.
This week in Yellowstone National Park, I'm going to give you an update on the Wolf Hunting Bills,
tell you about a lesser-known road in Yellowstone to drive,
share a cool snowshoe and cross-country ski route, and also let you know how the wildlife sightings

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have been. Hopefully this is going to help inspire you to take a trip to the park.
Also, standard disclaimer, I might miss a few things, so if there's anything else you'd like to know,
just reach out. I also mentioned park locations pretty casually, so if you're unfamiliar,
a quick search might help. Also, this report only covers drivable areas of the park and does not cover

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those areas where you may be taking a snow coach or snowmobile tour.
Alright, this week in Yellowstone News, it's another slow news week in Yellowstone,
again good thing. I do have a few things to update and share. The first is an update on the Wolf
Hunting Bills I talked about last week. House Bill 222 failed, while House Bill 176 was amended

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and passed through the Montana House. Now, this is going to be changed a little bit, like I said,
it was amended. Initially, this bill required the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission to
establish an unlimited statewide quota on Wolf Hunting, while the population was above 550
animals in Montana. But the language was amended on the floor, allowing the Fish and Wildlife

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Commission to apply an unlimited quota at their discretion. The commission could continue to manage
wolves under the state's current management strategy, and so if updates occur on this,
I will share those. That's better news than it was as it allows Montana Fish and Wildlife
and the commission that is in charge of this to continue to monitor each region and make decisions

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based on that instead of just a statewide quota. That is much better news, and a lot of the anti-wolf
people are upset about the amendment, so that's how you know it's probably good for the wolves.
In other news, the only other thing that's kind of making the rounds right now is a potential
issue with seasonal workers. That includes rangers and not just those staff that work

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in national parks for the summer. This could even include law enforcement officers,
but right now a lot of places are talking about the hiring freeze that the president implemented
and then rescinded. However, the hiring freeze, as I said, that was rescinded, is still not quite

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solved as the Bozeman Daily Chronicle was still reporting as of two days ago that a potential
staffing problem for the summer will exist. I've also seen rumors that law enforcement officers
across the country are not being renewed for their contracts, and I even saw today somebody that had
a seasonal ranger position was told that they are not hiring for those seasonal ranger positions

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right now. All that being said, I am not quite sure what's going on with that, and the issue
doesn't seem to be that big at the moment, which is why I'm not going to be mentioning it again
unless it amounts to something much more serious. Right now it's a, well, what's going on? Everything's
kind of up in the air, and there's a lot of speculation and guessing as to what's going

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to happen next, but I'm not going to be playing the what-if game with news stories here. There are
plenty of other places for that. I just wanted to update that as something that you might want to
pay attention to, but also it could all be worked out and not be a big deal. We don't really know
right now, so that's all I want to say about that. I don't know though, news stories like that are a

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bit of a bummer, and especially if there are no tangible facts, then I don't know what I should
be doing about it, but just giving you a heads up that there's currently some potential hiring
issues down the road. Currently, I think we're okay, but I don't really know.
So, after news, it's always weird to transition, but here's the transition for the experience of

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the week, and the experience of the week that I would like to recommend is driving the old Yellow
Stone Trail South Road. Now, I could talk about this for hours. I love talking about the roads of
the park and what you can see and drive. Probably should put together a driving tour guide book
or something to the park, but that's a lot. The old Yellow Stone Trail South Road is very short,

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but really cool, but this is the condensed version, so enjoy. So many who visit the park's northern
entrance in Gardner, Montana assume that they have left the park once they pass through the
entrance station back into Gardner from Mammoth. While you have left the main park access point,
there are still 4.5 miles of Yellowstone National Park roads that should be seen. After leaving the

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park, head under the Roosevelt Arch, and hang to the left. You'll drop down a small hill, pass a
park on the right, and then go past the high school also on the right. I will only say this once for
this entire road, but keep your eyes open for wildlife as they frequent this region all year
long. Like, this is a kind of underrated wildlife spot very close to Gardner. A few hundred yards

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after the high school, you'll see the Yellow Stone Heritage and Research Center on the right.
With over 6 million items, Yellow Stone has one of the largest collections in the National Park
Service. The collections here grow continuously with the addition of archival records, archaeological
artifacts, and scientific specimens. To learn more, you can schedule an appointment to explore the

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herbarium or archives, sign up for a public tour, or you can kind of just drop in during business
hours and see the library collection and public exhibits. You can also go to the website and view
online collections anytime. According to the Yellow Stone National Park Service website,
the current exhibits are Women in Yellowstone. The exhibit tells the story of women from the

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early history of Yellow Stone National Park through their work as park rangers, naturalists,
and entrepreneurs. There's also the Yellow Stone National Park Travel Through Time online exhibit
that you can see anytime. This online exhibit explores travelers through Yellow Stone National
Park from the earliest Native American groups, European trappers, and surveyors to present day

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visitors. So once you've left the Heritage and Research Center, continue on the road heading north.
The road will gradually climb a hill giving off views of electric peak. One mile from the arch,
you're going to see a small dirt road on the right. If you take this right, you'll go up to the
Old Gardener Cemetery, which is also known as Tinker's Hill Cemetery. If you stop and wander

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this place, you may see some names you recognize from places and stories of Yellow Stone National Park.
After you walk around there and see the old gravesites and taking the views, make sure to stop
and look back toward Gardener when you're heading back to the main road as you're going to get a cool
view of town, including Mount Everett's and the Roosevelt Arch. Beyond the cemetery, the road

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continues to slowly climb the hill, passing pullouts to stop and look for wildlife, or you can just
take in sweeping views. Once you reach the top of the hill, the road drops down sharply, passing the
Stevens Creek Road. This is best known as a bison capture area for the bison relocation and brucellosis
testing, as well as the bison culling. So after you pass this road, you'll remain in the park for

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another 1.8 miles. After you leave the park, you can continue on the road again for 3.4 miles,
taking in even more cool sights, spotting wildlife, and enjoying the relative calmness of the dirt road.
Definitely stop and enjoy the geological feature known as Devil's Slide. You have access to the

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Yellowstone River nearby, and before crossing the bridge to get to the Yellowstone Hot Springs and
back to Highway 89, look on the hills to your left for Bighorn Sheep. You'll often see them there,
especially in the fall and early spring. And then once you're done, you can return to Gardener by
either turning around and driving the dirt road back, or you can turn right across that bridge

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and head on Highway 89 south back toward Gardener. The tip of the week. My tip of the week will seem
pretty simple and obvious, but it's super important. So what is it? It's have a pair of binoculars or a
spotting scope with you when you come to Yellowstone. I often see people in the park pulling over to a

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pullout where wildlife is out in the distance, and they're not able to see it without the aid of a
good pair of binoculars or a spotting scope. Now you might get lucky and see wildlife close to the
road, but chances are if you're going to see something, it's going to be out in the distance,
especially if it's a wolf or mountain lion or later in the year when it's a bear. So last week when I

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was in the park, people were watching wolves that were two miles away. When they're that far away,
you're not able to see them without binoculars or a spotting scope at all. Like you can kind of make
out where people are saying they are, but you won't be able to see anything. Even when they are closer,
you're still going to want to be able to see them better because sometimes they'll be out on hillside

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and you can see them, but it's just going to be a dot in the distance. Because of that, again,
always have a pair of binoculars or a spotting scope with you when you're in the park. Obviously,
there's going to be a lot of brands of glass that you can buy depending on the type and style of
binoculars, spotting scope you want. And I'm often asked what I prefer. Honestly, right now,

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vortex seems to be the most common type of binoculars used in the park. They cost anywhere
between $100 and $1,500 for a pair of binoculars, depending on the size and power that you want.
I'm not getting paid to advertise them or mention them at all. I just happen to have a pair that
I really enjoy and I've seen a lot of people use them in the park and have enjoyed them. So,

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you know, go check them out at whatever store nearby sells binoculars and see if you enjoy them too.
You might find a different brand that works for you and that's awesome too. Just find something
that you like, how it feels, you like, how it looks, you like the distance that you can see and
the clarity. One thing I do recommend is try and test it in lower light situations so that way when

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you're in the park early morning, late evening, you're still going to be able to see something good.
The weather for the coming week. So, it's winter and this week's forecast shows that it's winter.
I mean, what a shock, right? So, if you're coming to the park this weekend or early next week,
expect some snow, some cold and maybe a little sun. Lamar Valley forecast is as follows.

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Snow should be developing in the region on Thursday with Friday being the snowiest day.
Currently, the forecast is calling for about five inches of snow. Highs on Thursday and Friday will
be in the 20s and lows are going to drop to negative one by Friday night. The rest of the weekend
and the week will be partly sunny with highs in the teens and lows below zero. The Cook City

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forecast, as always, Cook City is going to be similar to Lamar but colder and snowier. The highs
on Thursday and Friday will be at the low 20s and the lows will be below zero. Expect about six
inches of new snow for Thursday and Friday. It also may snow lightly on Saturday that could be a
heavy snow or it might not snow at all. Once the snowstorm has gone through, expect highs in the

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low teens and lows below zero until next Wednesday. And then in Gardner, Gardner is going to be warmer
than Lamar and Cook City with highs just below freezing for Thursday and Friday. The low on
Friday is said to be just two degrees. Friday may also have Gardner seeing three inches of new snow.
Could be more, could be less. Expect highs Saturday through Wednesday to be below freezing with lows

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in the negatives. And it will be partly sunny so you might get some sunbreaks. The snowpack
update since I'm talking about snow. Snowpack is continuing to climb which is great news. The
northwest corner of the park is about 100% normal while the west side of the park is around 90%.
The rest of the park is hovering around 87%. So we still have a ways to go but this has been a

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decent winter so far especially compared to last year road conditions. The roads in the park have
the potential to be decently snowpacked throughout the weekend and also icy in a few spots. Fresh snow
will impact travel times and potentially make the road more hazardous. They will gradually get better
as the weekend ends but don't expect clear pavement on a majority of the open road in the park anytime

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soon. As always drive slowly, do not drift toward the shoulder too much and really pay attention to
where you're going. Once again I've consistently been seeing cars that have driven off the road
and gotten stuck in the snow. It's a daily occurrence. For up-to-date information on the roads

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call 307-344-2117 for recorded information or you can sign up to receive Yellowstone Road Alerts
on your phone by texting 82190 to the number 888-777. So send a message to 888-777 and the

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message should read 82190. That will sign you up for text alerts. Also when you're driving just
anticipate possible road closures due to inclement weather and dangerous driving conditions anytime
during the winter. Camping information for Yellowstone National Park. As per usual this time of the year

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Mammoth is the only campground in the park that's open. You can camp in the back country but it's
going to be cold. Just don't do it. If you are dead set on camping expect very cold temperatures at
night and do not camp unless you have good winter gear and experience in winter camping. If you're

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just hoping to have a fun camping experience don't do it right now. It's not going to be fun unless
being very very very very cold is fun to you. Which it might be you know and if that's the case
just still have good gear. The wildlife watching update. As of the time of this recording which is

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Wednesday February 5th about 10 30 a.m. Montana standard time. I know it's mountain standard
time but I live in Montana. All right wolves have been spotted around the hell roaring area. There
is a carcass out there. They're picking it pretty clean. Will it last through the weekend? Who knows.
Moose are still hanging out around the round prairie area. They may drift towards like

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soda butte cone but generally stop and scan around there and you might see a moose. Bison and elk
are scattered about in the northern range. Got caught in a bison jam last week. It's just kind
of what's going on right now. I've even heard that there's some bighorn sheep that have been spotted
in two spots in the northern range. The ews are going to be near the Yellowstone River picnic area

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and the rams will be near the confluence of Soda Butte Creek and Lamar River. There's also a Black
Bear den near the Petrified Tree that's been occasionally putting on a show and worth stopping
at. The Black Bear that is in the den has been sticking its head out sometimes or maybe a paw
which is fun to see but don't expect a lot of activity. If you do want to see that bear it is

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not going to be as impressive as a bear walking around but it's still kind of cool to see a bear
in a den. Outside the park, wildlife abounds. The large elk herd that frequents the north,
the outside northern area of the park is hanging out north of the park near Yankee Gym Canyon
and the north side of that and bighorn sheep are also around that area especially if you're

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going up toward Tom Minor. Out near Cook City moose and foxes have been spotted daily
and that's kind of where the wildlife are as always drive back and forth that's how you're
going to see them but there's also this. If you love what you heard but want more wildlife information

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on Yellowstone National Park you can get even more out of your adventure with my wildlife
watching and hiking guidebooks to the region. They're available in both ebook and paperback
formats and the wildlife watching book is going to help you spot wildlife like a season local.
I've written it based on my lifetime of experience in the park. It is definitely a fantastic starting

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point and will help you all year long. You can grab your copy now at outdoor-society.com. That's
outdoor-society.com. All right, hiking news and updates. The trails are going to be snow covered,
not a shock. You're going to need snow shoes or cross-country skis to experience pretty much
anything. You could attempt to hike in just boots on some trails but you're going to be

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post-tolling deep every single step. That's not what you want to do. It's not fun. It's exhausting so
if you do that good luck. But if you do wear snow shoes or cross-country skis just know that the
groomed trails are going to be much easier to travel on than the non-groomed trails. Those are

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going to be slow going but worth it. You're just going to have to really pace yourself and not get
too warm, too tired. And the last real segment is the truck of the week. So if you're headed to the
park this week you're going to have an opportunity to see the landscape after a decent snowfall.
The snow is going to allow you to see the movements of animals in the snow as well as let you take

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in the sweeping vistas of the snow covered landscapes. It will be very pretty. So while nearly
every trail will be awesome right now the trail I'm recommending for this coming week is the Blacktail
Plateau Ski Trail. For this adventure snow shoes or cross-country skis are required. If you snow
shoe just make sure you don't walk on the cross-country ski paths. That's like very uncool to do.

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So make sure you stay in the side even if it's more work. Don't mess up the ski trails as those
are groomed sometimes. So start at the trailhead eight miles from Mammoth near the forces of
Nature Boardwalk Trail. Not that standard start on the Blacktail Road which is a little further up.
When you start across from the forces of nature trail you get a more gradual incline to start

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and also some pretty great views of the Gallatin Mountains including electric peak behind you.
Now this is going to be an out and back trail unless you have two cars and do a point to point.
So travel as far as you wish and then turn around. And you can go one direction is about eight miles
and you could make it a long distance but I typically go around three or four miles

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and you get up to a nice little plateau. There's a rock that's kind of sticking out of the snow
and if you walk over to that you get some great views in all directions.
When I wander this trail in the winter I usually see elk and bison, coyotes and foxes.
I've also seen fresh wolf tracks in the snow and I just heard about a cross country skier
coming across a wolf pack here just last week. They rounded a corner and off on a hillside

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a couple hundred yards from them was a wolf pack which is pretty cool. This is definitely a good
place to check out and you know you may also see owls or ermine bouncing around and you're going
to be around some people but it's winter, winter crowded on trails which means you're going to see
maybe like 10 people most. So check that out if you're looking for a good adventure.

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Now if you love being on foot in the great outdoors but want to make the most of your
time in Yellowstone you can book a tour with me. I am a knowledgeable local expert who knows the
best spots, hidden gems and all the incredible wildlife stories the park has to offer. I also
love park history and love sharing that. I offer private guided hikes in Yellowstone designed
to give you an unforgettable experience in the wild. We go beyond the boardwalks here and so

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whether you're looking for breathtaking views, wildlife encounters or just a stress-free day
in nature I've got you covered. So if you're ready hit the trails and you want someone to
tell you about the park and show you around reach out to me directly or check out my current
guided hiking options at outdoor-society.com. Let's make your Yellowstone adventure one to

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remember and hopefully you can fall in love with the park as much as I do. With that,
that is our episode and here is my outro with a little message at the end.

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This week in Yellowstone is brought to you by the Outdoor Society because that's my company
and that's where this is hosted. There are no sponsors. This is a labor of love so thank you
all for listening. Copyright 2025, baby!