Yellowstone National Park
Lamar Valley
Lamar Valley is a gorgeous wide open valley, covered with sagebrush and grasslands, the Lamar River running through it, and it's the place to go wildlife spotting. Bring a picnic supper, it doesn't get dark until 9pm in summer, and early evening is a good time to see wildlife.
Go down the road between Tower Junction and Soda Butte (best area to see wolves). Be sure to bring binoculars for wildlife spotting. Don't feed the animals, and keep your distance from the animals.
Here's some of the animals kids will see in Lamar Valley:
Pronghorn
- Everyone has a favorite animal, and the pronghorn is ours. They look like an antelope, with spiffy horns (both males and females), and beautiful white and tan markings. They are the fastest animals in North America, and it's delightful to see pronghorn bounding through the sagebrush.
Bison
- If you haven't yet seen bison, this is a good location, Lamar Valley is the summer feeding ground for Yellowstone bison. Bison easily weigh a ton, and spend hours each day eating grasses (they eat only plants). Slowly chewing away, bison don't look very speedy, but they move fast when they choose.
Coyote
- We saw a slim golden coyote, with a long bushy tail, sneakily loping along through the bushes, on the lookout for small rodents for dinner
Osprey
- About 7 miles from Tower Junction, we spotted an opsrey nest above the river. Osprey are raptors that make their nests high in the trees or on rock pinnacles, close to rivers or lakes. It's wonderful to see the adultsflying off to look for fish for dinner, to feed the young osprey in the nest.
Gray Wolf
- Gray wolves are back in Yellowstone, but they are not easy to necessarily easy to see. They are three times bigger than a coyote and have less pointy ears. We briefly saw a wolf at a distance, through a spotting scope, as it took off over the hill.
