Yellowstone National Park just might be my favorite place on earth. I live in Bozeman, Montana and spend a ton of time in the world’s very first national park. As a passionate wildlife observer and photographer who loves photographing iconic North American wildlife species, Yellowstone simply can’t be beaten. The only place I’ve been that’s arguably wilder is Alaska, but for the lower 48 the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, encompassing both Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, is the place to be hands down.

Yellowstone is one of the last remaining intact temperate ecosystems on earth, which means that it’s almost exactly the same as it was tens of thousands of years ago. It’s a truly magnificent patch of wilderness in an increasingly developing world.

I make the one-and-a-half-hour journey into the park frequently throughout the year as each season and each day bring something new and unique. That being said there are certain times of the year that I prefer to others. In my opinion, early spring, late fall, and winter are the absolute best times to visit Yellowstone. This is because of two simple factors that make all the difference: wildlife activity is high and tourist activity is low.

The crowds are usually the lowest throughout the early winter and that’s when we run our ‘Yellowstone’s Lamar Valley in Winter’ workshop! This relatively short trip takes us to the northern parts of the park where wildlife activity is great, and the roads remain open all-year. This is a relatively new workshop for Backcountry Journeys and we only ran our first two departures last year. I was lucky enough to guide both of those trips and was beyond excited when I got the assignment to run both workshops this year!

If you want to photograph rugged American wildlife species in their natural winter habitats then this is the trip for you. Let’s dive into both of this year’s departures and take a look at all of the incredible wildlife encounters we had. For this trip report, I’m going to mix it up a bit. Instead of walking you through both trips on a day-to-day basis, I’m going to separate it into sections based on the different species we encountered and photographed.

Let’s get right into it and take a visual journey into the heart of Yellowstone National Park!

Trip Overview

This 5-day / 4-night wildlife photography workshop is an excellent way to explore some of the best wildlife hot spots in Yellowstone National Park in early winter. Throughout this trip, we travel throughout the northern regions of the park between the North Entrance in Gardiner, MT and the Northeast Entrance near Cooke City, Montana. I view this trip as a tactical strike mission. It may not be as long or visit as many places within the park as our ‘Yellowstone in Winter’ workshop, but I think it just might be the best bang for your buck when it comes to photographing wildlife in Yellowstone.

This trip takes place in early December which is one of my absolute favorite times to be in the park. As I mentioned earlier, the crowds are practically non-existent, which is great, but we’re also treated to a wide range of weather and climates. Typically, the higher-elevation regions up near Cooke City are a full-on winter wonderland and the lower-elevation areas near Gardiner and the Yellowstone River still resemble late fall. Throughout the trip, it’s not uncommon to experience bright sunny days, stormy winter blizzards, crisp frost-covered mornings, and everything in between.

We’re also traversing back and forth across the northern parts of Yellowstone, which in my opinion are where many of the best wildlife hot spots are. Places like the iconic Lamar Valley, the Old Yellowstone Trail, and more are teaming with wildlife this time of year. Even when then entire park is open, I often spend most of my time in these regions because the wildlife encounters are just that good.

Alright, now that we’ve covered what the overall trip looks like, let’s zoom in and take a look at the notable details and the many wildlife subjects that we managed to photograph.

Bighorn Sheep

The first animal on this list simply has to be the bighorn sheep. Not only are these incredible animals a symbol of strength and ruggedness but in my opinion they’re the stars of the show on this trip. The Lamer Valley Workshops are perfectly timed to coincide with the Bighorn rut which means you get tons of activity and you can easily find herds at lower elevations in more accessible areas than their usual habitat of vertical cliffs and towering rock formations.

This is my favorite time of year to photograph these incredible mammals and I could easily spend every day of this entire trip simply observing and photographing them. The sexually mature rams are fired up with tons of energy as they chase females around and fight one another for mating rights. If you’ve never seen or heard two rams smash their horns together, I can’t describe just how incredible and powerful it is. The explosive energy creates a sound similar to a high-caliper gunshot sending shock waves throughout their entire bodies and the surrounding air.

The Bighorn rut is a spectacle that brings me joy and excitement year after year and our Lamar Valley workshop is timed perfectly to photograph this natural spectacle. On both of these years departures we visited the bighorn herds multiple times and had many great encounters. From watching the rams headbutt one another to witnessing these animals effortlessly scale vertical terrain, the bighorn always put on a great show.

Bison

The next animal that we frequently encounter and photograph throughout this trip is the American Bison, yet another symbolic and iconic animal that truly embodies the spirit of the American West. I absolutely love bison and they are some of the most common and easily accessible animals in Yellowstone. Throughout our Lamar Valley trips, we encounter bison quite frequently and it’s not at all uncommon to experience the infamous bison jam. This occurs when herds of bison decide to occupy the roadways or use them as sidewalks causing traffic jams. Afterall, who can blame them? I’d rather walk along a smooth paved path instead of deep snow.

In my opinion, one of the most iconic photographs one can capture in Yellowstone National Park is a portrait shot of a bison walking towards the camera with a face that’s covered in either snow or frost. To me these types of images perfectly portray just how tough, strong, and rugged these animals are and how unforgiving and intense their environment can be in the winter months. This is a shot that many of us have seen before and guests often tell me that this is at the top of their shot Wishlist so to speak.

On both of this year’s departures, we had some stellar bison encounters and everyone managed to get some nice portrait shots as well as some interesting environmental images. We got lucky and had a few encounters where the conditions were just right for frost to form on their faces from their breath which led to some great images. You just can’t go wrong photographing bison in Yellowstone.

Coyotes

Another one of my absolute favorite animals to photograph in winter are coyotes. Similar to other mammals in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and other cold climates, they grow out a thick, pristine, and colorful coat in winter. The coyotes of Yellowstone remain quite active throughout the year and they are very easy to spot when snow and ice blanket the ground. We frequently see them roaming the wide-open plains of Lamar Valley and they like to use roadways as paved paths making it easier to travel across the land.

Coyotes are one of the most common and frequently seen animals in the park, but that doesn’t make them any less exciting. They can be very active all throughout the day traversing their territories, yelping and howling to one another, testing the patience of bison herds, and frequently hunting for small prey like voles in the snowy ground. Similar to foxes, coyotes will listen for their prey and leap up into the air before pouncing down on top of it.

On both of this year’s workshops, we managed to see and photograph a very famous coyote named Limpy. This individual has an injured back leg that was probably caused by a collision with a car and limps around, hence the nickname. Despite their injuries they are doing quite well, and I’ve had the privilege of photographing them for the last several years. It’s always fun to see Limpy doing well and luckily we all got some nice shots of this curious coyote.

Bald Eagles

No trip to Yellowstone National Park would be complete without seeing a bald eagle or two. These iconic raptors can be found all throughout the park, especially close to bodies of water like streams, rivers, and lakes. Many other common raptors in the park like osprey and red-tailed hawks will often migrate away in the winter but many of the bald eagles remain in the park through the colder months creating lots of great photo opportunities.

Bald eagles are always fun to photograph but they can be very skittish, especially when you get out of your vehicle. Because of this I often like to start photographing them from a safe distance before slowly approaching closer and closer. I also try not to disturb their natural behavior by getting too close. But if you maintain a safe distance and let your subject go about its business you can often capture some really nice images, especially when they take flight and soar through the air.

On both of our workshops, we had some nice bald eagle encounters, and everyone was able to capture some nice shots. There is one really reliable spot I frequently go to near the confluence of Soda Butte Creek and the Lamar River where a couple of eagles like to perch throughout the day. On both trips, we managed to find resident eagles right here and get some shots of them both perched on dead branches and also flying off down the valley.

Pronghorn

Another animal that I love to photograph in and around Yellowstone is the pronghorn. In the winter many individuals will migrate southward and to lower elevations but we usually see them on this trip around Gardiner, the Old Yellowstone Trail, and Paradise Valley. Pronghorn are the second fastest land animal on earth behind the cheetah and can run at incredibly high speeds often over variable terrain. They’re also one of the only animals on earth that sheds their horns. Many other ungulates shed antlers but pronghorn actually shed horns every year leaving behind just a core bone structure. These are fascinating animals and they’re always a joy to photograph.

On one of this year’s departures, we had a great encounter with a small herd. We were watching them work their way across some rolling grass hills, that are actually old glacial moraines, and noticed they were about to walk right in front of a very beautiful and prominent mountain called Electric Peak. We all got into position and managed to capture some great images of the group as they slowly walked in front of this ideal backdrop. Getting a nice animal shot is always great but when you can really portray a wildlife subject in its environment, it can really help to tell a more complete and compelling story.

Northern Pygmy Owls

These tiny little raptors are much more rare than the other animals listed, but I’ve found that the winter months are the best times to find and photograph Northern Pygmy Owls. There are a few places in the park where I know they like to hunt and I’ve had great success finding and photographing them over the last year or two.

Northern Pygmy owls, just like their Central and South American counterparts, are very small raptors only growing to about 6-7 inches in height. They are beautiful little birds and are incredibly ferocious and successful predators mostly hunting small rodents like voles and occasionally songbirds. Their fierce reputation has earned the nickname ‘Murder Floof’ which I think is just perfect.

We managed to see several pygmy owls on both workshops this year and everyone was ecstatic. For many guests, this was the first time they had ever seen if not heard of this species. It’s always fun introducing passionate nature photographers to something new!

Landscapes

And last but certainly not least, I want to mention the many incredible landscape opportunities that exist in the park in early winter. Of course, the main focus of any Yellowstone trip will always be wildlife but I recommend that everyone brings both wide angle and standard zoom lenses to capture landscapes. There are many stunning opportunities throughout the park, and you never know when the light is going to get fantastic.

On one of this year’s departures, we were treated to an absolutely stellar sunset full of vibrant colors and hues. We posted up at the iconic Mammoth Hot Springs hoping the clouds would catch at least a bit of color and once again Yellowstone did not disappoint. Before we knew it the entire sky erupted into an explosion of color and we all frantically started shooting away. For a trip that’s mainly built around wildlife photography this was a welcomed surprise.

The ‘Yellowstone’s Lamar Valley in Winter’ workshop is one of my all-time favorites and both of this year’s departures were really great. Even though the park is practically in my backyard I just can’t get enough of it and there’s always something new to discover and photograph. I strongly recommend this trip to anyone passionate about wildlife and nature photography. Even if you’ve been to Yellowstone before there’s something magical about shooting the park in the winter.