From Yellowstone National Park where summer is
officially in swing This is that Scott guy you
know and love with a brand new episode of this
week in Yellowstone What's up everybody this
week in Yellowstone National Park from July 9th
to July 15th 2026 I try to get you excited for
the bison rut talk about how Yellowstone once
had a zoo, and hope to inspire you to look at
the region beyond the park boundaries. I'll also
give you the complete weather forecast, a cool
trail to hike, the wildlife report, and everything
else you need to have an incredible time this
week in Yellowstone. Standard disclaimer I'm
gonna miss a few details and I also mentioned
park locations very casually. If you're unfamiliar
with anything I'm talking about a quick search
online can help or you can reach out to me directly
via text 406 -589 -1873. Also, this podcast is
a passion project of mine. I'm not paid, I'm
not sponsored, I do this because I want you to
have a good time. If you enjoy this podcast,
I'd love a review or a quick email. If you want
to support my work more, you can check out my
hiking and wildlife watching guidebooks, or join
me for a guided hiking tour in Yellowstone's
backcountry. I am basically booked out through
the entire summer, but contact me, we might be
able to make something happen. For more information
on all of this you can visit outdoor -society
.com or contact me directly via text at 406 -589
-1873 or theoutdoorsocietyatgmail .com This week's
Yellowstone news. So there's not a lot of major
news right now. Probably by the time this episode
drops, we'll have the June visitation statistics
released. However, they're not out at the time
of the recording, so I can't talk about that.
I'm anticipating that that will be a high number.
Probably. Top five, easily top five most busy
summers, busy June so far. But there's no other
news out right now. So I'm going to talk about
two things that are kind of news, but not really.
The first, I'm going to elaborate more on the
weather report, but this is going to be a very
hot weekend. Highs in the park are going to be
over 90 degrees in places. Some of you are probably
from very hot places and look at that temperature
and say, I'll be fine. You may be fine. However,
not a lot of people experience 90 degree weather
above 6 ,000, 7 ,000, or 8 ,000 feet above sea
level. It will be hotter. You will need to drink
more water. You'll need to limit daytime activity
and try to find shade. Try not to do anything
in the heat of the day so that 1 p .m. to 4 or
5 p .m. time period, try and do something inside,
go visit a visitor's center, sit and watch Old
Faithful, go and get some ice cream, you know,
do something that's gonna be nice and cool. Looks
like Friday's gonna be pretty warm, Saturday's
gonna be really warm, Sunday's also gonna be
really warm. We are in the throes of summer and
it's going to be hot, so be prepared for that.
If you're hiking, layer up. try not to hike in
the middle of the day. It also means that we
might get some thunderstorms in the afternoon.
Again, I'm going to go more into detail about
what to expect during the weather forecast, but
it's going to be hot this weekend, so be prepared
for that. Second news in quotation marks, thing
that I want to talk about is that the bugs are
out. Mosquitoes are really coming out right now.
It rained a lot, got cold, snowed, rained some
more, and then it's getting warm. Mosquitoes
are going to be hatching. The bugs and mosquitoes
have been pretty bad in Grand Prismatic and the
hike up to the Overlook and out towards Fairy
Falls and then out in Hell Roaring area they're
popping off, out in Lamar they're popping up,
so it's going to get even more buggy for the
next few weeks. You may be used to mosquitoes.
Mosquitoes here are very aggressive. I recommend
a bug spray with DEET. I have some mosquito proof
clothes and they don't seem to work that well
and all natural bug spray doesn't seem to work
that well on these guys either. So maybe they'll
work better for you. Maybe I'm just like delicious
to these bugs, especially like the flies and
mosquitoes. But no, you probably need something
really aggressive. Also wearing long sleeves
doesn't necessarily mean they're not going to
get your arms. Wearing long pants doesn't mean
they're not going to get through your legs. If
you have tight clothes on. More than likely they
will be biting you through that. I've told this
story before, but I know somebody who is hiking
in the hell -roaring area at the peak mosquito
season with a sun shirt on and sprayed off all
over them, and they still ended up with over
30 mosquito bites. So know that they're out there.
Strong bug spray will help. Just know that it
may not always be enjoyable, depending where
you're at. As I'm recording this, I have... two
horse fly bites and three mosquito bites on my
legs from yesterday's tour I didn't put any bug
spray on so if that's all I got I'm okay with
that but it will be getting more aggressive in
the next few days weeks so be prepared for that
and my hike of the week is directly in very heavy
mosquito territory so if you're headed out to
where I talk about the hike of the week know
that you're gonna need a lot the experience of
the week the bison rut I could talk about this
next week, but I have something else planned
for that. So I'm going to talk about it this
week, and it's relevant for the next three to
four or five weeks. So if you're listening to
old episodes, getting ready for your trip in
mid to late July, early August, this still is
relevant information. So this week marks kind
of the beginning of one of Yellowstone's most
exciting wildlife seasons. At least I think so.
While many love the elk rut in the fall, the
summer bison rut is so awesome. Over the next
several weeks, the park's broad valleys will
become the stage for one of North America's greatest
wildlife spectacles as the annual bison rut gets
underway. If you're visiting Yellowstone during
July, there's a good chance you're going to notice
the first signs of this awesome event. Mature
bulls are beginning to leave their bachelor groups
and join the large cow and calf herds. So if
you don't know, bison tend to separate after
breeding season. The males go out on their own
or little bachelor groups and the females and
adolescents all hang out together throughout
the winter. As soon as the bison rut starts to
begin, those mature bulls just start making their
way to where everybody else is at. When they're
making their way there, their deep bellows echo
across the valley, dust rises from fresh wallows,
and the first breeding displays begin to unfold.
As the month progresses, the activity only becomes
more dramatic, making the bison rut one of the
park's can't -miss summer experiences. The bison
rut, or mating season, generally begins in July
and continues through August, with the most intense
activity coming from mid to late July into August.
During this time, Yellowstone's northern and
central breeding herds gather in impressive numbers.
Yesterday on July 7th, I'm recording this on
the 8th, there were easily a thousand bison hanging
out in Lamar Valley. The whole valley was just
packed up on the hillsides. There were small
groups scattered about. There were just animals
all over. So they are gathering right now and
it is one of the largest wildlife gatherings
in the lower 48 states. For much of the year,
mature bull bison spend their time alone or in
small bachelor groups. It's a really easy way
to tell what the gender of a bison is when it's
not summer. If they're out by themselves or with
one or two others, they're male. If they're in
a giant herd, they're female in adolescence.
As breeding season approaches, like I said before,
they seek out the large cow and calf herds for
mating opportunities. Although both males and
females become sexually mature around two or
three years of age Most of the successful breeding
is carried out by dominant bulls between about
seven and twelve years old Fun fact here bison
can live up to 20 years old. So that's wild.
I just want people to know that the bison size
strength and experience give them a significant
advantage over those younger competitors your
competitors were trying like Do something but
they're just gonna get bullied by the big guys
One of the first things visitors notice during
the rut is the sound. Mature bulls produce deep
rumbling bellows that can carry surprising distances
across Yellowstone's open valleys. These vocalizations
advertise their presence to rivals and females
while warning competitive bulls to keep their
distance. Visitors will also see bulls pawing
the ground or flopping down in dusty wallows.
These wallows help remove loose hair, discourage
insects, but during the rut... They like the
males like to urinate in them and then roll around
in it to get a scent that creates an Impressive
just musk for those female bison on my tours.
I often say it's like the axe body spray for
bison If they aren't urinating in those wallows
and rolling around they are slamming their body
down as hard as they can To create an impressive
visual display of rising dust that signals their
breeding condition and how big they are Now when
bulls get together not every confrontation turns
into a fight But when two evenly match bulls
refuse to back down the results are unforgettable
after circling posturing Bellowing, you know
just trying to intimidate the other one They
may lower their massive heads and collide with
good force or just kind of wrestle around and
turn their heads Sometimes one will blindside
another one and hit it right in the side. You
may see bull bison bleeding from the side from
the impact of those horns. Often these injuries
get really bad and the bison die. And that's
why around where these bison mating displays
are going on, you might see bears, you might
see wolves and other animals hoping for an easier
meal. Now, while these confrontations can be
violent, Most of the time they're not they'll
size each other up One will kind of just try
to intimidate the other one and the other one
will just say okay and walk away But you know
sometimes they do get violent so be very aware
of that One of the other fascinating behaviors
is known as tending after identifying a cow that
is approaching breeding time a Dominant bull
remains close to her sometimes fall in her every
moment for hours or even days While preventing
rival males from getting too close Once she becomes
receptive, the pair mates before the bull resumes
searching for another female. Visitors may also
notice bulls curling their upper lips after sniffing
a female from behind. This behavior, called the
flamin' response, helps them detect chemical
signals that indicate whether she is ready to
be bred or not. Now, you may be asking, where
can I go to see this? The best places to witness
the rut are Hayden Valley and Lamar Valley. Hayden
Valley between Canyon and Fishing Bridge is where
the central breeding herd often resides, and
then Lamar Valley from Little America out toward
Soda Butte Cone, that's where that northern breeding
herd will be hanging out. Both valleys feature
expansive grasslands where visitors can observe
the action from designated pullouts, while also
looking for pronghorn elk, coyotes, wolves, and
even bears. There are a few things I do want
to mention right now Lamar Valley if you go to
Lamar to watch the bison route the bison route
tends to happen a little further out For some
reason how the road is in the valley where the
bison hang out close to the river These all impact
where the bison are gonna hang out most of the
time And so you're gonna be able to watch this
from a pullout looking down at them or far away
Usually they aren't doing breeding behavior or
aggressive behavior right next to the road They
do sometimes, but not as often in Hayden. Hayden
Valley is going to be where you will have tons
of park rangers and volunteers dictating traffic,
trying to make sure people stay in their cars,
and really just trying to stop the entire scene
from being true chaos. Because the bison will
fight each other on the road, they may hit a
car, they are just going to be aggressive. all
around and Hayden Valley is really where that
action snarls traffic because everybody goes
through there and I have been stopped at the
canyon junction and the backup was all the way
by that grizzly overlook in Hayden Valley and
it took hours to get through there during this
time. If the bison are near the road, there is
no fast way through this region. If you don't
care about this and don't want to see this and
don't want to have the traffic, do not go through
Hayden Valley. Drive all the way around to get
to Canyon and things like that. You will not
be able to avoid this when the bison are nearby.
What's interesting... is that the bison don't
always hang out by the road. Sometimes even in
the middle of the rut, all the bison will be
two hills over in Hayden Valley and you won't
be able to see anything and you'll drive through
Hayden and see three or four bison and it's truly
a wild experience because this is where four
hours later you might drive through and you will
be stuck in traffic for an hour, hour and a half.
Now the logic of getting to the spots with lots
of bison in the early mornings and evenings is
still Pretty true. Cooler temperatures can sometimes
make the animals more active. And also that tends
to be when they mate. I haven't really seen a
lot of bison mating in the middle of the day.
So if you're looking for watching that action
go down, it's usually mornings, evenings. Also,
if you go during the mornings, evenings, the
light's going to be better for pictures. But
most importantly, visitor traffic is usually
lighter during the middle of the day. As the
rut intensifies expect more frequent bison jams
in these areas because the breeding herds are
just going to move across park roads. Another
area I forgot to mention that is pretty good
for this action is going to be down by Mud Volcano.
Just know that all the way down through Mud Volcano
is going to be pretty interesting. Now if you
are driving these delays are just part of the
Elson experience like I said if traffic stops
stay in your vehicle unless you're parked safely
in a designated pullout and the bison are very
far away. When you're driving be patient and
allow the animals to move through at their own
pace. The excitement of the rut also makes this
one of the most important times to respect wildlife,
and I know I just mentioned this, but I'm doing
it again. Yellowstone requires visitors to stay
at least 25 yards away from bison at all times.
That doesn't mean in your car, that means on
foot. During the rut, I recommend my clients
stay 35 to 50 yards away because these bull bison
are going to be a lot more hopped up on their
hormones. They can run 35 miles an hour, they
can weigh 1 ,500 to 2 ,000 pounds, they pivot
quickly, they easily outrun people, and right
now they are very aggressive. They will hit cars.
They will hit things if they are prompted to
do so This is not the time to try and get close
for a picture. This is when things are even more
dangerous with bison So if you're visiting Yellowstone
over the next several weeks and make time to
stop in Hayden or Lamar Valley stay in your cars
be smart be safe follow park rules and Enjoy
the annual bison rut. We're just getting started
and before long The park's largest residents
are going to be putting on one of the most remarkable
wildlife shows in North America and you get to
see it. It is a very special, very unique slice
of just wildness that we almost lost. If you
research the history of bison, there were only
a couple dozen bison one time in the park. And
as of late last year, there were 5 ,600 bison
in the park. My tip of the week. A trip to Yellowstone
should be more than just the park boundary. When
most people come to Yellowstone they consider
the trip officially started when they go through
the entrance gate. Well there's nothing wrong
with that at all. Some coming to the region hoping
for something more and you can get more. Some
come to Yellowstone, they see the wildlife and
the geysers, and then they feel they need to
get to the Tetons or glaciers for stunning hikes
in the wilds of the west and to see true mountains.
The truth is, there's a magical wonderland resting
to the north of the park. The Absaroka Bear Tooth
Wilderness, or Absaroka Bear Tooth Wilderness
depending how you want to say it, is one of the
largest designated wilderness areas in the lower
48 states, managed primarily by the U .S. Forest
Service and the Custer Gallatin National Forest.
At nearly a million acres, this wilderness area
is meant to remain undeveloped without roads,
motorized vehicles, or permanent structure. This
definition of wilderness fits the landscape perfectly.
It is a place where granite peaks, alpine lakes,
glacial carved basins stretch for miles without
interruption, and where you can hike all day
without seeing anything that feels engineered
or built, and you might hike all day and not
see a single person. What makes the AB wilderness
especially important is how closely it connects
to Yellowstone's northern and northeastern edges.
Wildlife doesn't recognize park boundaries, and
neither does weather, water, or terrain. grizzly
bears, elk, moose, black bears, bighorn sheep,
wolves, mountain lions, basically everything
that you love about the animals in Yellowstone
travel freely between Yellowstone and this wilderness
area depending on the season and food availability.
It's easy to think that Yellowstone is just this
boundary but Yellowstone functions as the core
of a much larger ecosystem where the surrounding
public lands are essential for migration, genetic
diversity, and long -term survival of wildlife
populations. Now, you may not see any animals
when you leave the park and go on these hikes
and go into these regions because it's a wild,
rugged terrain and there aren't these sweeping
valleys that are really easy to get to, so it's
a lot harder to see animals. Most people that
like going to the AB wilderness, the Absaroka
Bear Tooth Wilderness, are often doing so. because
of the terrain and the amazing hikes. My guidebook
that I wrote to the region, that Beyond the Boardwalks
guidebook you can find on my website, half of
that book covers trails outside of the park.
I love hiking in the park and I love guiding
in the park and that's why I take people there.
But if I have a day off and I want to go on a
hike, I'm hiking in the AB wilderness. One, it's
close to Livingston where I live and it's really
easy to get to. But the other is I love climbing
mountains. I love getting on ridgelines. I love
just being alone in the wilderness in this rugged,
amazing terrain. And that's what you get in the
AB wilderness. The access points to this are
going to be along the Beartooth Highway, like
east of Cook City and then north toward Red Lodge.
or if you go to Paradise Valley between Livingston
and Gardner and then hike east those are where
you're going to get a lot of these awesome trails.
Once you step into the wilderness here the feeling
of like park visit immediately goes away. Often
you have to drive a dirt road a couple miles
to get to trailhead and what's fun is locals
will think a trailhead in the AB wilderness is
busy if there are three four or five cars at
the trailhead. There are a couple popular trails
out in the AB wilderness. The most popular one
between Livingston and Gardner is going to be
Pine Creek Falls. That's a couple miles round
trip to a beautiful little waterfall. However,
if you want a longer day you go to Pine Creek
Lake also a popular hike but much harder It's
10 miles round trip with about 3 ,500 feet of
elevation gain tops are out around 9 ,000 feet
or there's a couple drainages to the north or
south of there that you can hike and maybe not
see any other person and Then you can climb to
10 ,000 foot mountains. You can hike ridgelines.
You can go to remote alpine lakes. You can get
out there Near Cook City. There's a trail that
goes all the way west of Red Lodge called the
Beaton Path. This is the most popular backpacking
route probably in the av wilderness, super popular
and it is about 26 -27 miles about 4 ,000 -5
,000 feet of elevation gain and along the way
you pass dozens of stunning alpine lakes get
up to around 10 ,000 feet and just hike through
mountains that no one knows exists unless they
hike there or live here and research it. The
entire AB wilderness is this way. You can go
anywhere you want. If you're looking for more
of a kind of set and organized and more visited
area, South of Bozeman is the highlight region,
which is really cool, really great hikes. The
further out you go, the less people are there.
But it isn't quite the same as the AB wilderness.
It's really nice, but it's not quite the same.
The landscape of the Abie wilderness feels like
a continuation of Yellowstone's northern range,
but even more raw and less interrupted. You're
not going to find boardwalks and railings where
you go. You're going to have talus slopes, glacier
lakes, ridge lines that seem to go on forever,
and mountains that very few people climb. Elevation
plays a huge role in limiting who gets here.
Many of the trails climb into alpine environments
where snow can linger in the summer, where sudden
weather shifts are not part of the experience,
and, you know, not everybody wants to hike a
thousand foot a mile for a few miles, right?
That's not, people don't really like to climb
too much on steep trails. However, if that is
your jam, this is where you go. A lot of people
will contact me and say, okay, so I want to see
wildlife and the geyser basins in Yellowstone,
but then I need to go to the Tetons or I need
to go to Glacier for stunning hikes. Tetons and
Glacier have amazing hikes. Go there and hike.
However, there are some amazing places outside
of the park. Even in the northern range, there
are some really cool places in the park boundaries.
I really want people to know that the park is
not limited to just a handful of experiences.
The park is not really Yellowstone is not really
just the park boundary. Yellowstone is the greater
Yellowstone ecosystem, which covers all of the
areas outside of the park, too. This is where
you are going to have some of the best hiking,
backcountry camping, anywhere you can go, especially
in the summer. Yes, it might be a steep trail.
Yeah, there might be some bugs there. Maybe you're
going to have to do some route finding. But if
you're looking for an experience that is in true
wilderness, of high alpine wilderness that is
a continuation of the mountainous areas of Yellowstone.
AB Wilderness is where it's at. If you want hikes
in there, please pick up my guidebook like I
said. Half of the hikes in my hiking guidebook
are trails outside of the park and they're only
my favorite trails. I didn't write about trails
that I don't like. I wrote about trails that
I think you'll love because I absolutely adore
them. So next time you visit the park or if you're
visiting the park right now and you're a hiker,
Either reach out to me and say I want to hike
that has this Do you know of one or pick up a
guidebook or visit the National Forest Service
offices around? Outside the park. There's one
in Gardner. There's one in Livingston Ask where
to hike and they will help you out. So enjoy
the AB wilderness on your next trip to Yellowstone
My random Yellowstone fact of the week the Lake
Lodge and Zoo Most visitors who settle into a
relaxing time near Lake Lodge drift away in thought
while taking in the tranquil sounds and sights
of Yellowstone Lake itself. Pelicans drift across
the surface, Elk or Bison sometimes graze along
the shoreline, and the Absaroka Range of Wyoming
rises in soft layers across the horizon. The
scene here feels timeless, calm, and entirely
natural. What most people don't realize is that
just a short distance away sits one of the park's
most unusual historic sites, an island where
visitors once paid to see Yellowstone's wildlife
kept inside fences. On Dot Island, a small wooded
island just offshore from the Lake Hotel and
Lake Lodge area, Yellowstone once operated what
was known as the Island Zoo. From the shore,
it looks like any other forested island in the
lake. But for more than a decade, beginning in
the late 1890s, it was a managed attraction where
tourists arrived by boat to view captive bison,
elk, deer, antelope, and even bears. It's one
of those stories that feels almost impossible
to reconcile with modern ideas of national parks,
yet it was a real and popular part of Yellowstone's
early tourism era. The Island Zoo operated in
1896 under entrepreneur E .C. Waters, who had
secured a lease to operate recreational services
around Yellowstone Lake. At the time, visiting
Yellowstone was a very different experience.
Roads were primitive, travel was slow, and wildlife
settings were never guaranteed. Many visitors
spent days in the park without seeing large animals
at close range. Waters recognized that demand
and created a place where tourists could reliably
see Yellowstone's famous wildlife in one setting.
Boats ferried visitors from the lake to Dot Island
where wooden fences enclosed animals and simple
exhibits. Historical pictures preserved by the
Yellowstone Heritage and Research Center show
bison standing behind heavy railing while visitors
gathered nearby. For many tourists at the turn
of the 20th century, almost said 12th century,
no, 20th century, this was a highlight of the
trip even though it would feel completely out
of place today. I wrote this as completely out
of place today because inside the park this does
feel completely out of place. However, you go
out to West Yellowstone, if you've been to West
Yellowstone, there's a zoo there. You go there
to see bears, you go there to see wolves. This
is one of those things that we still have a zoo,
but now is just right outside the park. That
is the only comment I'll have on that. From a
modern perspective inside the park, the island
zoo reflects a different stage in conservation
history. Yellowstone had been established in
1872, but early ideas about wildlife protection
were still developing. Zoos were widely accepted
as educational attractions, and viewing animals
in controlled settings was not unusual. Over
time, however, obviously attitude shifted as
visitors increasingly wanted to see wildlife
in natural conditions rather than behind fences.
Park officials also began questioning whether
a commercial zoo belonged inside a national park.
Good question. By 1907, just 11 years after it
opened, the island zoo was closed. The animals
were removed, the enclosure was dismantled, and
Dot Island was left to return to a wild state.
That closure marked an early step towards Yellowstone's
modern philosophy that wildlife should remain
free -ranging whenever possible. Now, obviously,
if you've listened to this, if you know Yellowstone
history, there were still bear feedings at picnics,
picnic areas during this time. Even much later
than this, there were bear feedings at dump sites.
This was the first step of a marathon. So while
closing a zoo was celebrated, there are some
other things that were happening. The park did
kind of change what sort of permitting they allowed.
private businesses to do. So while it's easy
to say that it is, you know, a first step, it's
also a very complicated first step that, you
know, the foot was hovering for a while before
it even came down. And then that second step
took a while. Today Dot Island still sits in
Yellowstone Lake, but nothing remains of the
zoo. There's no fences, buildings or docks that
are visible. A visitor would never know its history
without already understanding the story. More
than a century of weather, ice, and regrowth
has erased nearly all surface traces of the dock
area. Even so, archaeological work by the National
Park Service has documented cultural evidence
on and around the island, including both prehistoric
Native American use and artifacts, and from early
tourism around Yellowstone Lake. This island
had been used for a long time before the park,
and there are some archaeological sites. There
are a lot of archaeological sites all around
the park. Dot Island had a few artifacts that
were found there, which is really cool. These
findings show that Dot Island has a much longer
human history than its brief time as a zoo. So
it's one thing to look at this island from Lake
and say, oh cool, there's a zoo there. It's another
to look at Lake and understand that for maybe
thousands of years, that island was a special
place. I could talk a lot more about the Lake
Lodge history as well but I'm going to just briefly
talk about this maybe when winter hits and it's
a little slower I'll talk about that. But Lake
Lodge was built in the 1920s and it was built
near the site of William Wallace Wiley's tent
camp from the 1890s. As tourism grew the rustic
lodge replaced that old camp while maintaining
the same lakeside setting. Today visitors see
something entirely different when they visit
than when in the late 1890s. Instead of knowing
that there's fenced animals offshore, you can
watch wild birds. You can just enjoy the shifting
light of the lake without knowing there's a zoo
on that island. And occasionally, you're just
gonna see wildlife moving freely along the shoreline,
near the lodge, and drifting back into the absolute
vastness of nature in Yellowstone. The island
zoo is gone, but it's a story that's a reminder
of how much Yellowstone has changed, from displaying
wildlife to protecting it in its natural state.
It's also important to know that when people
talk about park behavior being bad, the worst
it's ever been when you see social media, all
of these things, know that we are so much better
than we were 120 years ago as far as protection
of park, understanding wildlife behavior, and
being good stewards of land. We have come a long
way, and we will continue to come a very long
way, making sure Yellowstone is a place of enjoyment
for future generations. and just knowing that
Yellowstone is a special place. So next time
you're at the lake, glance out at Dot Island,
know that there's a zoo there, and then know
how cool it is that we don't have a zoo in the
park, that everything is wild. It's pretty awesome.
All right, the weather for the coming week. As
always, this is the best forecast for the week
at the time of the recording. I'm recording this
on Wednesday, July 8th at 11 15 a .m. This forecast
can change a couple of times through the week,
weekend, but it should be within the ballpark
of what you'll experience when visiting the park.
We're gonna start with Lamar Valley. On Thursday,
high of 79, low of 46, 6 % chance of rain. Friday,
83 and 49. Saturday, 88 and 51 Sunday 91 and
54 Monday 87 and 53 with a 12 % chance of thunderstorms
in the late morning early afternoon Tuesday 78
and 51 with about a 50 % chance of thunderstorms
Wednesday 77 and 49 with about a 35 % chance
of thunderstorms the weather for Gardner, Montana
Thursday, high of 82, low of 48, 12 % chance
of thunderstorms in the afternoon. Friday, 85
and 51. Saturday, 91 and 53. Sunday, 94 and 57.
Monday, 89 and 56. Tuesday, 80 and 53 with a
40 % chance of thunderstorms. And Wednesday,
80 and 52 with a 25 % chance of thunderstorms.
The weather for West Yellowstone, Montana. Thursday
80 and 45 25 percent chance of thunderstorms
Friday 83 and 46 Saturday 88 and 49 Sunday 91
and 52 Monday 87 and 52 Tuesday 79 and 50 with
a 24 percent chance of some thunderstorms Wednesday
78 and 48 with a 24 percent chance of thunderstorms
the weather for Cody, Wyoming Thursday 86 and
59 small chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon
Friday 94 and 62 Saturday 101 and 66 Sunday 103
and 66 Monday 94 and 68 Tuesday 85 and 64 with
a 13 % chance of afternoon thunderstorms and
Wednesday 83 and 63 with a 24 % chance of thunderstorms
and finally for the weather report Cook City,
Montana, where you may think, oh, Cook City's
much higher up. It's going to be cool there.
Nope. Thursday, 75 and 48. Friday, 78 and 51.
Saturday, 84 and 54. Sunday, 87 and 56, Monday
83 and 54 with a 12 % chance of rain in the afternoon,
Tuesday 75 and 52 with a 65 % chance of thunderstorms,
and Wednesday 73 and 51 with a 40 % chance of
thunderstorms. Now this is going to be a hot
weekend, it's going to be warm, no matter where
you go. As I said off the top, Please understand
that heat at elevation is going to hit you differently.
This is not a time to try to flex and say, oh,
I can handle heat. Be smart, be safe, stay hydrated.
Don't overexert yourself in the heat of the day.
Please don't do that. If you have to just hang
out somewhere during the day, that's what you
have to do. But don't try and overexert yourself.
Also, if you're traveling to the park and you
have a dog, consider not doing much during the
day because one you can't really leave your dog
in the car but also even driving around with
air conditioning it's going to be hot if you
do little stops here and there it's going to
be hot just for humans so please be very smart
and very safe in this heat again I know some
of you are from hotter places you're not from
hotter places more than likely at elevation this
will hit differently and I know I say this all
the time but Every single tour I go on where
we talk about the heat people be like, yeah,
it is much hotter than I expected You said it,
but I just didn't think it would be that hot.
So please take this seriously Maybe you'll enjoy
it. Maybe it won't feel that hot great, but not
everyone's going to be able to handle it So again,
be smart be safe. Stay hydrated Don't overexert
yourself in the heat of the day and do things
in the morning and the evenings It gets light
around 6 and it doesn't get dark until around
10 So you have plenty of time in cooler weather
to do the good things that you want to do in
the park without being in the heat. Road conditions.
No park roads are closed right now. There are
some spots of construction here and there. Delays
aren't that bad. Just make sure you follow the
speed limit signs. You stop when the red light
is red at that Gardner River bridge construction.
Was there yesterday morning six in the morning?
I was the second car and there were three or
four cars behind me and the car in the very back
Decided that it would try and pass all of us
at a red light Montana plates local plates somebody
just wanting to avoid the traffic and then they
realized that we were all stopped for a reason
Just know that construction is going to happen.
There's nothing you can do to get around it enjoy
it wave at the construction workers who are going
to be out there working in the heat and Know
that all the work they are doing is continually
making the park a better place Camping information
every campground in the park that is going to
open this year is open So you may need some reservations
to camp especially right now But there are some
sites that are still popping open people are
canceling not everything booked up fully So,
you know, if you're just headed out here on a
whim, you might get lucky. Also, if you're headed
out here on a whim and you don't know where to
camp, there are a lot of National Forest Campgrounds
all around outside the park. If you need any
of those, a quick search online can help you.
You may have to reserve some, you may not. It
just depends on what the campground is. The wildlife
watching update I think I mentioned this last
week But wildlife sightings are gonna get a lot
harder this coming week now that we're in summer
and the heat is here Heat of the day not gonna
have a lot of action if you are only in the park
after 10 a .m. Until 4 p .m. Best of luck you
might see something But your chances of seeing
things much lower than if you get into the park
very early in the morning or later in the afternoon
If you've listened to the podcast a lot, you
know I've had some points of contention with
some people who say, oh, the only time to see
wildlife is before 8 a .m. or after 7 p .m. It's
not true most of the year. Right now though,
those early morning, late evening warnings about
when is best to see, not warnings, but tips and
help about when to see wildlife, this is the
time to really listen to that. did not see anything
really leaving the park yesterday in the middle
of the day. However, I saw a lot in the morning.
So right now for wolves, the best place to see
wolves in the last week has been at after the
S curves by the nature trail and before the black
tail plateau road in the northern range just
outside of mammoth. People will be looking back
and the rescue creek wolves have been there they
have a couple pups and that's really good. Lamar
Valley has also been pretty good for some wolves.
The last few days it's just kind of been sporadic
where they've been seen. Sometimes it's out by
Soda Butte Cone, other times it's way out by
the confluence or even out by Little American
Slew Creek. Yesterday gave a tour to this great
group of three people. Fantastic day. We had
a great time hiking. almost private to me trail
or a path that I know of and we were hiking around
above Lamar Valley ish area and While everybody
else had brief sightings of wolves yesterday
down from Lamar Valley from the road Didn't know
about it at all. We just hiked the trail We were
gonna hike and we ended up hiking up over this
ridge and looking at this clearing and watched
a About five or six wolves out in the distance
quarter mile, half mile away, laying down, frolicking,
harassing a bison, harassing some pronghorn,
just generally doing their thing. No one else
was there, no one else knew they were there,
and it was just a beautiful, wonderful moment,
and I'm very lucky to have people book tours
with me where we get to go do this. It was a
truly fantastic day, and I just wanted to mention
that because while you may not see wolves from
these areas, where everybody else is looking,
you might get lucky and go on a hike and come
across something. So know that that's there down
in Hayden Valley. getting back to where wolves
are and aren't. They haven't been seen down in
Hayden Valley too much, so maybe they'll pop
back out. But just kind of hit and miss right
now. Bear wise, bears are still in the northern
range, not as prevalent as they were a couple
of weeks ago. You still might see a couple of
black bears or grizzlies way off on a hillside,
maybe one closer as you get out toward Cook City
or up to Beartooth. Down in Hayden a couple bears
down there also south of Norris well in that
whole Norris area a little bit north of Norris
and then all the way south down to Madison you
might see a couple of grizzlies or black bears
down there But generally everything is kind of
in the woods. Everything's kind of cool right
now Bighorn sheep with babies are still being
seen from calcite Springs pronghorn with babies
are all over the northern range in Little America
and out in Lamar even saw a few closer to Blacktail
ponds. I heard Yesterday that somebody saw a
black bear out by black tail ponds There's also
some sandhill crane still out lots of hawks lots
of osprey eagles It's it's a good time. Just
know that heat of the day. You're not gonna see
much obviously I talked about the bison where
you're gonna see them but generally head out
very early in the morning and You might have
really good luck. So good luck. If you need more
wildlife tips reach out to me. Happy to help
or pick up my Wildlife Watching Guidebook. It's
a great guide and I'm still proud of it even
though it's a few years old. Speaking of guidebooks,
if you order a guidebook from me, an ebook, know
that I process all of those orders by hand. There
probably is an automated system that is easier.
I have not found it. So when you order it, you
will get a receipt via email that says, I will
ship that to you within 24 hours of your order.
Generally, I ship them within an hour. But sometimes
it takes me a little longer, especially if I'm
out guiding and in service. I appreciate all
your understanding for this. 99 .999 % of you
have been very nice about this. Over the weekend,
there was somebody that wasn't nice about this.
So I just wanted to remind people, like, this
is the policy. It says so in the receipt. And
I do my best. If there's ever a complaint or
anything, just let me know. Very happy to work
with you. Trail alerts and updates. The backcountry
conditions page on the park website is updated.
I will always have a link to it in the show notes
during the summer, and this is the easiest way
to check the status of the trail you want to
hike. It is updated, it is great, and there are
a few closures here and there, but nothing that
really should impact your visit. Do you want
to say carry bear spray, have it readily accessible
and not in your backpack, and know how to use
it? My Trek of the Week. So when I talked about
the bugs, I talked about recommending a hike
that is in a buggy area. That is the Beckler
Falls Trail. Beckler Falls is one of those Yellowstone
hikes that feels like a secret. You were just
lucky enough to hear about it. It's not a secret.
It's well publicized. There's a road that leads
basically right to the trailhead. Actually, it
does lead to the trailhead. Don't know why I
said basically. And the only thing that makes
it difficult is that it's tucked into the park's
far southwest corner, only accessible from outside
the park in Idaho. The trail to the falls is
short. It's quiet, surprisingly lush compared
with the sagebrushed and thermal landscapes most
visitors associate with Yellowstone, and instead
of boardwalk crowds or geyser traffic jams, you
get this green corridor of river bends, shaded
forests, and constant water sound as the Beckler
River gathers strength on its way downstream.
This area is the waterfall corner of the park.
It is truly wonderful. I can't recommend going
here enough. However, I do want to say that if
you decide to do the Beckler region of the park,
that's going to be your day. If you're staying
in Idaho Falls, if you're staying out in Island
Park or from West Yellowstone, much easier to
get to. If you're staying in Cook City or Gardner
and want to go down there, it will be very, very
long to get there and back. It's worth it. Wholeheartedly
say it's worth it, but this is a destination
that might be for your second third or fourth
trip to the park and maybe not your first trip.
So reaching Beckler Falls is part of what makes
it so different from the rest of the park. The
trailhead is located at Cave Falls on the southern
boundary of Yellowstone, accessed via Cave Falls
Road from Ashton, Idaho. This is a long, unpaved
approach that passes through National Forest
Land before reaching the park boundary, and it's
not a quick detour from the main roads. Most
visitors drive in from the south entrance region
or from Island Park, then continue west toward
the Ashton area before turning on the gravel
road that leads to Cave Falls. The final approach
to this overlooked region is remote, slow -going,
and best suited for vehicles prepared for dirt
road conditions. From the Cave Falls parking
area, which is super rad anyway, Cave Falls is
so great. I've camped out there a few times and
absolutely love it. The hike to Beckler Falls
is straightforward. Round trip distance is about
two and a half to three miles with pretty much
no elevation gain, and the trail traces the Beckler
River upstream. The walk begins near impressive
Cave Falls itself, where the Falls River pours
over a wide rock shelf in a curtain -like drop.
It's not a super tall waterfall, but it's very
wide. From there, the path follows the river
corridor through a mix of forests and riverbanks,
staying close enough that the sound of water
rarely fades. Early in the hike, you pass the
confluence where Falls River meets the Beckler
River, which is the wide braided junction where
the water spreads out in multiple channels before
tightening into the main river again. The final
approach to Beckler Falls feels less like a dramatic
reveal and more like a gradual build. The river
grows louder, the channel narrows slightly, and
then the falls appear as a broad, low cascade
rather than a tall drop. Beckler Falls itself
is only about 15 feet high, but it's powerful,
wide, and energetic. More of a rushing shoot
than a vertical plunge. It's not the tallest
or the most famous waterfall in Yellowstone,
but it fits the character of this region perfectly.
This is the waterfall corner, after all. This
is a landscape defined less by single iconic
features and more by continuous water movement
and layered scenery. Mid -July is when this area
is I think best. It's really green. It's really
nice. Yes, you're going to have mosquitoes, a
lot of them, maybe too many, but it's great.
Snow Mountain Spring runoff are generally over
by now, which makes any sort of You know bogginess
along the way much easier to handle water levels
are still strong vegetation is at its peak there's
wildflowers out there and This is a place that
I absolutely love and it deserves the moniker
cascade corner that Yellowstone refers to it
It's the wettest place in the park gets a lot
of rainfall Meadows are thick wildflowers are
just huge and there's actually like forest with
understory. That's dense and green Again, it's
going to be the height of mosquito season. I
have to reiterate this. This is going to be potentially
a lot of mosquitoes. If it's windy, that's a
great day to be there. Backcountry reports right
now and trail accounts consistently warn that
biting insects can be quite intense in early
and mid summer, especially in low and wet areas
near the river, which is most of that area. Wildlife
wise, this is not a bison heavy landscape like
Hayden and Lamar. Instead, you're more likely
to see deer, elk, moose, and bears. Also some
really good bird life along the area. There's
also some beavers out there, so that's pretty
cool. You're gonna have solitude here. This is,
like I said, largely overlooked. I have been
there numerous times, and I'm always shocked
when I see another car there. What stands out
most on this hike in this region is that it's
so much different than the rest of Yellowstone.
Even though it's a short hike, this setting feels
deeply backcountry. The trail is shaded. It's
really easy to follow. It's beautiful. You're
going to just have a blast out here. For many
visitors, Beckler Falls is less about the waterfall
and more about this atmosphere. It's about getting
there. It's about this journey and it's about
going to a place in the park that no one sees.
People often ask, where can I go in Yellowstone
that no one else goes to? I want to have Yellowstone
to myself. Well, you're not going to have the
thermal area and you're not going to have the
wildlife that you're going to get in the main
part of the park. This is a place in Yellowstone
where it feels wilder, quieter, and more remote
than anywhere else accessible by trailhead and
road. The reward is not just the falls, but the
sense that you've stepped into a different version
of Yellowstone entirely. One defined by water,
solitude, and deep green forests instead of the
crowds and geothermals that everyone loves. That's
it for this week in next week's episode I'll
return with all the information you need to have
a great week in the park including wildlife,
weather, and trail updates. Until then, pick
up a guidebook of mine, recommend this to friends,
anybody you know that loves the park, and thank
you so much for listening. Until next week, happy
trails! Abrupt ending! This week in Yellowstone
is brought to you by The Outdoor Society. That's
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keep listening, and I hope to see you in Yellowstone.
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