Hi! I’m visiting Yellowstone this week and am hoping I can get some advice on Lamar vs Hayden Valley for potential wildlife sightings, especially for wolves and bears. I’ve heard Lamar is unmatched, but have also read that Hayden Valley has been pretty good this year and that the Wapiti pack has been pretty active around there. Any advice/pointers would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.

for people experienced in off trail hiking (yes, it is legal in most of the park), this is a compilation of short videos exploring a small area of the Blacktail Deer plateau. Careful, since this area is a BMA and when opened it borders the closed Washburn BMA down south. I explored between Lupine and blacktail deer creeks. Note: the park service doesn't monitor off trail areas, so no reports on carcasses or bear activity at all.

On our last visit I was complaining to my wife that we never see bears despite our frequent visits.

I admit we usually aren't in the prime locations to see them but odds are that we are there enough we'd think we'd see them more. Meanwhile we've practically run over bears in Grand Teton and Island Park areas.

It has been years since I'd gotten a good look at a bear in the park and I was noting our bad luck to my wife. Well, last week we ran into two black bear sightings in one day.

I think I'll keep complaining!

Post your Yellowstone shots - any year, any camera, phone shots welcome. Say roughly where and when if you remember; it helps people plan around season and light.

Wildlife shots: long lens, legal distance - 100 yards from bears and wolves, 25 from everything else. How-did-you-get-that questions are on topic too.

We thought most of the flowers would be gone in late July but we were wrong.

It's so neat that I was able to take a photo of this smart, majestic raven from 3 days ago in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. They have no fear.

These photos were taken in my Inn parking lot of all places in Gardiner, MT just 3 days ago. I was driving into the parking lot after dinner when I saw the momma elk run across the grass and towards her two babies. Guys, if you plan to spend some nights in the Yellowstone upper loop, definitely check out Gardiner MT as an option like me. I'm so glad I did, as it's right on the outskirts and so nice with great restaurants.

In case this is useful to folks - in addition to geysertimes.org or Visitor Center at Old Faithful, NPS has an information line for latest geyser predictions: 307-344-2751 (Option 1: Old Faithful; Option 2: Other Geysers).

On the final day of my trip, I was looking for additional things to do and wanted to see if I was able to catch a less frequent eruption. Was able to make it to a Riverside eruption thanks to this info and waited 40min to see a 20-min eruption :).

Very useful when you don't have convenient Wi-Fi access but have some minimal-yet-enough-to-make-a-phone-call service. There are also little whiteboards in front of every eruptible geyser, but they are less frequently updated.

Another unrelated tip - there are area-specific day hike maps available upon request at each village's hotel front desk and visitor center. Some popular trailheads also have a brown metal box nearby with trail guides inside ($1 donation or return after use).

Have fun!!