Don’t Miss a Trip to West Yellowstone This October!

October is a spectacular month in West Yellowstone, Montana and Yellowstone Park. Cooler fall temperatures create spectacular photo opportunities in Yellowstone Park as thermals send out billowing clouds of steam into the fall air. Old Faithful has a whole different look surrounded by reddish brown vegetation and golden grasses. Colder temperatures produce an abundance of steam along the traditional waterworks.

This is a time to walk the boardwalks, sometimes with just a grazing bison for company. 

If you go into the park early, shortly after sunrise, you can photograph delicate wafts of steam rising from the rivers against some spectacular scenery. Or, wait for dusk for some incredibly beautiful fall sunsets with warm colors illuminating passing clouds and snowy mountaintops against a moon rising in the distance. 

Fall brings a welcome quiet to the Park. This is the time of year when the sounds of the rivers and thump of the thermals replaces the summer sound of a constant stream of passing cars. The honk of Canadian geese, chirping of an elk heard, or grunting of a passing bison echo off adjoining cliffs.

It’s the time of year when true adventurers take over. October brings a mix of weather from sunny afternoons to crisp nights. An occasional fall rain or snowstorm hurries through leaving behind a cap of white on the surrounding mountains. Locals know that it’s all about layering, combining layers of clothing that you can add or subtract depending on the weather. Keep a rain poncho, warm hat and clothes in a daypack for any chilly nights or fall weather.

Fall brings spectacular scenery and the annual elk mating season where huge bull elk battle for their harems with eerie echoing bugles across wide valleys. Yellowstone Country is at its best for scenery and wildlife watching. Some of the best elk watching is just 6-10 miles into Yellowstone Park from the west entrance in West Yellowstone. Just past Seven Mile Bridge (seven miles in from the west entrance) start watching for elk harems controlled by big bulls while smaller bulls challenge from a safe distance. Bundle up, bring a warm beverage or picnic, roll down the windows, and enjoy the action.

During the late summer, fall and early winter, bears spend most of their time feeding in preparation for winter hibernation. This period is called “hyperphagia.” Bears seem to forage frantically, almost the entire day with only short rest periods. Both black and grizzly bears dramatically gain weight during this time, up to forty pounds per week. This hyperactive feeding period means that bears are moving and more visible.

Make plans now for an overnight trip, a long weekend, or a mid-week getaway before Yellowstone Park’s interior roads close on Nov. 2 in preparation for oversnow winter tours. West Yellowstone offers a wide variety of lodging choices from small, friendly family-owned motels and cabins, to comfortable, full-service motels and hotels. (More lodging information is available at www.yellowstonedestination.com.)

This is the time of year when large spawning rainbow and brown trout move up from the Hebgen Lake channels into the Madison River and into the streams in Yellowstone Park. Stop by one of the local fly fishing shops to found the latest hot spot or best tied flies.  (West Yellowstone was just named one of the “Top Ten Trout-Fishing Towns in North America!”)

Fall is also the best time to get kids off the couch and into the outdoors. Take advantage of the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone (a natural sanctuary for wolves and bears); don’t miss the two new wolf pups or the chance to be a “Keeper Kid!” Or, visit the IMAX Theater next door for movies about Yellowstone and its wildlife. Stroll by the shops for some fall specials or shop ahead for the upcoming holidays.

For more information on lodging and fall activities, see www.yellowstonedestination.com.