Yellowstone's Wolves and Winter Wildlife

Tour Code: USA09

An 11-day holiday to the snow-covered mountains of Yellowstone National Park in search of Wolves, North American Bison and other winter wildlife.

11 days from
£7,795 (Inc flights)
Land only price from
£6,795
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Highlights

Summary

Summary

Yellowstone National Park is a World Heritage Site and protects one of America’s finest landscapes, drawing visitors from around the world to appreciate its scenery, waterfalls, geysers and abundant wildlife. In winter, however, once the snow has fallen and the crowds have retreated, the park is returned to the resident wildlife. Against a spectacular snowy backdrop, herds of North American Bison huddle around the steaming geothermal pools for warmth. Moose, Rocky Mountain Elk and Bighorn Sheep venture down into the valleys, stalked by packs of Grey Wolves – Yellowstone’s most iconic inhabitants. This tour offers the opportunity to explore Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks at a time of year free from the tourist crowds. It focuses on the park’s abundant wildlife and spectacular landscapes and makes a special effort to find the Wolves.

  • Spectacular winter landscapes of Yellowstone National Park
  • Look for Grey Wolves in the Lamar Valley
  • Old Faithful & other geothermal highlights
  • North American Bison, Bighorn Sheep & Pronghorn Antelope
  • Birds including Bald & Golden Eagles, Clark’s Nutcracker & Pine Grosbeak
  • Explore Yellowstone by heated ‘snowcoach’
  • Led by expert naturalist guides

Grading

Grade B. Easy to moderate but please be aware that conditions will be cold; it will be snowy and icy underfoot.

In the year 1872, US president Ulysses S Grant set aside a huge area of pristine  mountains, forests and geothermal springs known as ‘Yellowstone’ as the world’s very first national park. Today, nearly a century and a half later Yellowstone National Park is also a World    Heritage Site and remains one of America’s finest protected landscapes, drawing visitors from around the world to appreciate its scenery, waterfalls, geysers and    abundant wildlife. The Park’s geology is fascinating. Yellowstone sits in a huge active volcanic caldera measuring 45 by 30 miles and the heat that wells up from deep beneath the Earth’s crust fuels over 10,000 geothermal features, from boiling pools of mud to huge geysers such as Old Faithful, one of over 250 geysers that dot the Park’s steaming valleys and basins. The jagged peaks of the Grand Teton National Park lie just to the south and are now included within the ‘Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem’, a vast tract of protected land that covers over 80,000 square kilometres.

 Yellowstone has become one of the country’s most popular national parks, but in winter, once the snow has fallen and the crowds have retreated, it is largely left to    the resident wildlife. Against a spectacular snowy backdrop, herds of North American Bison huddle around the steaming geothermal pools for warmth; Moose, Rocky Mountain Elk and Bighorn Sheep venture down into the valleys and Bald Eagles soar effortlessly overhead. Perhaps the greatest wildlife spectacle of them all, however, is the sight of one or more of the Grey Wolves that hunt and play in Yellowstone’s Lamar and Hayden Valleys!  The last Wolf was shot in Yellowstone in 1926, but 69 years later this muchmaligned creature was reintroduced back into the Park and, despite a lot of local opposition and controversy, the Wolf is once again thriving. Indeed, Yellowstone National Park is now one of the best places in the world in which to see this secretive and unfairly persecuted mammal.

We begin our holiday with a flight to Jackson Hole on the edge of the Teton Mountains in Wyoming. Here we will meet our local guide, and spend two nights while exploring the dramatic landscapes and exciting wildlife of Grand Teton National Park. Moving on, we will head north to the town of West Yellowstone, our base for the    next three nights. West Yellowstone offers    easy access to the western and central regions of Yellowstone National Park such as the Upper Geyser Basin (home of Old Faithful) and the mix of habitats between the park entrance and Madison Junction is one of the most productive areas for wildlife in the winter. We will spend our time here enjoying short walks and watching the wildlife from the comfort of a heated ‘snowcoach’, a specially adapted minibus designed to cope with the snow-bound and icy winter landscape. Here we are sure to encounter the majestic North American Bison, an animal that was driven to the    brink of extinction from an initial population that was estimated to number over 65 million! The story of the Bison is one of the most tragic in natural history, but today nearly 5,000 animals roam the grasslands of Yellowstone and the sight of a herd feeding or standing huddled around a steaming hot spring will no doubt be one of the enduring memories of this holiday.

Amongst the other mammals that we will hope to encounter here are Bobcat, Coyote, Moose and Rocky Mountain Elk, plus such birds as Bald and Golden    Eagles, Northern Shrike, Steller’s and Grey Jays, Clark’s Nutcracker and Evening Grosbeak. We will also have the    opportunity to visit ‘Old Faithful’, Yellowstone’s most famous geyser, and watch it erupt into a cloud of steam and, if cold enough, crystalline mist. Winter is undoubtedly the most spectacular time to watch this natural wonder. Other areas to explore include the Hayden Valley and the boiling mud pools of the Fountain Paint Pots and Lower Geyser Basin.

Passing the colourful travertine terraces of    Mammoth Hot Springs, we continue our exploration of Yellowstone from Gardiner, our base for four nights whilst we explore the Lamar Valley and the northern sector of the National Park. Back in a conventional 4-wheeled minibus, we will make a particular    effort to find Grey Wolf on evening and early morning walks and drives. This is one of the most reliable places in the world in    which to view this secretive mammal, and although nothing is certain in the world of wildlife-watching — and the Wolves range over huge areas (especially in the winter) — we stand a good chance of striking lucky! At times the Wolves are distant, but on occasions they can be wonderfully close. Whether they are hunting, playing or just moving through their icy home, it is a rare privilege in the modern world to be able to watch such a persecuted animal returned to its former status in its traditional home. It should make a fitting finale to our snowy wildlife odyssey to one of North America’s finest parks and last remaining wildernesses.   

DETAILED INFORMATION
Itinerary

Outline Itinerary

Day 1
Fly Jackson & overnight
Day 2
Grand Teton National Park. Overnight Jackson.
Day 3/5
Yellowstone National Park from West Yellowstone
Day 6/9
Yellowstone National Park from Gardiner
Day 10
Depart Bozeman
Day 11
Arrive London
cloud_downloadDownload Full Itinerary
What's Included

What's Included?

  • Flights
  • Accommodation:

    We stay in comfortable lodges and motels, all rooms with private facilities.

  • Food:

    Breakfast and lunches are included in the price. Dinners are excluded. Allow £350-£400.

Reviews
Dates & Prices

Dates & Prices

2026

Departures Availability Cost
Mon 5th Jan – Thu 15th Jan SPACES £7,795
Book Tour Show Details
Flights:
Most Naturetrek tours include flight costs ex-UK. If flights are not included, we indicate that here.
Flights are included in the tour cost
Regional Departures:
On certain tours it is possible to depart from a regional airport (rather than London). If a regional departure is possible, we indicate that here.
Regional Departures are available. Call 01962733051
Land only cost:
The "Land Only" cost is the tour price you will pay if you choose to arrange your own flights/transport.
£6,795
Single Room Supplement:
Single Room Supplement.
£1,995 
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Mammal Watching Holidays


Many of the world’s mammals are instantly recognisable to us. Animals such as Lions, Tigers, elephants and bears capture our imaginations from an early age. At Naturetrek, we take great pleasure and pride in helping people to fulfil their lifelong dreams of seeing these iconic species in the wild. We also enjoy introducing our clients to some of the world’s more unusual mammals, many of which are just as fascinating.


Naturetrek Mammal Watching Tours


Many of our tours have a primary focus on mammals and we offer the widest choices of mammal-watching holidays across the globe, from the poles to the tropics. Our holidays are guided by at least one professional naturalist tour leader and usually benefit from additional guiding by expert local naturalist guides. We have holidays to see an incredible range of the world’s most sought-after mammals, such as orangutans, lemurs, bats, polar mammals, big cats, and mammals of the African savannah. A significant number of tours also targets some of the planet’s more unusual and elusive species, from pottos and pangolins to slender lorises and obscure cetaceans.


Here’s a selection of our mammal tours:



Bargain mammal selection


We offer a range of action-packed bargain holidays for the dedicated mammal enthusiast, which are exceptional value for money, from Belize to Zambia.




Our specialist recommends...







"Africa is perhaps the greatest continent for mammal-watching. I would recommend 'Botswana’s Desert & Delta (Mammals)' for combining stunning scenery and wildlife. We also offer a tour to Uganda which includes a chance to see Mountain Gorillas. And India, along with Tigers, has a superb variety of mammals. Closer to home, short breaks to Spain in search of Wolves and Iberian Lynx are hard to beat.”

Paul Stanbury - Operations Manager




  


All Mammal Watching Tours

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Wolf watching tours – See Wolves in their Wild Habitat




Wolves are shy and elusive, which is part of what makes the thrill of seeing a lone wild wolf crossing an open plain, or a pack of wolves feeding on a kill one of the natural world’s unbeatable experiences. The wolf’s howl is a sound that epitomises the wilderness. Whether across a snow-clad northern landscape or a stark Ethiopian plateau, we are pleased to offer you the chance to see, track or hear a wild wolf on our wolf holidays.


Naturetrek offers the chance to look for wolves in a variety of countries and landscapes. One of the additional attractions of seeing wild wolves is that they inhabit some of the most beautiful places in the world. From dedicated wolf-watching holidays in Spain, where wolf tracks can be seen right outside our guesthouse door, to watching Ethiopian Wolves hunting, we offer a wide range of wolf-watching experiences in Europe and beyond. Here’s a selection of our Wolf-watching holidays:




    

  • Wolf watching in Spain – a dedicated wolf tracking holiday in Spain’s remote north-western corner
    • 

  • Ethiopian Wolves – a chance to look for the rare and beautiful Ethiopian wolf in the Bale Mountains
    • 

  • Poland in Winter – a unique winter holiday focusing on the large mammals to be found in Poland, including a chance to see Wolves
    • 

  • Our Sweden’s Mammals tour explores the territory of local wolf packs, with the chance to hear them howl at night 
     
    • 





Our specialist recommends...






"Our 11-day 'The Wolves of Yellowstone National Park' tour heads for the world's first national park in search of its Grey Wolves. If you want a short break focusing almost exclusively on wolf-watching I'd recommend Wolf-Watching in Spain, while we've also had good wolf sightings in recent years on our holiday to Italy's Abruzzo National Park.” 

Kerrie Porteous - Operations Manager




 


All Wolf Watching Tours

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Prefer to Travel in a Private Group?

For any interested natural history club or society, we can arrange for a private departure of this tour.

Enquire
Why Naturetrek?

Why Naturetrek?

At Naturetrek we craft expertly-guided group and tailor-made wildlife holidays and cruises to all seven continents. On one of our holidays, you can be assured that our passionate team will enable you to experience and enjoy the best of the world's wildlife and natural spectacles in as comfortable and rewarding a manner as possible, caring as best we can for the environment in the process. We are proud to provide:

  • The widest choice of wildlife holidays worldwide
  • Tours managed and led by naturalists, for naturalists
  • Outstanding value and exceptional customer service

Furthermore, as a Naturetrek client, our office team are always to on hand to help you – so if you have any queries about your holiday, whether before or after you have booked, we will be delighted to answer them on the phone. Please just give our team a call!

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