Wildlife photography road trip advice?

If you would like to post, you'll need to register. Note that if you have a BCG store account, you'll need a new, separate account here (we keep the two sites separate for security purposes).

Stephen Berger

Stephen Berger

Well-known member
Supporting Member
Marketplace
Member's gallery
Hello,

I’ve been casually photographing wildlife for about 5 years now with a reasonable amount of success but have recently decided to take it more seriously. I’ve invested in a Nikon 500 f/4G lens, a sturdy tripod, gimbal head, etc. Have purchased and read Steve’s wildlife shooting guide, watched numerous videos and have loosely plotted out a 2 week fall road trip (startiing on or near 9/21) in search of subjects.

The trip will be from LA into Utah, Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, Colorado and time allowing New Mexico and Arizona.

I’m aware of course of Yellowstone and Custer State Park in SD but would love to hear what your favorite places are in any and all those states (and of course within Yellowstone and Custer State Park).

Thanks in advance!
 
Member's gallery
When you are in South Dakota I suggest you drive through the Badlands National Park. Make sure to visit Yellowstone National Park and If you have time in Montana visit Little Bighorn National Monument.
 
Member's gallery
My advise would be to pair down your list of places so you don't feel rushed to get to the next place. (if you visit just the first set you'll spend more time driving than taking photo's. For wildlife you can never go wrong with Yellowstone and the Tetons, personally I could spend a month at each of those and never feel like I touched the surface. Lamar Valley and Hayden valley are great starting points. spend the rest of the day exploring the parks.
Custer while a nice park (and Glad I went to it), I'm not sure personally I would leave Yellowstone to visit it again. badlands is a cool park but the wildlife is scarce. it is however fantastic for landscapes.

I could defiantly be biased as Yellowstone is my favorite place though. Regardless enjoy your Trip will be looking forward to some photos!
 
Member's gallery
In planning a trip I try not to have more than 50% of my time spent driving in the car or driving more than 5 hours on any single day. Yellowstone is a favorite in the summer and winter months. In the fall the elk may have moved out of the park and are moving down to the Jackson Hole area.

There are places where there are opportunities to photograph wild horses and with the BLM program to kill most of them to placate the cattle ranchers, this is even more important to photograph now while they are still around to photograph.

I use websites for the wildlife "refuges" (hunting is allowed in most of them) and what is present during various months of the year. I also check for when the hunting seasons for the wildlife start and end, especially the waterfowl hunting periods.

With the massive fires buring across the western USA the visibility is greatly reduced and this can restrict outdoor photography. Certainly a good idea to check the air quallity readings for areas where you plan to travel.
 
Member's gallery
Yes, Yellowstone and the Tetons are great places to visit. Be sure to check out the opening/closing status for facilities in both parks. It has been a very strange year in Yellowstone for road closures. Dunraven pass is closed until 2022 and they have had several accidents, water line breaks, and forest fires that have disrupted travel around the park this summer. I agree that the Lamar Valley and Hayden Valley are great places for wildlife but I have not visited much in September so I don't know animal patterns at that time. I was in the Lamar Valley in August and there were a few days when the smoke from forest fires was significant. Snow and road closures are always a possibility in Yellowstone!

I was in the Tetons in June looking for grizzly 399 and her 4 cubs as well as grizzly 610 and her two yearlings. I have been watching 399 for years and I was fortunate enough to get a little video of all of them together for a brief moment. Grizzly 399 and 610 are seen along the roadside in the Tetons but I believe they move south later in the summer.

Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado is one of my favorite spots for wildlife but it has been a crazy year for wild fires in Colorado. Labor Day weekend the Cameron Peak fire exploded in size and caused evacuations and closures in RMNP. We had snow and cold temps for 3 days after Labor Day so the fire has calmed but they are still discouraging travel in the park due to the significant amount of firefighting equipment in the area. If you do want to enter Rocky Mountain you have to make a reservations. You will need to reserve an entry time a few days ahead. This practice was initially implemented due to Covid but the rumor is that it will remain in effect post Covid.

I do think you have to be careful trying to cover too much ground in one trip. Sometimes wildlife photography is like fishing, "you should have been here yesterday!" You might have to make several trips through an area over several days to have good sightings.

Have a great trip!
 
Member's gallery
The latest snow/rain in Colorado has decreased the smoke in the air from the wildfires quite a bit. If you go to Rocky Mountain National Park you will need a reservation, which is available online. It's a good time to see elk in their rut. Living in Colorado I can tell you that many of the best places for wildlife are less known and much less trafficked areas. Checking resources like ebird.org might give you some great ideas.
 
Member's gallery
Thank you all! I should've said it better up front but I'm not planning to try and stop everywhere. It's that SD was my goal and those are the states I'll pass through on the way to and from. That said after reading these replies and thinking and reading about it I might make Rocky Mountain Natonal park (and environs) my main destination and hit a wild life sanctuary or two in Utah on the way. Then maybe some landscapes in New Mexico and Arizona on the way home. It'd be a LOT less driving and yeah, I get it, you have to spend time in a place to get a feel for it. Thanks again!
 
Last edited:
Member's gallery
If considering RMNP, double check fire conditions, I believe Trail Ridge Road is closed currently, at least part of it. I also think you still need a reservation to get into the park due to COVID. We considered it, after canceling on Yosemite & Kings Canyon, but RMNP sounded to us as bad as California, fire wise. They did just have a fairly good snowstorm, but water content wasn’t all that much naturally & sometimes that seems to add to smoldering. Great place when you can get in & no fires!
 
Member's gallery
to my mind, while there is wildlife in most of the places you mention (and I’ve been to most), for a first time wildlife expedition, you simply cannot beat Yellowstone/Tetons for availability, reasonable accessibility and variety of critters. I urge you to spend your time concentrating on that area. Just be aware that no matter where you visit, shooting wildlife is often a crapshoot. hence the term wild-life. I always want to shoot brown bear, but whether you see one or not in an approachable situation depends on luck and your willingness to go off trail. I scoured Yellowstone for a week once hiking far off th3 beaten track and saw no bears. Yet I was in Jasper one time looking to photograph elk and 2 grizzlies played along the road directly above my hotel on 2 consecutive evenings. They were gleefully rolling rocks down the hillside for about 20 minutes.

You just sort of need to take what you get, but the odds of seeing critters in Yellowstone/Tetons is probably better than in most. Not to mention that even in the unlikely event that you get skunked on the wildlife, the variety of the scenery there is simply s3cond to none. Lots of places offer great scenics, but I know of nowhere else on the planet where mountains, rivers, waterfalls, canyons, lakes, forests and different, one of a kind, geothermal oddities are all easily accessible within a relatively compact area .
 
Member's gallery
Excellent advice from all members. I live in Colorado, and there have been days recently when the smoke and haze was awful. Those have been the exception, fortunately. The changing of the aspens can be spectacular, usually reaching their max between Sept 20 and 30, but it is always a crap shoot as to both timing and if it will be a good year for color or not. Utah can't be beat for dramatic landscapes. But if wildlife is your goal, I agree that Yellowstone/Tetons is your best bet. Be advised that all parks and campgrounds have been overwhelmed this year with COVID keeping people stateside. If you're planning on camping or staying within any of the parks, be sure to check on availability. Might be wise to stay in some small town a fair distance away from your ultimate destination. The traffic heading to the mountains has been a nonstop boat and RV show this summer. You no doubt know this, but distances are huge in the West. Driving across Colorado from west to east takes almost an entire day. Driving from southern Colorado to western South Dakota is a nine-hour jaunt. You won't get many good shots while driving. The more time you spend with boots on the ground, the more great photos you'll get. Have a great trip!
 
If you do go to South Dakota don’t forget about Devils Tower Wyoming. Always impressive and lots of Prairie Dogs. 😎👍
Also, Arizona has some of the most beautiful scenery and wildlife in the country but it takes a little time to scout it all out.
 
MartyD said:
I really hope we have beautiful fall colors, but there is concern in Colorado that the long span of freezing temps this past week will harm the fall colors.
Click to expand...
Bummer hopefully will be something decent for you all
 
Member's gallery
Stephen Berger said:
Hello,

I’ve been casually photographing wildlife for about 5 years now with a reasonable amount of success but have recently decided to take it more seriously. I’ve invested in a Nikon 500 f/4G lens, a sturdy tripod, gimbal head, etc. Have purchased and read Steve’s wildlife shooting guide, watched numerous videos and have loosely plotted out a 2 week fall road trip (startiing on or near 9/21) in search of subjects.

The trip will be from LA into Utah, Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, Colorado and time allowing New Mexico and Arizona.

I’m aware of course of Yellowstone and Custer State Park in SD but would love to hear what your favorite places are in any and all those states (and of course within Yellowstone and Custer State Park).

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Sounds like a great trip.

I'd try to arrange things to travel during the heat of the day and be where you want to shoot near sunset and sunrise. I'd also advise a couple or more days at each place as every place has it's own local patterns and it can take a few days to figure out how you want to work an area.

The Tetons and Yellowstone are great but both are very spread out for wildlife so they both can mean a lot of cruising around looking for subjects. Sure there are some slam dunks like Elk along the Madison but when I shoot in Yellowstone I put in a lot of car time and a lot of looking between good subjects, same for the Tetons and I live here and know the parks pretty well.

Definitely spread out some maps and look for shooting locations along the way. Bear River refuge outside of Salt Lake City can be fantastic any time of year but during migrations including the fall migration can be spectactular. If your travel schedule has you somewhere near Ogden Utah late in an afternoon or early in the morning I'd put in some time there. There are other great locations along the way (e.g. Henry's Fork near Island Park Idaho if you head towards Yellowstone via West Yellowstone) so look at maps, do some web searches and you might find some shooting locations along the way to break up the driving.

FWIW, the smoke from the California fires is here in Jackson Hole in force today and again we can't even see the Tetons but this happened a couple of weeks ago and one good rainstorm cleared it all out. There's a side benefit from the smoke, the light is staying diffused all day so if you can get within fifty yards or less of wildlife subjects the light can be good all day long.
 
Member's gallery
I wrote earlier of heading mostly to Racky Mountain National Park but between the fires there and the difficulty in getting reservations (each days sells out in 5 minutes and you need a separate res for each day in the park) I pivoted again to do the Utah stuff as you described. 2 to 3 nights in Ogden to visit Bear River and Antelope Island and then the idea is Jackson/The Tetons but I'll see what the smoke/AQI situation is in various potential destinations first.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top