Lamar Valley
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  • cmr352
    Vancouver, Washington96 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Don't miss it!
    We loved Lamar Valley. The bison traffic jams were amazing. These huge animals came right up to our car and travelled across the road in front and behind our vehicle. Excellent photo and video opportunities. Don't miss it!!
    Visited September 2023
    Travelled as a couple
    Written 30 January 2024
  • Marcello017
    Jacksonville, Florida268 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    If you like wild animals in the nature that is your place.
    If you like to see animals in the nature that is your place. After tower junction, we drove towards the valley seeing bisons immediately. After a mile few of them were on the side of the road. After two miles we saw on the other side of the canyon an eagle birds nest (from the parking). We then met many bisons near the water but also crossing the road. We drove till the exit of the park and took an ice cream and enjoyed some gift shooed before to drive back and walk on the sourdough creek trail. We then went back on an early morning to even meet more bisons on the road and talk with some of the Wolfpack project learning about wolfs and their role in the park. While leaving we also saw a bear.
    Visited June 2024
    Travelled with family
    Written 15 June 2024
  • TECLWR
    Florida216 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    awesome area, try the log cabin cafe for Breakfast or lunch
    Lived up to the "America's Serengeti". fantastic. Note: no convenient food options so bring a snack and if time permits, the Log Cabin cafe in Silver Gate (just over the Montana border, 1 mile outside the NE entrance to Yellowstone) is fantastic. great portions at a fair price and friendly people.
    Visited June 2024
    Travelled with family
    Written 17 June 2024
  • Exploration428247
    16 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Wolves, bison, and badgers!
    Wow! What a valley! It was definitely worth the early 5:30am wake up to leave our campsite at Canyon to make our way over to Lamar to catch the morning animal activities. (For Yellowstone animal viewings, the early bird and late bird get the worm…er, best sightings.) Three of our five mornings in Yellowstone were spent here. Breakfast and coffee were made on the camp stove on-site, to facilitate the early hours arrival. Along with commercial wolf safari companies, we enjoyed viewing the wolves at Slough Creek. A sight scope with tripod is a must. My younger teens preferred breakfast in the valley proper, to enjoy the antics of the baby bison and bison herds. One morning we lucked out and spotted a family of badger (mom and two juveniles) on the gravel road to the Slough Creek trailhead. The highlight was encountering a different wolf pack on the road between Mt. Washburn and Tower Junction, which we likely would not have seen later in the day.
    Visited June 2024
    Travelled with family
    Written 29 June 2024
  • Ekaterina P
    1 contribution
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Exceptional Wildlife Tour with an Expert Guide
    Audra was an outstanding and knowledgeable guide. She provided extensive information about the park and its wildlife. We were fortunate enough to see wolves and bears through a scope (this happens very rarely!). A wolf even ran in front of our car (this is also super rare). Additionally, we encountered numerous bison while driving through Lamar Valley, as well as elk, pronghorn, cranes, and ospreys. Besides the incredible tour, we were also treated to a delightful lunch and coffee. I would strongly recommend this tour to everyone!
    Visited July 2024
    Travelled with friends
    Written 6 August 2024
  • Edwelsh
    North Canton, Ohio7,220 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Good area
    We did an evening Wildlife Viewing Tour, unfortunately it poured down rain for an hour at least. At that point I was glad I wasn’t doing the driving. The spacious valley is incredibly beautiful and they say there are 4000 bison that make it home. I think we saw about 1/2 of them. Dawn and dusk are the best time to spot some wildlife and we spotted a few. We saw a Golden Eagle, a nest of Osprey where the male brought home a fish to feed the family, a lot of Bison, a small herd of Elk, Mule deer and Pronghorn. The elusive bear and wolf were not to be found. We visited the interesting Basalt Columns and Calcite Springs Overlook. The Lamar Valley is impressive and I am so happy that is part of the protected National Park.
    Visited August 2024
    Travelled as a couple
    Written 13 August 2024
  • marcy h
    4 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    excellent
    The most breathtaking views in the world. The buffalo were amazing and so many!! We camped in West Yellowstone and drove all around Yellowstone Park. There was a nightly rodeo near the KOA Mountainside in West Yellowstone, that was a hoot! Saw many beautiful paint pots, geysers, Old Faithful. !Just thrilling. Saw elk, deer, buffalo, and coyotes.
    Visited July 2024
    Travelled as a couple
    Written 18 August 2024
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5.0
5.0 of 5 bubbles3,085 reviews
Excellent
2,596
Very good
406
Average
69
Poor
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Terrible
6

BBG
Eden, WI13 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2021 • Couples
3 days. Temperature 0 or below. What they don’t tell you is your sack lunch must be eaten outside of the bus. Only snowmobiles are allowed in the heated lodges except Old Faithful. They let us in the there the first day. Days 2 & 3 outside huddle along the highway at a turn off. Swallowing a cold deli sandwich at negative temps is like jugging an icicle. In hindsight a coffee thermos would have been nice. Wear insulated ski clothes. Our guide was fabulous. 1st day Old Faithful, mud pots, geysers, bison pretty good. 2nd day Lamar Valley & back total snooze. At one point we got out of the coach/mini school bus and counted the number of icicles hanging off the cliff. Lunch huddled off the highway. Then nestle your lunch bag in the snow drift while you chew your sandwich & walk to remain unfrozen. Day 3 stupendous ride amongst the bison. Stop at a lodge with heat & flush toilets. Then dine outside using the coach back grill to eat your food. I gave up in frozen disgust. Back at Mammoth Lodge by 2:30 - 3 you can only purchase a drink & appetizer at dinner. You can not buy a hot chocolate. You cannot pop microwave popcorn & your darling husband can not get lucky ‘cause his wife is beyond frustrated. All these charms are yours for $1K a day.
Written 11 February 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Karen J
Colorado Springs, CO353 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jun 2021
We spent 4 days in the park and, honestly, the second day was THE BEST megafauna day! We saw Lamar Valley blanketed in buffalo, 5 adult bear, and 2 bear cubs. We at least drove all of the open major roads and walked almost all of the wooden paths. I think the best times were between 7 pm and 9 pm when most folks had gone home for the day. It was nice to have most of a national park to ourselves! NOTE: This is an exaggeration, but compared to blocks of backed up cars at the West Yellowstone entrance, occasionally passing someone else is almost alone. Some of the small areas we really did have to ourselves.

As for the unimproved toilets, most of them were quite nice. I looked for the ones with the newest “chimney” stack.

There was almost no cell signal for AT&T in the park.
Written 23 June 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

lyle7692
Traverse City, MI397 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2020
My wife was in Yellowstone last year during the same week. She said Hayden Valley is where all the wildlife was. This year it was Lamar. Bear, Elk, and Bison standing and snorting in the road. Be careful! These dopey things will go from calm to running without caring what’s in there path. Slow rolling by one in the road is a BAD idea. I did it and nearly got my rental destroyed.
Written 18 August 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Traveling One
Greenville, SC857 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Sept 2020 • Couples
This is definitely the highlight of our trip! We rode through at sunrise and saw a wolf pack playing by the river, grizzly bear running around, pronghorn, fox, moose (2 of them), and of course bison... very large herds of bison! The wolf pack, grizzly bears, and pronghorn were barely visible to naked eye so bring your spotting scope!! The next day we rode by again during sunrise and saw all that I previously mentioned but the wolf pack was even further away and the bison were not at the road like they were the day before.

Overall i highly recommend coming here during sunrise!! 2 hours or so after sunrise the animal seemed to disappear... probably resting in the shade for the day.
Written 25 September 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

StevoinMinnesoto
Cottage Grove, MN547 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Sept 2019
We'd read that the Lamar Valley is one of the best areas in Yellowstone to view wildlife so we took a detour from Cody to enter the park via the northeast entrance. In the middle of the week in September, there was no traffic taking this way. Once past the main gate it wasn't long before we saw a large herd of Bison. This was followed a few miles down the road by elk. To get your first fix of Yellowstone or one more peek at wildlife in the park before departing, we can highly recommend this area.
Written 18 February 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Minnesota Traveler
Chanhassen, MN1,820 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2020 • Family
We entered through Cooke City and were immediately spoiled with tons of wildlife to look at Buffalo everywhere. This is the area we’re you will see the highest concentration of wildlife as well. Cool spots to pull off and hike down to the river or up in the hills.
Written 3 December 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

koabug
Honolulu, HI1,565 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jun 2021
we had a very early start (5:30 am) from our hotel in Gardiner to reach Lamar Valley before it got busy. Bison herds were along the road grazing. So many calves were playing with each other. We also saw a lone pronghorn deer and a coyote jumping around nearby. On the way back (around 12 pm) there was a line of cars but the herds of bison were farther away from the road.
Written 6 July 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

examiner1120
80 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Oct 2020
Nothing I can say will adequately describe the thrill of seeing the wildlife here. We were staying in Mammoth so we can here nearly every night of our week long trip. We saw wolves on three occasions, black and grizzly bears, elk, bison galore, pronghorns, deer and a fox. Seeing the bison up close is special, getting caught in a bison jam is kind of fun. Don't fool yourself, you need to splurge on those binoculars, get a good pair. The animals are often far off, especially wolves and bears and you'll be out of luck if you don't have binoculars. To see the wolves is thrilling. You'll see bison any time of day, but come at sunrise and sunset and prepare to be amazed. People saying they don't get the hype need to drive slow look up from those darn phones!
Written 17 October 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Bob H
Watsonville, CA1,146 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2020
incredible place to view wolves, bears, bison, pronghorns, etc. You can see both grizzlies and black bears. There is an active Osprey nest where I counted three chicks.
You need to come early to see wolves as they tend to bed down when it gets hot.
Written 16 July 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

jesse o
Jackson, WY6,511 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jun 2019 • Business
Everyone hears of the wildlife viewing to be found here and many are disappointed in summer if they come at mid day. In early June the wildlife was out later in the day but for mid June and on I recommended sunrise or sunset. We had excellent viewing due to the time of the year.
Written 9 May 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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LAMAR VALLEY (2024) All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (with Photos)

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