last week's Yellowstone critters

[Tom Reichner]

We took the kids to Yellowstone and had a great family vacation tent camping in the park.  I got to get out with the camera each morning before the rest of the family woke up, and had some decent opportunities to 'shoot' some of the park's critters.  I also got to see a jet-black wolf at very close range, but couldn't manage to get a photo of him. 

[popeshawnpaul]

I'm jeleous Tom.  Nice shots.

[Pathfinder101]

My wife loves the buffalo calf.  Great pics Tom!

[gasman]

I love Yellow Stone, it such a great place to be.


Great Pictures   

[Ricochet]

Great shots, Tom.   

[Tom Reichner]

I love Yellow Stone, it such a great place to be.


Great Pictures   

And it's CHEAP, if you camp!  Family of 4 - camping fee is $20/night for 5 nights.  Take a bunch of food in coolers along with a camp stove, a few small propane canisters, and a couple pots.  Drove 600 mi to get there, 900 while in the park for 5 days, and another 600 mi home.  At 23 mpg, that's about $250 total gas cost.  One night in a motel on the way there and one on the way back at about $70/night.   Park admission already covered with my annual pass.  We'd be buying the food anyway if we were home, so the whole vacation was only about 600 or 700 bucks by time you include meals on the road and incidentals.  Family of 4 gone for a week for $700 - and to a great place like Yellowstone! 

[BLKBEARKLR]

great pictures you took, and I agree a lot cheaper doing things like that then going to some of the high end tourist spots

[robb92]

Great pics!!! One day I would love to take the wife and kids to there, this is the first time they have lived in the states and they don't have big national parks in England like we do.

[Slider]

Very Nice Pics!!!

[bigdave]

Tom,

Where do you like to camp in the park? We like to stay at Norris.

[tlbradford]

Beautiful.  Love the light on the bison.

[popeshawnpaul]

I like Madison and Grant Village in September elk rut time...  This time of year I think I like the northern campgrounds better up around Mammoth and Canyon Junction toward the Lamar.

[searchnfor]

Great pictures thanks for sharing, fun family vacation for sure.

[Tom Reichner]

Tom,

Where do you like to camp in the park? We like to stay at Norris.

With the kids it's nice to be near services, so we stayed at Canyon this time.  The showers were a short walk from the tent, as is the entirety of Canyon Village.  The kids each enrolled in the "Junior Ranger Program", and it was nice to be so close to the visitor's center from which that program is run.  

When I'm there by myself I'm just there to photograph wildlife, and spend almost every minute of daylight doing so.  Therefore I'm never at the campsite except to sleep.  Leave the campground at around 5am, return well after dark.  So on those kind of trips I really don't care about the ambiance of the campground - I just need a place to pitch the tent.  I like to use Mammoth on those occasions because it's so close to Gardiner, which has meals available, as well as cell service, gasoline, etc.  

Bigdave, Norris is a beautiful place to camp.  Many Yellowstone diehards prefer to camp there over anywhere else.

Here's another pic I forgot to include earlier:

[Austrian Hunter]

I love Yellow Stone, it such a great place to be.


Great Pictures   

And it's CHEAP, if you camp!  Family of 4 - camping fee is $20/night for 5 nights.  Take a bunch of food in coolers along with a camp stove, a few small propane canisters, and a couple pots.  Drove 600 mi to get there, 900 while in the park for 5 days, and another 600 mi home.  At 23 mpg, that's about $250 total gas cost.  One night in a motel on the way there and one on the way back at about $70/night.   Park admission already covered with my annual pass.  We'd be buying the food anyway if we were home, so the whole vacation was only about 600 or 700 bucks by time you include meals on the road and incidentals.  Family of 4 gone for a week for $700 - and to a great place like Yellowstone! 

Family of 4 at Yellowstone Park for a week--"Priceless"