Tonight we have a reservation for an evening wildlife tour in Yellowstone National Park. Earlier today we explored the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone with our daughter and Gigi, Becky’s mom. But now, we’re ready to see some more wildlife, and hopefully some bears. We’re ready to ride on a historic yellow bus on an evening wildlife tour in Yellowstone!
Check out Our Best Places to Visit in Yellowstone!
Planning our Evening Wildlife Tour
Becky really wants to do a historic yellow bus tour in Yellowstone. So we booked the 4-hour evening wildlife tour departing from Canyon Village at 4:20PM. Normally you need to book these tours months in advance. But, we were able to book just 4 days before our trip and 9 days before the tour starts! Lesson here is you never know when a tour becomes available. For us, someone may have cancelled due to the historic flooding that closed the park just last month. So, we feel really lucky. You can read more about these tours at: Land Adventures | Yellowstone National Park Lodges.
Since the tour is 4:30-8:30PM during dinner time, we want to grab something to eat beforehand. So, our plan is to get back to Canyon Village early and find some food. Then we can sit back and enjoy the ride. And we’re looking forward to seeing more wildlife. We’ve seen plenty of bison, deer and elk, but really want to see some apex predators, especially bears. We’ve had our bear spray with us for the last 5 days, and no bears yet. But, we have our binoculars packed just in case.
Normally these tours would go to Lamar Valley between Roosevelt and the Northeast Entrance. However, the road there is closed due to the historic flooding earlier this summer. So we expect to go back to Hayden Valley between Canyon Village and Fishing Bridge. But it really depends on what’s open and where the wildlife are. Then the tour ends where it starts in Canyon Village. And after the tour, we’ll make the 2-hour trek back to our resort in Big Sky. But first we have to find out where the pickup location is.
Pickup in Canyon Village
After our day exploring, we make it back to Canyon Village about 30 minutes before our tour starts. So, we head to the General Store here for some food. I grab a chicken salad sandwich, and everyone else just grabs some snacks. But now we have something to eat during the tour. However, the pickup location on the booking is not clear. If you are not staying at the Canyon Lodge, the pickup location is at the Canyon Lodge-Outfitters Store. And we found out earlier, this is not the store next to the visitor center. I wind up driving to the lodge to find the bus and talk to the driver. And we find out the Canyon Lodge Gift Shop near the post office is what they consider the outfitter store.
I drive back to the shops to meet the others. The bus comes shortly after just a few minutes before 4:30PM. Seeing the historic bus drive-up is exciting and we can’t wait to get in. The buses have only 3 rows behind the driver. And each row fits about 4 people, so about 12 people total. In our case, we have 3 families of 4. And each family has their own row which provides room, but still an intimate experience. The guide then hands us face masks, but tells us it’s our choice to wear them. There is a plastic shower curtain between us and the driver, but not between us and the other riders. But the top of the bus is open, the windows are down, and no one else is wearing a mask. So, we put ours in our pocket and are ready to go.
Start of Evening Wildlife Tour to Mount Washburn
We leave the Canyon Lodge Gift Shop right around 4:30PM. Cari is our driver and wildlife guide for the trip. This biology teacher who guides in the summer tells us we’re headed north toward Mount Washburn. We’re excited because we were expecting to go South again to Hayden Valley. But instead we are going North to where we haven’t been. We actually didn’t know if we’d be able to do the north loop in Yellowstone during this trip at all. So, we’re excited to explore this new area.
Our 1st stop is about 10 minutes later at the Washburn Springs Overlook. Here Cari gives us a good introduction to the Yellowstone Caldera and the surrounding mountains. She also gives us some history on these vintage buses. They 1st rolled out in the 1920s but were gradually sold off due to the adoption of personal vehicles. But after many years out of service, the tour company purchased 8 remaining buses still being used in Alaska. They then refurbished them to meet modern standards and returned them to service in the park in 2007. After the history lesson, we get back on the bus for Mount Washburn.
Next stop is the Mount Washburn trailhead parking lot. Cari tells us to look for anything moving on the mountainside. Even with my binoculars, I don’t spot any wildlife. But Cari pulls out a scope and helps our daughter look through it. We can see the fire tower on Mount Washburn, but still no wildlife. So, back on the bus again.
On the Way to Tower Junction
About 5 or so minutes later, we pull off into an unnamed parking lot. Cari tells us there is a bison carcass we can see from here that bears and wolves have been eating on all week. Unfortunately, there’s not much left and it’s hard to see even with binoculars. Though others sitting here with scopes have been here for hours. And they claim to have seen bears and wolves eating on the carcass all week. Nevertheless, it’s still early for wildlife to come out yet. But she tells us we’ll try again on the way back.
We continue past the Tower General Store, and stop at the next pullout. Here we walk to the edge to see Devil’s Den on Tower Creek. This bend in the creek has jagged rocks where lava flows carved through millions of years ago. Then back in the bus again we pass Overhanging Cliff face with interesting geological formations on one side. Across the creek we see similar formations on the other side. Cari says sometimes you can see bighorn sheep on this ridge, but again nothing yet. So, we get back in the bus.
Cari has been trying really hard to spot wildlife, especially bears, where she’s seen them before. But she says sometimes it’s just by chance. And before we get to Tower Junction, it happens. A black bear walks across the street right in front of the bus! And since the top is open, we can stand up to watch him before he walks into the woods. Cari estimates this bear to be 5-7 years old and we are excited to finally see our first bear sighting in Yellowstone.
Tower Junction and Roosevelt Area
Just before we get to Tower junction, we pass Rainy Lake. This lake only appears when there’s been enough rain. And then we are at Tower Junction. At this point it’s about 2 hours into the tour and we take a stop for restrooms near Roosevelt Lodge. Across the street is the Northeast Entrance Road that takes you to Lamar Valley. But unfortunately both the lodge and this road have been closed since the flooding. Lamar Valley is supposed to be the best area to see wildlife including bears, wolves, moose and more. But we have to continue past it.
But literally a minute later, we see a bull bison off to our right by himself. Cari tells us they like to get away from the herd, and they think they are invincible. And they pretty much are until they get old or injured. Even bears won’t attack a bull bison in his prime.
And only 2 miles past Tower Junction, we turn left toward Petrified Tree. We see another bull bison on this side road just rolling around in the dirt. And at the end of this short road is Petrified Tree or what remains of it. It’s up on the hill and has a fence around it due to vandalism. It’s not much of a sight, but on the other side of the parking lot is a valley. And here we look for bears. Cari says the bears like to hide in the shadows, but it’s still early. No bears here now, so we leave for an area Cari calls “Bearmuda” to continue looking.
“Bearmuda”
At this point our daughter puts her head down to take a nap as we drive through “Bearmuda”. And we just sit back and enjoy the beautiful scenery all around while Cari guides us. She tells us the sagebrush everywhere is “nature’s dinner table”, which we joke about every time we see some thereafter. And she pulls off at some spots to look for a minute then drives a few minutes to the next spot. And at each spot we are hoping to spot some bears, but we’re not seeing any.
We make it to around Blacktail Pond over half way to Mammoth Hot Springs before we turn around. On the way back we pull off at a lot of the same spots hoping the bears have come out. Now that it’s later and the Sun is lower, it’s cooler and there are more shadows where they can lurk. We pass by Floating Island Lake pullout again, and another person there says we just missed a black bear. So, we continue on.
Besides the kid behind us sneezing the whole time, we enjoyed the guided tour through “Bearmuda”. Our daughter took a nap through most of it, but it was uneventful not seeing any more bears. So, we pass Tower Junction to head back by 8:30PM, but we see some traffic ahead.
More Bears on our Evening Wildlife Tour!
Usually when there’s a traffic jam, there’s something to see. We’re in a narrow wooded area and multiple cars have pulled over. And people have gotten out of their cars to look at something. Cari pulls the bus over and we see another black bear eating in a shady area.
Cari thinks it’s a yearling that is on his own for the 1st time after leaving his mother. And even though we are probably less than a 100 yards away, we feel safe viewing from the bus. And unlike the last bear, we get to watch it for a few minutes before we have to go. Cari wants to get us back to Canyon Village before the restaurants close, but we stop one more time.
Again we see a car parked, but this time we see a mama black bear and 2 cubs! They are walking through the sagebrush along the side of the hill. Unfortunately, we are parked in the road and can’t stay long. But, it was a great way to end our evening wildlife tour.
Dinner at Canyon Lodge Eatery
True to her word, Cari gets us back about 8:30PM in time to get some dinner. Even though we were able to eat on the bus after we got on, it’s been almost 4 hours later. And we’re hungry, so we go into the Canyon Lodge Eatery cafeteria. Just like the Old Faithful Lodge Cafeteria, there are multiple stations to get food. Cari mentions the rice bowls are good, so we get some to go. Since it’s still an hour before sunset, we want time to look for more wildlife on the way back. However, they are out of to-go forks, so we just eat in the restaurant.
Though this is a good option for dinner after the evening wildlife tour, it’s getting late. But, we decide to drive back toward Hayden Valley to search for more wildlife.
Heading Back the Long Way
Before the sun is gone, we are able to see some elk grazing in Hayden Valley. And even though it’s getting dark, the full moon is very bright tonight. Half way through the valley we decide to continue on to Yellowstone Lake. Though it’s hard to see wildlife at this point, we want to see what the moon looks like over the lake. So, we head past the turn for Fishing Bridge to Lake Village.
We drive toward the Lake Yellowstone Hotel and find a parking lot in front of the lake. There is a little dock here so we walk out to take pictures. This is our 1st chance to really see Yellowstone Lake and it’s beautiful in the moonlight. After a quick pit stop at the hotel, it’s about 10:15PM. And we’re on the other side of the park from where we need to exit. But it’s our last night in Yellowstone and we’re planning to rest tomorrow. So, we continue south hitting another pullout on Yellowstone Lake to get a few more pictures
Then we take the long drive back. We’re basically the only car on the road, and drive carefully looking for wildlife. And we do spot an elk in the road on the way. But after almost 1.5 hours we decide to stop at Midway Geyser Basin. We want to get a glimpse of the Grand Prismatic Spring in the moonlight. But the temperatures have really dropped and we are cold and unprepared. So, we settle for some pictures from the parking lot. However, the steam from Excelsior Geyser Crater over Firehole River is still really beautiful in the moonlight. A nice way to end our trip in Yellowstone.
Summary of our Evening Wildlife Tour
The evening wildlife tour was an excellent way to see more of the park. Not to mention riding in a historic yellow bus was really cool. With the top open we could get close to animals from the safety of the bus. And we did get close to 5 bears in addition to some bull bison. And our guide Cari was excellent providing information we needed along the way. She tried her hardest to get us to the best spots to see wildlife knowing we couldn’t go to Lamar Valley. And we’re glad she was our guide. We feel the evening wildlife tour was definitely worth what we paid, and would definitely do it again!
After 5 straight days in Grand Teton and Yellowstone, we are resting tomorrow. We plan to stay around our resort in Big Sky since we haven’t spent much time there yet. But after a day of rest, we are headed north to Glacier National Park!