A. T.

Thank you for the suggestions and my wife has all of your recommended places. Do you loose much by using a 2x extender?

BARRY COWAN

You may want to consider getting a 1.4 teleconverter for either of your long lenses. I often shoot with the equivalent of an 800m and still find it is not enough.

Basil_O Loc: Minneapolis, MN

You will be there at the start of the elk rut. You will have many opportunities to see some impressive racks on display. Hayden, Lamar and the Maddison area are great places to see them in action. There is always a heard in Mammoth. Early morning is a great time to get out...just before sunrise is a magical time. An added bonus is that ypu will have less crowds to contend with.
Try to keep some room in your schedule for night sky photography as well. The skies can be amazing.

A. T.

I will be using a D500 with either a Sigma 150-600 6.3 or a Nikkor 200-500 5.6 so I will probably just crop rather than use a teleconverter. I will be shooting in very dim lighting and don't want to loose light by using a converter but I really appreciate your advice. I will have more than enough pixels to crop.

A. T.

First, thanks for responding. We will be driving to Yellowstone from Houston so I will have room to bring two maybe three camera bodies, a host of lenses and a tripod with gimbal. We will be in that area for seven days so I really hope to get some really good opportunities for both wildlife and landscapes.

SuperflyTNT Loc: Manassas VA

Pro tip. If you see bison near the road get out and get as close as you can for a selfie. 😜🤪

You might get gored, but if you survive you’ll have a great story to tell.

MtManMD Loc: Beaverton, Oregon

Hit the Lamar Valley early in the morning, then continue onward and take a drive on the magnificent Beartooth Highway outside the NE corner of the park. If you are interested and able to hike, consider hiking up Mt. Washburn as there's a good chance of seeing bighorns there that time of year. All the viewpoints at Canyon are great for landscapes, as well as Tower Falls. While you are based out of Gardiner, take a fun guided rafting trip on the Yellowstone River, starting there in Gardiner.

Personally, I'd recommend going a couple of weeks later so you time it with peak autumn color change, especially in the Tetons. Cooler crisper weather, maybe less people.

DougS Loc: Central Arkansas

1. Beartooth Highway! Time your trip to end going over it so the sun will be setting on the south side! I recommend staying at Silvergate, at the northeast entrance for this outing.
2. I agree with the Artist Paintpots suggestion. Zoom in close for some 'Artsy' appearing shots!
3. 1/2 mile north of Indian campground, visit the Sheepeater Cliffs, and take the trail along the Gardner River going east. You may see a Golden Marmot there, as well as the rapids/waterfalls. About a 1/2 mile hike round trip.
4. The Mammoth Hot Springs, visit ALL of it! Even the 'little' loop at the top! And get close-ups(!) of the formations.
5. I agree with visiting the smaller, lesser visited geyser areas, too! They are all, individually, so unique!!! Each, and EVERY one is so BEAUTIFULLY different!
6. When entering the park from the south, take the trail to the bottom of Moose Falls (1st one in the park).
7. Tower Falls, and if you can, find some branches/pine limbs to 'frame' your shot (turns out really nice if you can 'frame' it all the way around!).
8. Try to 'time' your evening location to be near a large herd of bison when they are crossing the road (is there such a thing a timing?, lol) It is VERY exciting to be in the middle of a 'BISON JAM' (traffic stop due to herd crossing the road, and have them within arms length front, back, and both sides, simultaneously!) We unintentionally had two in the same afternoon!). 2nd batch, about a dozen, were initially coming towards us beside the road, then within 5 minutes, we were surrounded by many dozens!
9. The Grand Prismatic Spring overlook, is worth the extra effort! As is the boardwalk around it.

Put the zoom on the D500, and the wide angles on the D850. Have both on the ready at all times! I have learned to just stop swapping lens, just have both ready at all times!

nervous2 Loc: Provo, Utah

dripper Loc: Green Valley, AZ

Check out world's largest antler entrance in little Afton Wyo.

nukauboi

If you will be in Gardiner, take at least one day and drive to the Northeast entrance and visit Cooke City. There are some roads right out of town that climb up over treeline where there were old gold mines. Also, you can then drive over the Beartooth Highway to Red Lodge, Montana, and then back to Gardiner. It will be a long day, but I guarantee the Beartooth Pass should not be missed.

CRoy

We went mid September a few years back and there was snow! Enough that Beartooth Highway was sadly closed and parts of the park closed until roads could be plowed.

That being said, Yellowstone and the Tetons were magnificent, cold, snow, and ice included!

Yes, stop in Gardiner and Cooke City.

I had my 35mm and got some great photos, but nothing compares to the beauty of the area seen through the naked eye.

Enjoy!

nukauboi

Yeah, I have seen the pass get closed the first part of September, but you never know. The pics above were taken last year around October 10. It was great because the road was closed, so I think we saw one car driving over to Cooke City. We stayed in Cooke and it was the last night before the excellent restaurant closed for the season. If I was guessing, they will try to stay open as long as possible, because last year sucked because of the floods. September is a great time though. Good luck.

bob44044 Loc: Ohio

First, don't stay in Gardiner. It's at the far north side of the park. A better place to stay is at Canyon Village, it's centrally located, making it much easier and faster to get to other areas in the park.

A. T.

Well, what I might not have said in my original post was that we will be there for three weeks and we were planning to spend the first week or so at the Northern point of the park and the remainder of our trip near Jackson Hole. We have been to Wyoming two other times and spent those two visits in Wilson but realized that to get to the Northern part of the park would eat up two many hours each day so this trip we planned on starting in an area that we had not seen and then move South.