Notes From the Field: Greater Yellowstone with Gather Away

Notes from our journey to Grand Teton and Yellowstone, Wyoming, USA with Gather Away – a specialist DMC based in Jackson offering dedicated wildlife guiding and services.

Gather Away focuses on private, guided tours and offers a uniquely personalised way to explore the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem with its most awe-inspiring landscapes and diverse wildlife, venturing into untouched corners. Their highly experienced guides take guests off the beaten track to discover Grand Teton and Yellowstone Parks in a way that few others experience.   Curated dining and specialist scopes, binos and additional equipment all enhance the overall experience in this stunningly beautiful area.

Jackson Airport is the only airport in the World that is inside a National Park (a lovely small airport with a short runway – hold on tight!) and then a 15–20-minute transfer to Jackson through the Teton Valley.  Jackson Hole refers to the area rather than the town, which is just Jackson.

Jackson is full of great restaurants, boutiques, lovely cafes and modern restaurants offering excellent menus and catering for different dietary requests.  We ate at the Snake River Grill, Julie’s favourite, and The Kitchen – both offered an excellent cross section of delicious foods and ‘normal’ portion sizes!

We spent the first day exploring Jackson and visiting the hotels that Julie favours, again a good mix of budgetary options, some family-owned, some with spas, but all with a warm welcome. We took the time to explore beyond Jackson and the Teton Village, which has larger properties, more resort in style but with great facilities for families as well as being close to the cable cars and ski options.

Jackson is a great base for exploring the Great Teton National Park with superb wildlife (it is the best place for moose viewing due to habitat) but we also saw some great birding, bison, elk, grizzly bears, mule deer, foxes and badgers and for us, we absolutely loved taking a walk and really getting off the beaten track to experience the serenity and beauty of this extraordinary Park.

This area is probably best for those wanting to combine wildlife whilst being more active, horse riding at Spring Creek, Art Tours, Hiking, Cycling, Boating – in boats of all shapes and sizes. We also visited the rodeo with its cowboy theatrics in the town square all whilst staying in great accommodation.  There is a reason why Harrison Ford and many others base themselves in Jackson!

In Winter the elk, bison and moose move closer to town with between 5-8,000 elk to be found in the Elk Refuge which of course attracts the predators. Then you can switch to some fun winter born activities such as sleigh rides, dog sledding etc.

Interestingly, visitor numbers are more or less the same to Grand Teton and Yellowstone – 4-5 million each year, which blew our minds!!  Most of these visitors come to explore from mid-June to September but only around 500,000 in Winter, another good reason to travel then and Jackson generally has less snow, so it is easier to explore.

We continued on to Yellowstone NP which is a staggering 2.2 million acres in size and was the first National Park in the World, created in 1872.

We recommend spending at least 2 nights in Yellowstone.  Many people only come for a day, however this is generally 12 ++ hours, often arriving after the wildlife has already disappeared into the cooler forested areas.  By travelling with Gather Away and a private guide, we were able to be right in the wildlife action in the early mornings and evenings and find serene spots away from the road.  Gather Away provided a delicious packed breakfast so that we could be in the key areas when the wildlife was most active, such a game changer.

Consider staying for longer in this area with 2 days in Teton and 4 days in Yellowstone – which allows for wildlife viewing, as well as time to visit the world famous geysers and hot springs. You could easily stay longer in either.  By far our favourite spot was the Lemar Valley (so called Serengeti of Yellowstone), stunningly beautiful and filled with wildlife as the bison herds reminded us of the great migration of wildebeest in the Serengeti.  We also were very taken with the Hayden Valley where we saw our first wolves – the Wapiti Lake Pack with two small cubs.

We had so many bear sightings; grizzlies with young cubs and then a variety of black bears though they come in many different colours, from cinnamon to brown to jet black, many with cubs, some hunting elk fawns, eeek!  We saw numerous coyotes and a successful hunt of a pronghorn baby.  Pronghorns, bison galore, foxes, pine martins, numerous elk (of course), mountain goats, long-horned sheep, harlequin ducks and a golden eagle feeding a chick on its nest which was so special. We had 2nts in Jackson and 4nts in Yellowstone (and Gardiner in the North) and it was the perfect amount of time to include visits to the geysers, hot springs and we were always guided to the best viewing spot and at quieter times when we were not delayed by an extraordinary sighting.  The Grand Canyon and Lake Yellowstone were stunningly beautiful.

Armed with a packed breakfast each day, we were able to depart early to explore before the crowds descended. We also had fresh, healthy and delicious picnic lunches.  Quite a contrast to a family self drive 7 years ago! Back then, we had a lovely time but we only saw bison on the road and lots of elk. We visited the geysers and hot springs but having done both, I can truly say that Gather Away made an enormous difference with a private guide, curated dining and local expertise, especially in terms of wildlife viewing.

It is definitely worth telling potential visitors about the options and their experience in the Greater Yellowstone Eco system will be the jewel in the crown of their visit to this region.  Even if it is only 3 nights, it will add enormous value to their visit.

Julie remains the logistical expert as there are so many different times of year to visit, to understand the park closures, access points etc. but we have learned an enormous amount so please call us to chat through any ideas.

We personally would love to return in winter and will focus some ideas and itineraries around visiting at this time as it’s a perfect time for incredible photography and wildlife spotting as well as geysers freezing as they erupt.  Give us a call!