I am travelling to Glacier N.P. In July. I went to Yellowstone in September 07. I was told that Glacier has more wildlife than Yellowstone. Is this correct? We like to see and shoot photography of the wild life. Just wanted to be prepared for less than Yellowstone if that's the fact.
Your question is confusing to me. Are you saying there is no wildlife in Yellowstone? In my experience there is a lot of wildlife in both parks you mentioned. But perhaps you should clarify what you mean by wildlife and your experience photographing it.
However, wildlife usually avoids the hoards of people and is more active at certain times of day and year - so if you really want to see wildlife - you need to plan differently than the average tourist. Obviously, timing can be good or bad - that is why it is called a National Park - the National Zoo is in Washington D.C.
"Whenever you find that you are on the side of the majority, it is time to reform."
Mark Twain
In pure wildlife terms I would vote for Yellowstone. A good day in the Lamar Valley will reward you with both bears, big horns, bison, elk, fox, coyotes, wolves, badgers, otters, eagles, beavers, and with any luck up around Silver Lake you may see moose and on the Baronette Peaks mountain goats. Glacier has beautiful scenery but not the large open valleys like Lamar and Hayden. But if you want scenery you can always sneak down to the Tetons!
Whoever told you that, slap them several times, then resolve never to listen to anything that person says.
Yellowstone and Glacier are in fact a single ecosystem, albeit divided by a belt of human settlement along I-90. Both parks have the same kinds of wildlife, but the areas that you can get to by car in Yellowstone are more conducive to wildlife viewing. Lamar Valley is the best place to see large herds of elk, bison, the occasional coyote, the less occasional wolf (count yourself lucky if you do see them), and the miscellaneous lurking bear. On the park roads, the bison are all over the place, having figured out who will win the battle if a car tries to hit them, and there will be frequent moose jams, giving you the opportunity to get out and take photos of the guy who wanted a close-up shot running for his life from an angry moose.
In Glacier, it's mountain goats you want. Take the hike up to Hidden Lake overview from the Logan Pass visitor center and be surrounded by mountain goats. As in, about ten feet away. They've figured out that we may be loud, funny-looking, and smell weird, but we're basically harmless.
If you happen to be in Yellowstone in late September, the wildlife show in Lamar Valley is phenomenal, as the tourists are in rut. No, wait, that would be the elk.
Unless you're into hiking or helicopters, I would suggest the wildlife in YNP is more visually accessible, IMO. The feds probably have studies that will tell you which has more wildlife, tho I'm not sure it matters except possibly to the food supply.
As of 7/14/08.....'01 Excursion Ltd 7.3L PSD (not yet tricked up...maybe never)
'06 Prowler 260RLS, Equal-i-zer, Prodigy..and 3.1 dogs
I just want to thank everyone for their input. As for the one responder, I meant to see different animals in Glacier N.P. Someone said Hidden lake and I heard that place once before, so it seems like I must check it out with the family.
Thank you all for the input. Its a pleasure coming to this site and what a great resource.
In general, I'd say you are likely to see more wild life in Yellowstone, but I'd take the scenery in Glacier (with plenty of wild life) over Yellowstone most any day.
Plan on shooting more scenics in Glacier and then be pleasantly surprised at how much wildlife you see
I know this is a loaded question -- just throwing in my 2 cents.
We're into hiking and have been to both parks multiple times. We found that Yellowstone, at least the times we were there, had more VISIBLE wildlife. That is, just by driving we saw herds of bison and elk along with the occasional moose.
We have a standing joke that even though we've hiked close to 5000 miles in parks over the past 30 years, we see more wildlife from the car than hiking in the backcountry. We have seen more bear in Glacier, however, both black and griz. We've encountered them on the trails too in Glacier --- didn't see them in Yellowstone.
But, as a hiking park, we much prefer Glacier...........
Pup: 2007 Jayco 1206 w/slide-out + shower
surge brakes, 54w solar panel
TV: 2005 Nissan Xterra 4X4, manual trans
25 years tent camping, 4000+ miles of hiking, lots of biking
Offline
