Billings, MT

Hi Gang,

I'm heading to Billings in a couple of weeks and will have a couple days off. Looking for some recommendations/sugges​tions for wildlife opportunities. I plan to bring my 500 and 1.4x. I can drive to Yellowstone, but must return at night. Is the drive too far for day trips? Are there closer opportunities like Bighorn Canyon? Thx in advance!

G3G4G5 wrote in post #15055032
Hi Gang,

I'm heading to Billings in a couple of weeks and will have a couple days off. Looking for some recommendations/sugges​tions for wildlife opportunities. I plan to bring my 500 and 1.4x. I can drive to Yellowstone, but must return at night. Is the drive too far for day trips? Are there closer opportunities like Bighorn Canyon? Thx in advance!

Unless you are willing to leave Billings VERY early a.m., and willing to stay out until WAY after dark, you aren't going to have much time to spend in Yellowstone. It's about 90 miles to Cody, another 55 to the east entrance to YNP; similar total distance going through Red Lodge and into the NE entrance. Making a round-trip, using both these routes, from Billings, would be a LONG day! There is almost always some sort of road-construction going on, in YNP - check with local references and expect delays. Maximum speed-limit, within YNP, is 45 mph, with many areas of 35 and 25 (don't speed in YNP, you won't like the results!!) - and that doesn't even count for the all the folks blocking traffic because they thought they saw something in the woods!

Best wild-life opportunities would probably be inside the NE entrance; coyotes, bison, elk, possibly even wolves, in Lamar Valley. Especially for the wolves, it's all a matter of opportunity - you just have to be in the right place at the right time.

Also very scenic area - especially between Red Lodge and the NE entrance; also on the Chief Joseph Scenic Hwy. Here is a photo that I got, not quite a year ago, on the CJSH:

http://wyomerc.com/g-jim_photography/?p=247

Enjoy your trip!!

G'Jim,

Thx for the info. Was thinking YNP would be too far, but maybe the Beartooth highway. From what I can find online it may be closed by the time we get out there. Do you know if they close it near Red Lodge or is it further southwest?

They sure are closing the highway early this year! October 9th, wow! I've not ever attempted the trip from Red Lodge, during the winter, but I think they close the highway right where it starts up the switch-backs. I think it is kept open before there as there are several homes there.

The east entrance of YNP won't close until November 5th:
http://www.nps.gov/yel​l/planyourvisit/hours.​htm

Still, though, after October 9th, you wouldn't be able to use the North-east entrance for entry nor exit.

I'm still recommending the Chief Joseph highway for the scenic beauty, with a little side-trip at Sunlight Basin. You can get on the CJSH about 20 miles north of Cody, take it all the way up to the junction (approx. 46 miles) and turn left to Cooke City. Be sure to stop where the highway crosses Sunlight Creek and walk out on the bridge; great view up and down the canyon. The side-trip, for Sunlight Basin, begins just before the bridge. There will be plenty of wildlife, along this route, visible especially early/late in the day. You would have to re-trace the route to get back to Billings.