Lamar Valley in Yellowstone

Lamar Valley is home to herds of elk, bison, and several packs of wolves, making it Yellowstone National Park's prime location to view wildlife.

Lamar Valley yields a breathtaking wide-open landscape scattered with ponds and large boulders. Its saturation in natural beauty and wondrous opportunity make Lamar Valley as attractive to tourists as it is to wildlife.

Location/Directions

To get to Lamar Valley, drive through the northeast entrance to Yellowstone National Park. It is the least frequented entrance, making Lamar Valley a welcomed respite from the hoards of tourists in the other areas of the park. Lamar Valley is east of Tower Junction.

Viewing Wildlife

Whatever time of year you choose to visit Lamar Valley, a spectrum of wildlife will be abundant. In the summers, expect to see quietly grazing elk, bison, and mule deer. Of the predators, coyote are numerous. After their reintroduction, wolves have also been seen here. Although rare, visitors have reported seeing wolves take down an elk. Lamar Valley is also one of the best places in the park to watch for grizzly bears. In the spring time, Lamar Valley rewards visitors with precious sightings of infant bison and elk. In the winter, the valley is the main winter range for the elk and bison herds of northern Yellowstone. Wildlife can be seen either from a car or from a trail. If you do not wish to explore the wilds of Lamar Valley on your own, there are several guided excisions available.

Fishing in the Lamar Valley

The Lamar River attracts anglers of all levels to Lamar Valley. The Lamar River originates high in the Absaroka-Beartooth range and is home to cutthroat and rainbow trout. The average size trout found in the Lamar River is 12 inches, although to pull in a 16 incher is not rare. Because the river is fed by melting mountain snow, is is usually running high and murky. The best time to fish the Lamar River is when the run-off subsides between late-June and late-July. The best flies for the Lamar River are large imitations of grasshoppers and crickets. Access to the river is a short easy walk from the road, and although it is a popular fly-fishing spot, seclusion is not hard to find

Natural History

Glacier-carved, the valley was formed 13,000 years ago during the last ice age. Evidence can be seen in the form of a wide, U-shaped valley that is peppered with huge boulders called erratics. These boulders were carried and deposited from the Beartooth Range. The marshy ponds called kettles, are also remnants of the glacial period. As the land becomes drier, these ponds will fill in with silt and rocks and eventually become meadows.

First Written Account in 1836

The first written accord of Lamar Valley was entered in 1836 by trapper, Osborne Russell, in his Journal of a Trapper. Osborne writes, “There is something in the wild romantic scenery of this valley which I cannot . . . describe; but the impressions made upon my mind while gazing from a high eminence on the surrounding landscape one evening as the sun was gently gliding behind the western mountain and casting its gigantic shadows across the vale were such as a time can never efface from my memory."

Other Online Resources

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