Yellowstone vacation advice

[stilscream]

I'm flying into Yellowstone and trying to pack and wanted advice. I have 4 bodies. I was thinking about bringing 2 bodies. I have a 1DX. Obviously, my favorite to use. I have 1d mark IV, 7d and 5d mark iii. I have cf and sd cards, but my sd cards also work in my camcorders and they are larger than my cf cards. I was hoping to bring my Motorola Xoom tablet to save space. I was thinking about taking the 7d and 5d3 to save space (charger is much smaller too). I want to take pics of birds in flight and astrophotography. I am bringing my Canon 600 f4 and my 14mm f2.8 Tamron. My 70-200, both 1.4 and 2x extenders. I also will bring my 35 f1.4 and 24-70 f2.8. I am leaving behind my 85 1.2, 100 macro, 400 f2.8, macro extenders and my 17-40 f4.

Am I making any mistakes?

 

[stilscream]

Also, should I invest in a blind? I am not camping in the park I am just taking short hikes perhaps. My wife is NOT into photography and will be with me. She will be about 2 months pregnant at that point. She says she is willing to hang out in a spot for an hour or so, so long as it's not 4+ hours of sitting in the same spot.

 

[clostridium]

Part of this depends on what you want to shoot - landscape, birds, otters, big game like elk/bison/bears, wolves, etc. Yellowstone has all of that and more. It also depends on the time of year but I'm assuming you are going in the near future.

If you really want to get wolf shots you have to be incredibly patient and understand that they will be some distance away most of the time. You'd want to have the 7d + 600 + 1.4 to get any decent shots. They get closer in the winter incidentally and even then I was wishing I had more range with my 7d + 500 + 1.4.

Most of the other wildlife isn't too far away. Looking at my pictures from a summer and winter trip to Yellowstone before I was getting a wide variety of wildlife in focal lengths that were usually < 500 mm equivalent with few exceptions. Notably there will be great photo opportunities while driving or hiking that will require a wider angle lens and sometimes without warning so I'd drive around with two cameras ready to go - one for telephoto shots and one with something wider for scenery and the occasional animal close encounter.

Sometimes I'd see amazing shots of lumbering families of grizzlies roaming the treeline quite a distance away and would want the range but often the bears aren't incredibly far away or at least you are able to reposition to get a better shot while still at a safe distance.

My suggestion if you are looking to shoot the full variety of options (and Yellowstone really offers an amazing variety of photographic opportunities) is to bring the following:

Either 5d3 or 1dx - after buying a 1dx my heart would tell me to take it on this trip but my brain would say to take the 5d3 instead. I'd consider the 5d3 instead because of the additional resolution and the size advantage however it is arguable whether it truly matters. The increased frame rate of the 1dx won't be a major factor on this trip and the better low light capabilities of the 1dx would be somewhat handy but not critical.

The second body should be the 7d for the extra reach unless you have zero interest in wolves and birds and distant animals. You'd probably not be too bad using one of your FF's instead + the 600 + a tc but if you are looking at truly distant subjects (or smaller things) you will get more pixels on target with the 7d. So if you don't care about farther away stuff take the 5d3 and 1dx.

Your lens selections sound spot on.

I don't think a blind is going to be worth it. You can see amazing wildlife in Yellowstone through a combination of patience, getting up early, talking to locals and park rangers (like the various wolf experts - look for the yellow SUV), and considering doing at least some guided touring. There are an incredible variety of good guides around and actually the Yellowstone Association does some nice tours as well. My summer visit was without any assistance but my winter visit was with the YA guides as it is logistically complex to visit most of Yellowstone in winter.

It also doesn't take much hiking to get away from the masses and see good stuff. This is a nice contrast to Yosemite where it seemed like you really had to hike a bit to get some of the best experiences.

 

[tpatana]

I was there year ago, and it was quite nice. I didn't have half the gear you have, but still I got plenty of good photos. With your gear, you'll be fine.

I wasn't so much for the birds, so can't comment on those but for most others I think the 600mm is even too much occasionally. How you planning to carry all those around when hiking? Or you just take one or two bodies with one lens each for hike? Only one time I was "short", there was group of goats (or something climbing the mountain side), and my 7D + 70-200 + 2x wasn't nearly good enough for that. 400 w/ 2x would have been better, but 600 w/ 2x (on 1.6x crop) would have been probably about enough.

I saw bears couple times (from car), and I was always carrying the bear pepper spray just in case. I wouldn't be comfortable camping outside.

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

I'm flying into Yellowstone and trying to pack and wanted advice. I have 4 bodies. I was thinking about bringing 2 bodies. I have a 1DX. Obviously, my favorite to use. I have 1d mark IV, 7d and 5d mark iii. I have cf and sd cards, but my sd cards also work in my camcorders and they are larger than my cf cards. I was hoping to bring my Motorola Xoom tablet to save space. I was thinking about taking the 7d and 5d3 to save space (charger is much smaller too). I want to take pics of birds in flight and astrophotography. I am bringing my Canon 600 f4 and my 14mm f2.8 Tamron. My 70-200, both 1.4 and 2x extenders. I also will bring my 35 f1.4 and 24-70 f2.8. I am leaving behind my 85 1.2, 100 macro, 400 f2.8, macro extenders and my 17-40 f4.

Am I making any mistakes?

I'd take the 1D X and the 1D MK IV.
The 14, 17-40, 24-70, the 70-200, and the 600mmL plus TC's. There are a lot of 300-400mm usages, and there is a big gap between 200mm and 600mm. You might also want extenders on your 600.
I'd also suggest the 100 macro, there is a lot of interesting small creatures and features.

Looking at photos from my 2008 trip, 17mm on my 5D MK II and 200mm on my crop body were the most used focal lengths, if I had had a 400mm or 600mm it would have been heavily used along with the wide angles. When you are on a board walk for some of the small geysers, wide angle lenses are a must.

I had my 70-200mm on for Old Faithful which was a mistake, a 24-70 would have been better. I had to back up too far, and then the crowd blocked part of the image.

Images like this were taken at 28mm with my 5D MK II from a board platform. A close-up macro image of the algae growths might have been interesting, I did not have a macro lens at the time.

 

[stilscream]

I left off the list of lenses left behind is my 300mm f4 and 200-500mm Tamron. The 300f4 is awesome, but I would have to leave my 70-200 - that's not gonna happen. My 200-500 might seem useful, but the focusing is so... slow. Birds in flight is out of the question. It is however, way, way lighter than a 600. I have a 600, so you tend to make an effort to use it when you pay that much for it and the tripod sturdy enough to support one.

I also left out a bit of important info. I am putting my 600 in one hiking bag with bubblewrap, and the rest of my equipment I want to fit in my tamrac backpack which would fit 2 small bodies, 3 small lenses and my 70-200mm or 300f4 in a space not designed for lenses.

 

[stilscream]

Part of this depends on what you want to shoot - landscape, birds, otters, big game like elk/bison/bears, wolves, etc. Yellowstone has all of that and more. It also depends on the time of year but I'm assuming you are going in the near future.

If you really want to get wolf shots you have to be incredibly patient and understand that they will be some distance away most of the time. You'd want to have the 7d + 600 + 1.4 to get any decent shots. They get closer in the winter incidentally and even then I was wishing I had more range with my 7d + 500 + 1.4.

Most of the other wildlife isn't too far away. Looking at my pictures from a summer and winter trip to Yellowstone before I was getting a wide variety of wildlife in focal lengths that were usually < 500 mm equivalent with few exceptions. Notably there will be great photo opportunities while driving or hiking that will require a wider angle lens and sometimes without warning so I'd drive around with two cameras ready to go - one for telephoto shots and one with something wider for scenery and the occasional animal close encounter.

Sometimes I'd see amazing shots of lumbering families of grizzlies roaming the treeline quite a distance away and would want the range but often the bears aren't incredibly far away or at least you are able to reposition to get a better shot while still at a safe distance.

My suggestion if you are looking to shoot the full variety of options (and Yellowstone really offers an amazing variety of photographic opportunities) is to bring the following:

Either 5d3 or 1dx - after buying a 1dx my heart would tell me to take it on this trip but my brain would say to take the 5d3 instead. I'd consider the 5d3 instead because of the additional resolution and the size advantage however it is arguable whether it truly matters. The increased frame rate of the 1dx won't be a major factor on this trip and the better low light capabilities of the 1dx would be somewhat handy but not critical.

The second body should be the 7d for the extra reach unless you have zero interest in wolves and birds and distant animals. You'd probably not be too bad using one of your FF's instead + the 600 + a tc but if you are looking at truly distant subjects (or smaller things) you will get more pixels on target with the 7d. So if you don't care about farther away stuff take the 5d3 and 1dx.

Your lens selections sound spot on.

I don't think a blind is going to be worth it. You can see amazing wildlife in Yellowstone through a combination of patience, getting up early, talking to locals and park rangers (like the various wolf experts - look for the yellow SUV), and considering doing at least some guided touring. There are an incredible variety of good guides around and actually the Yellowstone Association does some nice tours as well. My summer visit was without any assistance but my winter visit was with the YA guides as it is logistically complex to visit most of Yellowstone in winter.

It also doesn't take much hiking to get away from the masses and see good stuff. This is a nice contrast to Yosemite where it seemed like you really had to hike a bit to get some of the best experiences.

Thank you very much! This was exactly what I was hoping to hear reenforced. Your logic of the 7d and 5d3 is how I rationalized it. Plus less risk of losing my favorite body by leaving it at the hotel or having someone steal it at the airport.

 

[stilscream]

Does anyone think bringing a 32gb tablet instead of a 700gb laptop is reasonable to save space? Or should I just bring the laptop. I think I mostly want to bring the tablet because I never use it except on vacations in my hotel room. Damn thing is a huge smartphone without the phone or the service, just wifi.

 

[tpatana]

Does anyone think bringing a 32gb tablet instead of a 700gb laptop is reasonable to save space? Or should I just bring the laptop. I think I mostly want to bring the tablet because I never use it except on vacations in my hotel room. Damn thing is a huge smartphone without the phone or the service, just wifi.

Depends what you're planning to do. If it's nice relaxing vacation, leave your electronics home and enjoy the nature.

 

[stilscream]

Just mostly to dump pics from cards for more space/pics + webbrowsing at night at the hotel.

 

[Valvebounce]

Just mostly to dump pics from cards for more space/pics + webbrowsing at night at the hotel.

Hi,Yes it's reasonable, it is what I did for my last holiday, if the tablet takes an expansion card (mini /micro SD) take at least twice as many cards as you need and duplicate your pics they are so small and relatively cheap for this purpose, and raw images can fill 32gb real quick!

Don't forget the stereoscopic images! ;D

Cheers Graham.

 

[unfocused]

...My wife is NOT into photography and will be with me. She will be about 2 months pregnant at that point. She says she is willing to hang out in a spot for an hour or so, so long as it's not 4+ hours of sitting in the same spot.

...Am I making any mistakes?

Yes. Unless you want some other guy raising that baby for you.

Forget the gear and figure out what the purpose and priorities of the trip are. This is one of the the last chances you and your wife will have to be together alone for at least 10-20 years. Do you really want to spend it with your eyes glued to a viewfinder while your pregnant wife sits there being devoured by mosquitoes?

Yellowstone is huge and is comprised of multiple environments. Just getting inside the park and reaching a destination can take hours. It is also crowded, so unless you plan to get into the back country, expect to be sharing most sites with lots and lots of people.

As far as the back country goes, that's a real investment of time. Do you really want to subject your two-month pregnant wife to a day-long back country hike?

To enjoy Yellowstone, you need to enjoy the trip and not worry about the destinations.

Meander along the routes, just enjoying what you see and stopping when something interesting appears. You'll know when an interesting bit of wildlife has been spotted because all the cars will be pulled off onto the side of the road or into a lot. If it's a bear, there will usually be a ranger there to direct traffic. Elk, deer and bison are plentiful and the biggest challenge can be to get a shot without another person in the picture.

If you really feel like you must have some photography-centric experience, pick one day in the middle of the trip and hire yourself the best guide you can afford. Start out at 4 a.m. and shoot all day and into the night. Leave your wife the Visa card and arrange to get her a ride into Jackson Hole so she can do some serious damage to that card.

 

[jabbott]

I think I remember reading once that >95% of Yellowstone is inaccessible via road, so most of the park is unseen by visitors. It might be worthwhile to prepare a hiking pack you can use with a reduced set of gear to see more of the park.

 

[clostridium]

Since it is summer you will have to carefully plan ahead what you are going to do. Traveling on the roads in the summer can be a hassle unless you get going early. The way the park is laid out makes it easy to select a certain area for the day and then have to do minimal driving to experience those sights in the area.

I was fortunate enough to be there in early July so things weren't bad yet - I'm wondering if anyone who lives closer to there has any insight on times of day where you can still drive the roads between areas without too much traffic. The reason I ask is that some of the very best sightings and wildlife experiences I've had at Yellowstone were random ones while in transit.

At two months pregnant your spouse is not going to be dramatically impacted in terms of physical ability to travel unless she is having significant hyperemesis (aka morning sickness) or another underlying health issue aggravated by pregnancy. She should of course be extra careful to stay hydrated. Of course you need to make sure that you respect her interests and needs on the trip or risk serious consequences. In my job I work with many people who work in a busy urban trauma center and medical helicopter and we have staff that are working in relatively strenuous (for a white collar job at least) occupations without modified duty until at least 20 weeks and then only with obgyn consent after that.

Yellowstone is a very forgiving place for someone with a spouse that may not be as in to photography as you are. There is so much diversity of sights to see and photograph that even if she gets tired of a certain sighting or experience you can pop over to something different nearby and both enjoy it. You really don't have to hike long distances to see amazing stuff. Many of my best wildlife sightings in my two visits to Yellowstone have been within sight of the road and/or taken using a beanbag on the vehicle. There is of course great stuff in the backcountry too but you don't have to hike there to get a really great experience. You could log just a few miles of walking a day in Yellowstone and still see great stuff.

Getting up really early was the major spousal "discussion" I experienced on Yellowstone trips. Other than that it was easy to balance different interests. The wolves could suck lots of time out of you and relatively low yield which is a potential recipe for non-photographer spouse angst. You can consider doing a wolf sighting trip with a trained naturalist to increase the success rate or just be happy with maybe not getting good wolf pictures.

 

[Lloyd]

I love Yellowstone. You did not mention a tripod and gimbal head for your 600, but I assume that you are planning on using some type of support. Relying on beanbags alone will be problematic due to vehicle congestion and parking issues when a bear or wolf appears. My usual routine is to get up early and make a run to Hayden Valley or wherever there may be reports of bear or wolf activity. My wife can either sleep in or go along. She usually goes along and we do animal shots in morning and early evening before sunset. The animals are more prevalent at these times and there are fewer heat waves to disturb long-range shots. This leaves the middle of the day for visiting the waterfalls, geysers and other activities where I usually don’t take many photos as my focus is on wildlife.

If there are no reports of any specific activity at any one location, I often hit the road and more times than not I come upon some great wildlife viewing options. If you see stopped cars and a lot of 500-800mm lens being used, this is a pretty good hint that there is something out there worth viewing. I like to rent an SUV or large vehicle so I can have my tripod fully extended and ready to pull out of the car at a moment’s notice. Be sure to bring some binoculars that both you and your wife can use. One of the best things for Yellowstone is a quality spotting scope. The scope allows me to use my camera while my wife is looking through the scope. I have a Zeiss scope which puts even my large binoculars to shame and my wife loves to not only look through it, but to invite children and others standing nearby to take a look. This gets her much more involved in the action and allows me to take photos without boring her. I bring a light weight tripod for the scope and my Gitzo for my 800mm.

As spotting scopes are expensive and you may have limited use for one other than this trip, you may just want to buy a device called a Lens2scope available on Amazon and B&H. It is a $180 device that you can mount to your 70-200 which magnifies the turns it into a spotting scope. It is light and you use the 70-200mm collar mount to attach to the tripod (don’t use the plastic one on the lens2scope). I bring this when weight is an issue and the 70-200 works well with it as you can acquire your target at 70mm and then zoom in up to the 200. You can also use it with one of your extenders. (caveat: You may want to research this option in more detail as I remember an online report from someone who noted that it damaged his sigma lens when he attached it to the lens with less than optimal alignment)

Also, be prepared for any type of weather, including snow, and you may want to bring a rain cover for your lenses.

 

[stilscream]

I will be bringing my gitzo tripod with gimbol head and manfrotto monopod. Without a tripod astrophotography would be a pipe dream.
My wife and I are not athletes by any means but we do like hiking up in nature together, so she will love seeing all the bison, and elk. I hope to take pictures of wolves, bears and eagles. I live in AZ, so it will be a welcome relief from the heat of the desert to be up there in the mountains. Though my wife will not be able to do strenuous hiking, she won't be a big ball of baby yet. She is understanding of my passion even though she does not partake. She woke up at 3 AM with me to get sunrise pictures on our last vacation. I booked a hotel 2 hours from YNP, so I am hoping evening wildlife activity is as high as morning so 3AM is not a repeat offense. She would also choose to go with me than sleep in (most of the time). Also, I work in a pawn shop, so I've picked up a spotting scope and pair of Nikon binoculars for fairly cheap.

 

[tpatana]

I booked a hotel 2 hours from YNP,

Uh oh.....

2 hours as advertised, or 2 hours as someone real experience? The traffic can be quite horrible at times. Not at 3am, but still.... If there's bear/bison/elk/squirrel/anything interesting by the road (during the day), estimate about 2mph average speed for couple miles.

For my trip, initially I booked a hotel ~1 hour away, just to get something as everything inside YNP were fully booked. Then I planned calling in every few days to check if the lodge by the Old Faithful would have cancellations. I think on my second call there was cancellation, and I was able to get the lodge cabin for less than I would have been paying for the lousy inn 1 hour away.

And if that would give you (me) 1 hour more sleep every morning, I'd be happy paying way more for that.

Especially, do you really want to wake up your wife 3am every morning? I know, people should think twice before marrying a photog, I tried to warn my wife but since when she listened to me. But waking up 3am doesn't sound vacation to me. If I go sleep after that, sounds more like my kind of vacation.

 

[unfocused]

I booked a hotel 2 hours from YNP,

Uh oh.....

Double Uh oh....

Seriously, take it from a guy who has been married three times – you are courting disaster here. I'd follow tpatana's advice and start calling Xanterra (the park's hotel vendor) now and looking for cancellations anywhere in the park.

Two hours travel time to the park entrance only gets you to the park entrance. Once in the park, you have to get someplace. Google Maps estimates over four hours drive time around the Grand Loop and that is pure driving and very optimistic since it doesn't take into account stops and congestion.

Now, consider all the gear you are talking about hauling with you and add in set up and take down time.

When I went with my two daughters, we camped inside the park and it still took us the better part of a day each day to get to any of the major sites (that is, to actually see the sites and not just arrive there and turn around and drive back).

If you really are locked into the two-hour away location, then I would say to just focus on the astrophotography. Plan on getting up and on the road early in the day, heading to a location with leisurely stops along the way to see wildlife. Get to your planned spot for the night time shots sometime mid-afternoon to check things out and then tuck your wife into the back seat so she can sleep on the way back to the hotel.

Get up the next morning and repeat for a new location.

 

[takesome1]

stilscream

I am going to Yellowstone the first week of September, this will be my fourth trip in as many years. A friend has a cabin by West Yellowstone's entrance that we stay in.

For gear I would suggest either the 1D X, IV and the 5D III. Leave the other bodies at home. Of course the 600mm then something wide.

You didn't mention visiting the geyser basins. If you have never been to Yellowstone the geyser basins should be your first priority. They are what makes Yellowstone unique. Other places in the world have bears, eagles and wolves but no geyser basins. We spent the first three days of our first trip watching water boil.

As for wildlife, the eagles nest at the West Yellowstone entrance road right before you get in to the mountains. They also nest on the east entrance road. The roads follow the rivers and the eagles stay on the rivers.

Go to the North entrance road, going from Mammoth out of the park is a good bet for Big Horn sheep.

I have seen wolves at the east and west entrance roads. The wolves will not stand for pictures as most of the other wildlife do. I have heard that the park rangers shoot the wolves with rubber bullets when they get close to roads. They want them scared of cars and people for their safety and ours.

I am a bit negative on wildlife viewing in Yellowstone. I think some of it is manipulated by the rangers to control the crowds. I was told by one ranger to go to a certain spot to see grizzly the next day, when arrived we found a buffalo that had been killed over night and the bear and her cubs were eating it. Very convenient that it was close to a large parking area as well.

Yellowstone is a giant road hunting adventure for city slickers. If a bear (or anything remotely interesting) makes an appearance it will be a traffic jam. Getting a shot with your 600mm might be tough when everyone with their point and shoot is running out to get close to an elk.

Most people find wildlife by finding parked cars. If you want to have fun just stop and get your spotting scope out and see how many people stop and try and figure out what you are looking at.

If you are two hours away from Yellowstone you are to far if you are going in every day, unless of course you are staying at one of the Teton lodges. Then have fun in the Tetons.

 

[drmudd]

I was in Yellowstone last weekend to photograph the wildlife. The traffic was not to bad, but the smoke/haze from the Idaho fires obscured the skyline. The bull elk were not moving but should go into rut within the next few weeks…