Lamar Valley
- Food
- Pack food, or eat in Cooke City
Crowd level: Easy. Busy only at the obvious hour
Best season May–June and September, at dawn. Winter is a different trip, with different road closures. Check the park roads before you leave town.
Lamar Valley is a wide road through the park’s northeast, and the reason to be there is animals at dawn. Bison, sometimes wolves, often nothing but grass and a cold car. The valley does not perform at noon.
The short version
This valley sits in the story of the 1995 wolf reintroduction. It was also long used as range for bison. Arrive before sunrise and accept that the animals owe you nothing. The boardwalk clock of Old Faithful does not apply here.
Food nearby
Pack food, or eat in Cooke City
There is no restaurant worth planning inside the valley. Eat in Cooke City or carry food from Gardiner. A lodge cafeteria is fuel, not a meal to remember.