Montana – David Kotz

Yellowstone + Teton in winter

Dartmouth Alumni Travel trip through Yellowstone National Park and Grand Teton National Park.

When offered the opportunity to serve as the faculty host for a Dartmouth Alumni Travel group tour of Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, in mid-winter – highlighting the opportunity to observe wolves and other wildlife in these majestic national parks in mid-winter – I jumped at the chance. This trip, billed as the Wolves of Yellowstone, was operated in partnership with Orbridge Travel and led by two fantastic guides from Wildlife Expeditions, a unit of the non-profit Teton Science School in Jackson, Wyoming.

A bull elk grazes beside the road in Yellowstone National Park.

Bozeman, Montana

18th consecutive weekend of hiking

I flew back to the USA for a week-long trip in Yellowstone National Park, which straddles Montana and Wyoming. It is a remarkably long way from London – about twenty hours of travel – but also a world away in climate, terrain, and culture. Upon arrival in Bozeman, Montana, the cowboy hats are the first thing you notice – in the airport, in the hotel, in a restaurant, just a natural part of life. The “Don’t Tread on Me” flags fluttering outside homes and trailer parks. The brown grass and vast fallow fields of hay stretching for miles. The deep cold, well below freezing (zeroºC) and close to reaching zeroºF. The light powder snow falling gently but barely covering the ground. This is definitely not England – or New England either.

photo of a sculpture of a bobcat — The bobcat is the mascot of Montana State University.