TN 2014 Pages:TN 2005 INTRODUCTION
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USA - Montana
Beartooth Creek (Photo: Greg Smith)
MONTANA
CANADA Malta
Great Plains and Yellowstone Saturday 7 June – Saturday 21 June 2014
(15 days)
Saddle up for a fabulous trip to the real American West! We travel to the Montana Plains and Yellowstone National Park at the best time of year, when their wonderful variety of resident birds will be in full song, , their amazing range of mammals have young of the year in abundance, and the prairie will be ablaze with flowers. In the words of one of Yellowstone's most famous residents, this is a tour that's "smarter than the average"! n June, few places in the world match Yellowstone National Park’s Lamar Valley for viewing the dynamics of large predators and their prey. Snow in the high country keeps herds of elk and deer in the valleys. Predators – particularly bears and wolves – take advantage of this, often in numbers that create real pressure between species. At the same time, their prey species are raising young, which are abundant and a joy to see. This year, we add an additional night to our Yellowstone journey, staying in the park at Lake and Old Faithful in addition to spending time in the wildlife-rich northeast corner of the park in Lamar Valley. We focus mainly on wildlife viewing in the dawn and dusk hours, while mid-day we offer excursions to explore the geyser basins, Hayden Valley, and the dramatic Upper and Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River. Our route to and from Billings lets us cross the dramatic, 10,000-foot mountain pass of the great Beartooth Plateau to see some of North America’s finest mountain scenery, with a good chance of spotting Mountain Goats, Clark’s Nutcrackers, Golden-mantled Ground Squirrels, Marmots and Pikas. We stay two nights at Lake, one night at Old Faithful, and three nights in the small mountain town of Cooke City, rimmed by spectacular peaks. We start amidst the serene beauty of eastern Montana’s expansive prairies, which offer a lovely contrast to the drama of Yellowstone National Park. We tour this little-visited, beautiful part of Montana during early June, when the prairie is often ablaze with wildflowers and the air filled with birdsong.
NORTH AMERICA - CANADA & USA
MONTANA
Billings
Yellowstone NP IDAHO
WYOMING
Outline Itinerary Day 1 : Scheduled flight from London to Billings, Montana. Our hotel is located in the historic downtown district and tonight we enjoy a welcome dinner there, with a fabulous view of the city and the Yellowstone River winding through it. Overnight Billings (D)
I
30
Glasgow
Clark’s Nutcracker (Photo: Mike Read)
Our accommodations are in downtown hotels in Billings and Malta, and an historic Inn at Fork Peck. We eat at a variety of local restaurants and enjoy picnics in the field, time around a campfire one evening, and wildlife sightings to remember. A bison herd has been re-established on the American Prairie Reserve and we take time to watch the calves frolic. Coyotes and Red Foxes have hungry pups to feed and we may hear the adults serenade. After a week in the prairies, we stop at the Little Rockies, to walk amid groves of aspen and pine, before heading back to Billings where we celebrate at a well-known local steakhouse. The tour is again devised by Peg Abbott, and will be run in conjunction with her company, Naturalist Journeys, and the group could include some of her US clients.
Day 2 : This morning’s walk at nearby Two Moon Park along the Yellowstone River is often no less than extraordinary! We return for our things, pack up and head north towards the Canadian border, beginning very soon outside the city to witness the legendary open spaces of “Big Sky Country”. We settle into our simple but comfortable accommodations, enjoy dinner and prepare for tomorrow’s sightings. Overnight at the historic Fort Peck Hotel (B,L,D) Day 3 : One of the forces that ensure the Northern Great Plains remains diverse and healthy is that of varied landscapes. After today your eye will pick up the difference between shrub-dominated steppe communities, important to Sage Thrashers and Greater Sage-grouse. A real highlight of the day is (hopefully) seeing a population of Mountain Plovers. We take a picnic lunch and then return to Fort Peck, and the massive reservoir created by one of the largest dams on the Upper Missouri River. We have dinner in nearby Glasgow, and at dusk, venture out in search of Common Poorwills. Overnight at historic Fort Peck (B,L,D)
Know before you book!: For general travel advice, please refer to: www.fco.gov.uk/travel