June or September for Yellowstone?
 

We're thinking about visiting Yellowstone this year and are trying to decide when. We will combine this with visiting family in Idaho Falls.

Originally we were planning on the end of March, beginning of April as we'll be in Salt Lake City for a meeting. But the west entrance probably won't be open then so we decided to make a second trip later in the year. We pretty much can go anytime, but I figure June and September would be better for less crowds and good weather combined.

excellent question, I would like to see responses.

Having lived near the park on the east enterance side, I'd favor September. Maybe the second week. In my experience Sept. weather is more likely to be nice and there is always a chance that in June the snow won't have melted on some of the high passes, but that all depends on how much winter snow they get.

We live in WV and took our first trip to Yellowstone in early June of 2006. There was snow on the top of the mountains, but it was gorgeous and we didn't have any problems with the driving. We stayed in the park for six nights and had a day and a half of fairly heavy rains, but the waterfalls in June are at their fullest (that was what we were told anyway) and they were so beautiful!!! We dressed in layers and by noon it started warming up and we had to start removing our outer layer. There were baby buffalo running around too! We loved our trip and we were just looking at our pictures yesterday. I'm sure either month would be gorgeous! Enjoy!

The best time in my opinion is September(after Labor day). We visited twice in September and had wonderful weather,less crowds.We stayed in Gardiner and W.Yellowstone.Paul

I really like the park in June. We were there beginning June 7 in 2008. The weather was cold and it snowed some for 4 or 5 days. I think it varies from year to year, though.

We saw babies of all kinds, wolves, several grizzlies and other assorted animals. The only thing we didn't see a lot of was the large bison herd in Hayden Valley. They hadn't come back from the winter feeding grounds yet.

Here's a bunch of pictures and a trip report if you're interested.

http://www.alandsuejohnson.com/yello..._trip_2008.htm

In September you get to see the changing leaves, elk rut and few grizzlies. The bears are up at higher elevations, we've been told. Both would be wonderful times.

September is glorious weather, no crowds, lots of animals; June can be very iffy weather-wise.

Mid June 08. Beartooth Hwy was closed. A lot of the park roads opened the day before we got there, which was June 13. So it is possible in June that all of the roads wouldn't be open. I asked several rangers and workers at the lodges and they said about 1 in 5 years the road has a chance to be closed in June, but normally it is open. You will get to see a lot of babies. we saw about everything imaginable other than wolves. grizzly cubs, black bear cubs, baby moose, baby foxes, baby coyotte, fawn, etc, even a baby beaver.