Just got back from 2 weeks out in Wyoming.  Had a tough time figuring where to put this, because although you can paddle out there, I didn't.  There are white water raft trips and some float raft trips, a good many lakes, and lots of dangerous looking rivers with fast white water and many snags.  Lake water is deathly cold, about 45 degrees in Yellowstone Lake, and storms are sudden and erratic.

Wildlife is phenomenal.  I saw black bears, wolves, coyotes, bison, moose, elk, antelope, mule deer. a bighorn sheep, snowshoe hares, marmots, Uinta ground squirrels, golden mantled ground squirrels, and several types of chipmunks.  Birds included golden eagles, osprey, western tanager, yellow headed blackbird, white pelicans, red headed sapsucker, yellow warblers and more.  My brother-in-law watched a grizzly feeding on a dead bison with wolves waiting in the background from about a half a mile.

The effects of the 1988 fire are seen throughout the park.  In almost all of the heavily burned areas, lodgepole pines have naturally reseeded thickly and are now 10' to 20'.  Lodgepoles are about 85% of the trees in Yellowstone.

We stayed in Red Lodge, Montana the night before entering Yellowstone and were on the road about 8 a.m. for the 40 mile, 2 hour drive over the Beartooth Mountains into the Northeast entrance.  Charles Kuralt called this the most scenic drive in America, and it was impressive, winding through alpine tundra at 13,000 ft. with views of frozen lakes and some 8-10' snow banks in late June.

Our first night goal was Pebble Creek campground (no reservations) with a backup of Slough Creek campground (also no reservations).  Pebble Creek had openings.  A nice campground by the rushing Pebble Creek was perfect.  Yellowstone provides steel food boxes in the campgrounds that were generously sized at Pebble Creek.  The campground administrator warned us about Thumper, the grizzly bear that had thumped a tent a few nights before.  The campers inside were sharing a joint.

We took a hike up the Pebble Creek trail that afternoon, enjoyed a salmon dinner my brother brought in from the Washington coast, and after dinner went out to watch for animals in the LaMarr Valley.  About 1,000 bison grazed in the large valley, with elk and antelope among them.  At the far tree line, several wolves and a black bear could be seen at various points.

The next four nights we had camping reservations in the Madison campground near Old Faithful.  There are a lot of campers there, including many with RV's, but we were in a section that allowed only tent camping.  Most campers were pretty good about observing the 8:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. quiet hours.  We did a little too much geysering for this geezer, but did manage to take a long early morning drive back up to the LaMarr Valley for more wolf watching.

On another such trip I would spend more time in the LaMarr Valley area, and do some backwoods camping in the Bechler Corner of the Park.

We then went down to the Tetons for four expensive days in "rustic" cabins.  The cabins were well built, heated log cabins with showers, but no cooking allowed.  We prepared meals at a picnic area on the Jackson Lake beach.  Tent camping in the same area was decent and very reasonable. 

There were a number of moose and osprey to be seen at observation points along the Snake river.  The wild flowers in the Tetons were incredible.  We hiked several trails in the Tetons and did some touristy things.

This is a trip you should think about taking.

I've been back to Heart Lake twice, right after they open it.  Heard of many Gizz encounters.  The second time we packed in venison steaks and ate them cubbed over the fire.  Funny Mr. Griz didn't  showup.  Going back there too some day, to hike around Lake Yellowstone with wifw and kids.  Should be able to do it in 5-6 days.  Also spent a night near Tower on Hellroaring Mt. trail.  Was certain I heard bear at night.  Never slept.  I think it was a chipmunk!