Wolf Watching in Grand Teton National Park

Aug 1

Ever since I was a little girl, wolves have been my favorite animal. When I visited Yellowstone in middle school, I wanted to see one so badly but we never did.

Cut to this year, 2025. That little girl in me still was desperate to see one. One day while Martin and I were out sight seeing, we saw a group of people pulled off in a geyser parking lot but they were all facing away from the geyser. I knew this meant one thing: wildlife.

Something I learned during our time in Yellowstone was that if you saw someone stopped on the side of the road with binoculars or a camera, that most likely meant there was wildlife of some kind. Using this tactic is how I saw most wildlife in the parks. If I saw even one person stopped at a pull off and looking, I was also stopping. Sometimes it was nothing *that* out of the ordinary (like a bison or deer). BUT a few different times, it was something crazy. Like a bear or, in this case, a wolf.
In the 30 seconds Martin and I took to get out of the truck and figure out what everyone was looking at, we only saw a flash of the wolf running through the woods before it was gone. It was massive and white/grayish color. I was hyped over that. I had even worn my wolf sweater in hopes it would manifest this exact moment. I didn’t even care that I didn’t have a photo of it. (although now I wish I did) But I saw A WOLF!

The following week we were in the Grand Tetons boon-docking on the public land. On one of the mornings there, I decided I wanted to leave early and try to take some sunrise photos. I originally planned on going to the T.A. Moulton Barn, this is considered the most photographed barn in the United States. When I arrived, the parking lot was completely full and there were, I kid you not, probably 30 photographers out in front of the barn waiting on the sun. Being the socially anxious person I am, I decided that was not for me. I also am not a huge fan of just taking a photo of something because everyone else is. (Yeah I know, I should probably work through that in therapy.) But I like to be different you know? Haha.

After I left the barn, I decided I would go to a popular meadow for bear sightings. When I was on my way, there was a herd of elk at a pull off, so I stopped and took pictures of them of for a second before continuing on. What I didn’t know is that there was a National Park’s gate before the meadow, and our park’s pass is under Martin’s name. Which side note: annoying that it isn’t for the household or car, it is for the individual. But I digress. I couldn’t get in. I was not happy because I was losing the golden light and I had driven about 45 minutes to try and get there. So back to the spot with the elk I went.

Upon arrival, I could already tell something was going on with the herd I had just photographed. They were all bunched together and running for their lives. I threw my truck into park, grabbed my camera, and took off running towards the barrier fence. The whole time I was running I was thinking, “What is chasing them?!” A family also saw the commotion and was running alongside me, one of the fun parts of watching wildlife is the strangers I have shared it with. We were all excited and searching the field for the predator. When all of the sudden, two wolves came flying into view. We watched them chase the herd for a few seconds before the wolves turned around and started booking it the opposite direction.

Herd of elk running from wolves in Grand Teton National Park

It. Was. Insane.

My photos of this moment are not my best. Mind you, I was running through the grass and trying to take pictures at the same time. I am happy to even have a sliver of a photo for this memory!

The wolves were giant. I think the sheer size of them is what shocked me the most.