Kirsty Peake, a qualified dog behaviourist and trainer, organises two unique holidays to Yellowstone National Park, in the USA, each autumn and winter. These fascinating trips offer the opportunity to watch wolves and other wildlife in their natural environment and learn how these magnificent animals interact and behave in the wilderness - as nature intended.

The next exciting trips are arranged for autumn and early winter ...

Your Hosts for the Holidays...
Kirsty Peake works as an Animal Behaviourist and Trainer and has long held a big interest in wolf behaviour in relation to the modern dog. Alan Peake is a Civil Engineer with a particular interest in Geology. They love visiting Yellowstone National Park and welcome the opportunity of sharing the Park with other like-minded people.

Yellowstone National Park is full of green and gold colouring in the autumn. It is as if nature was giving one final fling of colour before the all covering white of the snow through the next six months.

As with our Winter Wolf and Wildlife tour we are again teaming up with the Yellowstone Association Institute and are based at the Roosevelt Rendezvous at Tower in the heart of the Park.

The Autumn Environment of Yellowstone
Autumn is brief in Yellowstone. Filed trips will focus on the natural processes and distinct feel of this special time of the year. Aspen, willow and cottonwood paint the landscape with scattered blotches of yellow and red before dropping their frost-sensitive leaves. Migrating raptors ride the thermals about Mount Washburn. Red squirrels horde the nutritious cones of white bark pine, barking angrily at the insatiable grizzly bears that raid their stores. Wolves tighten their belts in the face of summer-strengthened elk that in the autumn at least have the upper hand. Bull elk dramatically display their vigour for potential mates as well as potential competitors. Fickle weather verges from bright and pleasantly crisp to cold, overcast and wet. In the midst of this bustling activity and change we will revel in the season's ephemeral beauty and gain a deeper appreciation for the rigours of life in Yellowstone.

Field trips and Evening Programmes
The daily selection field trips will be carefully designed to provide for a variety of ability levels. Each day there will be at least one field trip with no significant hiking, one field trip with a moderate amount of hiking and one field trip with a longer hike. Topics will also vary and include wildlife, birds, wolves, geology and history. All these trips will take place around the northern half of the park.

Roosevelt Rendezvous
Breakfast and dinner are served buffet-style in the main lodge. Box lunches will be provided for the daily field trips. For wildlife watching trips that depart early, box breakfasts will also be provided. Each evening before dinner there will be a cocktail hour in the main lodge with a cash bar serving beer and wine.

Accommodation
Accommodation are in rustic private cabins without bathrooms. Shower and rest room facilities are a short walk away in one of the two bath houses. A small wood stove heats each cabin and logs will be delivered to your cabin daily. Because Autumn nights can be chilly, each bed is provided with extra blankets. If you tend to be a cold sleeper you want to bring a warm sleeping bag.

Duration
The trip is 10 days in length leaving from London Gatwick and returning there by scheduled airline. We fly first to Minneapolis where we go through US Customs and Immigration. We fly on from there to Bozeman, Montana, where we spend the first night. In our own transport we will leave Bozeman and head out to the Park. If the Beartooth Pass is open we will enter the Park over this road. It is 11000ft high and is subject to early, heavy snow falls. It is spectacular route into the Park and will set the scene for our stay at the Roosevelt Rendezvous.

Rest of the Stay
Fall Wolf & Elk. After we leave the Roosevelt Rendezvous, we will journey down to Old Faithful and see and watch the geysers. From there we will travel up to Mammoth Hot Springs. Here we will settle in to the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel and the start of the Fall Wolf and Elk programme. We will have sunrise trips out to find these charismatic mammals. Elk should be easy to find - they are gathered for their annual rutting season which is full of drama. Wolves are more elusive in the fall but you will have a good chance to see them. We will take short hikes into elk and wolf habitat, learning about their behaviour, ecology and conservation. At the end of this programme, we will travel back to Bozeman for the flights back to the UK.

Which Wild Animals Will We See?
On this trip we cannot guarantee seeing wolves. They travel much more at this time of year in search of prey. We may see them, bears and much more but it is important to remember that this is a truly wild environment.

Yellowstone National Park has so many diverse points of interest that it soon weaves its magic around all of us. Guides tell us stories of events in the Park over the years of its existence. The Park covers some 2 million acres of land and is a wild environment. The land is not lived in or farmed in any way. There are not a great number of roads. Walking in the Park is always undertaken with great care and bear repellent is carried by the Institute guides and by ourselves.

Cost of the Trip and Payment Terms
This trip to Yellowstone is for 10 days. Please contact us for September departure dates for this current year. Cost will be in the region of £2,000 but again, please contact us for final cost details. There is a slight increase for single occupancy. This includes all travel from the UK to USA. All costs are included except for one lunch.

If you would like to reserve a place, we require a 25% deposit by June 1, 2005 with the balance due by August 1, 2005. As we only run these trips once a year we would recommend you book early to avoid disappointment. We are not a travel agent and recommend that you take out travel insurance once you have paid your deposit.