Thursday - 30 June

I left home about 4:20 a.m. and made good time arriving in Hayden Valley about 6:30 a.m. At 6:55 a.m. I found a grizzly sow with one yearling far away from grizzly overlook. I didn't stay to long in Hayden, my priority was to find a campsite for my stay. I arrived in Tower Campground just as the ranger called in that it was full. They had a major wind storm Wednesday night, and had trees down in the campground and on the roads. Tower and Slough Creek still have no campground hosts. I found that Slough Creek was also full but found a nice site at Pebble Creek Campground for my stay. At 9:50 a.m. I spotted a grizzly high on A/Z. At 4:50 p.m. we watched a grizzly bedded in the tree line south of YES pullout. At 5:00 p.m. I found a grizzly high on the middle clearing in Crystal viewed from coyote overlook. At 6:00 p.m. we had a black bear in a clearing east of A/Z. At 6:05 p.m. we next saw a grizzly low on ski slope. At 6:15 p.m. I spotted a grizzly south of midpoint almost to the rendezvous area. At 6:20 p.m. we had a black bear south of the Institute. At 7:30 p.m. we enjoyed watching the small blond grizzly above the narrows again. At 7:45 p.m. we had a black bear north of the institute. At 7:50 p.m. we found a grizzly in the bowl viewed from the Institute. At 7:55 p.m. I spotted a cinnamon black bear south of midpoint. At 8:40 p.m. I found a grizzly on # 1 finger of Norris Mountain. Another great day for watching bears.

~ July 2011 ~

Friday - 01 July

At about 5:10 a.m. I found the dark gray yearling in the road between footbridge and hitching post and 754M was just off the road. This yearling male is a card, he sat above the road at 15 yards watching us for a few minutes before retreating north and out of sight. Soon after they reappeared east of footbridge joined by a gray yearling crossing the Soda Butte Creek and heading south. At 6:00 a.m. I spotted a black bear in the tree line in the rendezvous area. At 6:05 a.m. we had a grizzly south of the Institute across the river. At 6:10 a.m. I found a black bear in # 2 sliver near ski slope. At 6:20 a.m. we had a black bear north of coyote overlook. At 6:30 a.m. there was a small grizzly below the black bear north of coyote overlook. At 7:15 a.m. I spotted a large grizzly in the rendezvous area. At 7:20 a.m. I found a small grizzly on the # 1 clearing of Norris Mountain. At 10:45 a.m. we had a black bear north of picnic. At 11:00 a.m. a small blond grizzly north of picnic. At 11:30 a.m. two wolves east of footbridge (one crossed south to north, the other was trying when I headed back to camp for a nap). At 4:30 p.m. we enjoyed watching a black bear with two cubs of the year (coy's) at Floating Island Lake (quite a show with the cubs up and down the trees while mom grazed). The Sandhill Crane still has two eggs. The resident Canada goose family still has three chicks and visited the Sandhill Crane island. There were three male Ruddy ducks cruising the lake. Lots of adult and little yellow bellied marmots in the rocks to the west. At 5:30 p.m. I stopped to watch a bedded bear in Elk Creek. Everyone said it was a grizzly and when it finally got up, to my surprise it was a grizzly. At 8:30 p.m. my last sighting for the day was a grizzly in the rendezvous area.

Saturday - 02 July

Bob L. told me about two grizzlies in Slough Creek near Bob's Knob; by 6:00 a.m. they were already swimming the creek headed north for the day. At 6:30 a.m. I spotted a large grizzly in the rendezvous area. At 6:45 a.m. I found a grizzly low on Norris Mountain. At 7:00 a.m. we watched a grizzly in # 2 finger of Norris. At 9:00 a.m. I had a grizzly in the bowl viewed from hitching post. At 9:20 a.m. we had the small blond grizzly above the narrows again (the resident grizzly). Between 12:30 and 3:00 p.m. we had the black bear sow and two coys again at Floating Island Lake. At 7:35 p.m. we watched a dark grizzly just east of Druid Peak. At 8:30 p.m. my last sighting was a grizzly on penny lane.

Sunday - 03 July

At 5:10 a.m. I spotted a grizzly on the confluence. At 5:20 a.m. I found a grizzly south of picnic. At 5:30 a.m. we had two grizzlies in the bowl. At 5:50 a.m. I spotted a grizzly in A/Z. At 5:50 a.m. we had a great view of six of seven Lamar Canyon wolves on a fresh kill about 600 yards from the road at fisherman's. They stayed around for about an hour. At 8:30 a.m. I found a blond grizzly high on Norris. At 11:00 a.m. I spotted a dark grizzly in the rendezvous area. At 8:30 p.m. we had a grizzly in the tree line of the rendezvous area, colorful grizzly. At 8:35 p.m. we enjoyed watching a grizzly high east of penny lane. At 8:45 p.m. we found a black bear under K meadow. At 9:25 p.m. I spotted a dark grizzly in round prairie.

Other News:

Birds: The osprey still has two chicks on the nest near Calcite, the adults have been sending a lot of time away from the nest - I assume with the muddy waters of the Yellowstone, both have to fish to feed the chicks. I did see the male return with a small fish about 5-6 inches. A red-tailed hawk nest near the Specimen trailhead east of the Yellowstone Picnic area with two big but still white chicks. Lots of people up: Wayne and Maryann from Illinois, Becky and Chloe from Montana, Laurie, Larry and Linda, Teresa and Ned from Idaho Falls, Kathy, and Lauri from Helena.