Yellowstone National Park 2015 Trip Reports
Trip Report ~ Bear & Wolf Sightings ~ by Bill Hamblin
29 April through 02 May 2015
~ April 2015 ~
Wednesday - 29 April
28 degrees warming up to a nice 72 degrees today. I hiked the one way Blacktail Drive road today with John G and Wayne K. Six miles plus and I'm hurting because of it. At 6:10 a.m. John G spotted the courting pair of grizzlies high between A-Z Meadow and the bowl viewed from Coyote Overlook. She soon led him over the hill as viewed from the Institute as they were in the bowl. Later she led him back thru A-Z heading over the ridge to the west back into the Crystal Drainage. At 7:30 a.m. Twin and Mottled the two males now with 926F of the Lamar Canyon Pack were on an elk cow carcass about 600 yards south and west of Footbridge Pullout. Mottled did not hang around as he does not like the roads and people and moved off to bed further away. At 7:35 a.m. I spotted the small golden/blond grizzly feeding on the east side of the Old Druid Rendezvous area. At 1:30 p.m. John G found a small grizzly low on the west side of A-Z Meadow.
Thursday - 30 April
40 degrees this morning and raining but it cleared late morning and warmed to a pleasant 62 degrees. Anne W found a wood duck in a pond near the Mid Point Pullout. At 7:00 a.m. I spotted a large grizzly south of the Soda Butte Cone in the same place as Scarface a few days ago. At 8:30 a.m. 926F and Twin were on the elk carcass viewed from Footbridge. 926F finished eating and carried a large piece of meat with her crossing the road back to the den to the north. At 9:55 a.m. we watched a large black bear south of Straight-away Pullout viewed from Slough Creek. At 11:00 a.m. we had a light colored grizzly west of the rendezvous area. At 11:15 a.m. I found a larger grizzly west of the rendezvous area but quite a ways from the light grizzly. At 3:00 p.m. we had a large cinnamon black bear in Crystal Drainage. At 4:00 p.m. we found a black bear near the Specimen Ridge trail from Long Pullout. At 5:00 p.m. we had a blond grizzly south of Picnic Area. At 6:00 p.m. Twin and 926F were back on the carcass near Footbridge Pullout. 926F left this time going east and turned north and crossed the footbridge bridge on her way back to the den. At 6:50 p.m. I found one large black wolf and two gray wolves near the mixed conifer / aspen forest viewed from Slough Creek. Between 7:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. Calvin and Lynette showed me four gray and three black wolves of the Prospect Peak Pack high on the slopes of Hellroaring. A three wolf pack day for me today, with a lot of help from others.
~ May 2015 ~
Friday - 01 May
28 degrees this morning warming into the 60's. I hiked with Wayne K to #9's old den area south of Straight-away. At 7:00 a.m. we had three black and three gray wolves of the Prospect Pack chasing elk north of Coyote Overlook. They had moved a long way since the high slopes of Hellroaring last night. At 9:00 a.m. we had a small blond grizzly feeding in the rendezvous area. At 9:10 a.m. I spotted a large grizzly in the sagebrush south of the rendezvous area. At 10:45 a.m. I found the courting pair of grizzlies in Crystal Creek viewed from the Slough Creek bathroom. They were heading for the trees and bedded. The sow found a two foot diameter log/downed tree and laid down with two legs on either side of the log. At 2:00 p.m. we had a black bear near the Blacktail Drive entrance At 3:45 p.m. Bob and Elizabeth told be about Scarface, I found him south and west of the Institute just across the river going slowly to the west. At 5:00 a.m. I spotted a black bear sleeping on a large boulder near the Yellowstone Picnic Area (I glassed all the trees I could--since there was a rumor that she had two spring cubs). At 5:15 p.m. my last sighting of the day was a large black bear under the Yellowstone River Bridge, and soon it swam the river from west to east.
Saturday - 02 May
38 degrees this morning warming up to a pleasant 64 degrees. We had a beaver below Bob's Knob at Slough Creek and a moose south in the Soda Butte Valley. At 6:15 a.m. John G and Randi found a large grizzly high on the middle ridge south of Slough Creek. It was moving east crossing first Salad Bowl and then high in the A-Z Meadow. At 6:50 a.m. Scarface was out again this time south of Fisherman's Pullout in Lamar. He moved over the ridge going west and reappeared south of Slough Creek, then traveling farther west disappeared south of Straight-away Pullout going over the ridge. We also had a small black bear in a clearing east of A-Z Meadow near 6:55 a.m. At 7:00 a.m. John G found a grizzly in Bear Meadow from Coyote Overlook. At 7:45 a.m. I found a large grizzly digging south of the Soda Butte Cone viewed from Footbridge Pullout. Then we located the small blond grizzly near the old rendezvous area, and it was out again this afternoon. At 8:45 a.m. the courting pair of grizzlies were back in Crystal Drainage. This afternoon around 3:00 p.m. 965M and two black wolves just south of Footbridge filled the parking lot with watchers (I only saw one of the two blacks wolves). At 5:30 p.m. we had a dark brown colored black bear high in the Salad Bowl traveling east. At 6:15 p.m. my last sighting for the day was a black bear near Yellowstone Picnic area but closer to the Specimen Ridge Trail head (it was the sow with two cinnamon coy's which I did not see again tonight).
People Seen
Wolf Watchers: from Montana: Rick M, Doug M, Ron and Linda, Barbara, Amy T, Alan and Sue O, Melba, and Bob and Elizabeth N. From the United Kingdom: Sian J and Kirsty and Alan P. From Colorado: Anne W and Don G. From Utah: Pam and Denny, Richard B and CD. From Kansas: Calvin and Lynette. From Idaho: Rick E. From Iowa: Jim and Joellen B. and Nell and Bob (not sure where they are from). Bear Watchers: From Washington: John G and Randi. From Ohio: Jim and Tywla E. From Illinois: Wayne K. From Indiana: Jeff and Terri. From Montana: Jack G, Doug M, and Mike and Kathy W. Others: from Montana: Cliff B, Nathan V, MacNeil L, Deby D, Dan and Cindy H, Ken T, and Steve B. From Washington: Bob and Kathy (former Tower Campground hosts). From Florida Rick. From Oregon: Dale and Elva P.
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