Yellowstone National Park 2022 Trip Reports

Trip Report ~ Bear & Wolf Sightings ~ by Bill Hamblin

22nd through 25th April 2022
Yellowstone National Park

~ April 2022 ~

Friday - April 22nd

42 degrees in Gardiner this morning but only 34 degrees at Slough Creek warming up to 42 degrees. A lot of low visibility this morning made viewing difficult at times. At 6:30 a.m. two gray wolves, one uncollared and one collared of the Junction Butte pack were around the carcass south of the Institute. At 6:45 a.m. I found a dark grizzly carrying something in his mouth near the east end of Chalcedony Fan in Lamar Valley. We went up to the hill near the confluence to get a better view. What it was carrying was dark and over two-and-one-half feet long (my guess a bison carcass, probably still born as we noticed no bison cows in the area). It stopped a few times to adjust the load in its mouth and one time to feed on the object. Good viewing for about twenty minutes. At 1:00 p.m. three black wolves appeared near the Slough Creek den (they often do this, most times bedding out of sight and every once in a while, move around). One of the black wolves went into the Sage Den for a few minutes, then exited and bedded out of sight. At 2:30 p.m. we had a grizzly in view south of Straight-away Pullout in Little America. My friends stayed around after the grizzly disappeared in the tree line and it did make two more appearances before dark. At 4:35 p.m. we watched a large cinnamon black bear southeast of the Yellowstone River Picnic area.

Saturday - April 23rd

36 degrees in Gardiner this morning but 32 degrees at Slough Creek warming up to a windy 44 degrees out in the park. I had a small dirty badger cross the road in front of me just east of Dorothy's Pullout today. At 6:35 a.m. I found a gray and black Junction Butte wolf south of straight-away pullout. At 8:30 a.m. a black wolf appeared near the Slough Creek den area. At 11:15 a.m. 1048M a black Junction Butte wolf moving west of Jasper Bench viewed from Coyote Overlook. We had a lot of bird activity on Jasper Bench and others had numerous sightings of wolves going and coming from that site probably meant some type of carcass out of view.

Sunday - April 24th

36 degrees in Gardiner this morning warming up to a nice 48 degrees. I had a THREE DOG DAY today. I had a jack rabbit run in front of my car near Mammoth this morning in the dark, still half white and half brown. I watched a pair of trumpeter swans fly away from Slough Creek this morning. At 9:15 a.m. I had four black and one gray wolf at the Slough Creek den area, others had as many and six blacks and three grays in the area. At 10:10 a.m. the black mate of 1228F was sighted in Round Prairie moving fast to the west. My viewing time was a half a minute before he went out of sight (second day he has been observed without 1228F maybe she is in a den). At 11:40 a.m. I found a Junction Butte black yearling that is strangely colored (called coco puff) on Jasper Bench from Coyote Overlook. Kevin M was high above the road near the Institute and could see two other blacks bedded on the bench. At 6:10 p.m. a small bear jam just west of Lower Hellroaring Pullout had a nice sized black bear just off the road.

Monday - April 25th

33 degrees this morning in Gardiner but only 24 degrees at Slough Creek warming up to 57 degrees. At 5:50 a.m. I found a grizzly digging in the tree line southwest of Straight-away Pullout in Little America. It disappeared for a while then reappeared for good viewing for twenty minutes or so as it slowly moved into the trees. At 6:00 a.m. Kevin M was down the road and called to say he had a grizzly. The grizzly apparently crossed the road to the south and was moving rather quickly out of sight. From 7:00 a.m. thru 11:00 p.m. I stopped several times to look at the Slough Creek den area. I accounted for two blacks and a gray but the devoted wolf watchers like Paul H and Frank K had seven or eight today. At 12:15 p.m. Quinn H called with a grizzly near the Amethyst Drainage south of the Institute. As happens to me a lot I arrived at the barn just after the grizzly disappeared behind a sagebrush ridge. Quinn H went to Hubbard Hill and then YES Pullouts to re-find the grizzly. Finally, he stopped between the Institute and YES and found the grizzly again. Over an hour of viewing as the grizzly slowly moved around lightly digging for lunch. My guess is the grizzly was medium sized with a nice Yellowstone Stripe around it. At 5:45 p.m. I passed Blacktail Ponds with a large crowd. Some of the Wapiti Lake pack were chewing on bones from the October bison carcass that was locked in the ice for the winter. Six wolves all collared were bedded when I stopped but only saw one black and three grays that were in sight.

People Seen

Wolf Watchers: From Montana: Rick M, Doug M, Dan and Laurie L, Melba C, Jeremy S, Wendy B, Joe K, Taylor B, and John and Carolyn G. From Missouri: Frank H. From Utah: Paul H. From Switzerland: Peter D. From Canada: Jeff A. From Washington: David and Stephanie O. From Oklahoma: Robert and Pam. From California: Bill W. From South Dakota: Sam and Ginny G. From Wisconsin: John and Marie E. Bear Watchers seen this report: From Louisiana: Bruce P. From Montana: Doug M and Jack G. From Utah: Hayden and Doug G. From Oregon: Larry and Char T. And from Idaho: Terry and Marsha J. Others seen this report: From Montana: Cliff B, Audra C, Bob L, Evan S, Quinn H, Emil M, Chris H, Grant J, and Dan and Cindy H. From Wyoming: Kevin M. From Vermont: John K. And From California: Jim and Amber.

Yellowstone National Park

Lamar Valley Map - Yellowstone National Park