Yellowstone National Park 2022 Trip Reports

Trip Report ~ Bear & Wolf Sightings ~ by Bill Hamblin

12th through 15th May 2022
Yellowstone National Park

~ May 2022 ~

Thursday - May 12th

33 degrees and snowing this morning in Silver Gate warming up to 48 degrees. Lots of rain today and times of low visibility. The Chief Joseph Road to Cody, Wyoming opened today. The golden eagle is definitely on the nest by the rock formation down Slough Creek Road. The bald eagle nest south of Coyote Overlook failed this year. Redpoll finches were everywhere this morning. At 10:10 a.m. Richard and Rita R found a grizzly at the confluence 150 yards off the road. It then moved east and out of sight. At 10:25 a.m. the two 3 1/2-year-old grizzlies were south of Hubbard Hill and in view for a long time today. At 12:00 noon a large black bear was seen in the tree line south of the Buffalo Ranch. At 1:10 p.m. Dean D found the Middle Ridge sow with two yearlings in the large meadow behind the east end of Jasper Bench. Today they were digging in the fresh snow and great views. At 1:45 p.m. one gray and one black wolf chased off a black bear approaching the Crystal den sight of 907F. At 5:45 p.m. one black wolf and one black puppy at the Slough Creek den came out and quickly returned to the den hole. At 6:30 p.m. one gray and three black wolves were seen above the Slough Creek den area. At 7:00 p.m. one gray and two black wolves visible at 907's den from Crystal Parking Lot. At 7:40 p.m. my last sighting was a grizzly digging northeast of Picnic Pullout.

Friday - May 13th

35 degrees in Silver Gate this morning warming up to 45 degrees. A cow moose was observed to have been wounded badly by some animal, probably wolves in Pebble Creek at Round Prairie. I had a THREE DOG DAY today. At 5:30 a.m. Randi M found the Middle Ridge sow with two yearlings across the Lamar River west of Amethyst Drainage. Good viewing for a while as they were digging for breakfast. At 5:45 a.m. Marc H found a dark grizzly south of Fisherman's Pullout moving to the west. At 5:50 a.m. John G found what turned out to be three different grizzlies north of Old Road Pullout viewed from Coyote Overlook. John G originally had two grizzlies, but we moved to Old Road Pullout and noticed a total of three. My guess a big boar following a sow and another boar tagging along behind. The smaller grizzly soon moved towards the road, then the two larger grizzlies eyeing the road decided to exit up hill and over the ridge and out of sight. Meanwhile the smaller grizzly crossed the road north to south then proceeded east and then recrossed the road south to north. At 7:30 a.m. we watched a medium colorful grizzly digging about 250 yards off the road to the north of Fisherman's Pullout. Good viewing for over an hour, then it traveled over the hill and out of sight. At 7:45 a.m. Paul S had a small colorful grizzly northwest of Picnic Pullout (actually two grizzlies were seen both basically traveling east and four hundred yards apart, one was the small grizzly that had crossed the road twice). At 9:30 a.m. John G found the two 3 1/2-year-old grizzly sub adults on Amethyst Bench, and they were in view most of the day. At 9:45 a.m. Kevin M found the small colorful grizzly digging north of Trashcan Pullout. Only two hundred yards away great viewing for about forty minutes. At 10:15 a.m. a black bear in the tree line on the east end of Amethyst Bench. At 12:15 p.m. we had a small cinnamon black bear run out of a clearing in Crystal from a bull bison. At 1:30 p.m. we had a large cinnamon black bear near the Yellowstone River picnic area. At 2:50 p.m. we had a black wolf near the Slough Creek den area. At 3:45 p.m. we watched two grizzlies digging in the clearing below the Moosehead north of Picnic Pullout. Both adult grizzlies lighter in color digging close to each other. After ten minutes the larger grizzly charged the slightly smaller grizzly who ran off to dig eighty yards away. The smaller one soon went out of sight but the large one was in view for forty-five minutes. At 7:50 p.m. I had a large cinnamon black bear in Round Prairie.

Saturday - May 14th

37 degrees in the morning at Silver Gate warming up to 45 degrees. I had a THREE DOG DAY today. I had several vultures sitting in trees and flying over Crystal Creek today. At 5:35 a.m. John G had a medium sized colorful grizzly digging northeast of Coyote Overlook. At 5:40 a.m. John G found a dark grizzly south of Fisherman's Pullout heading west. At 5:45 a.m. John G found a small colorful grizzly three hundred yards north of Coyote Overlook digging and then traveled to the west. At 6:05 a.m. Blake M found a uncollared black wolf north of Coyote Overlook who was harassed by three and then four coyotes while traveling to the west (probably a coyote den in the area). At 6:20 a.m. Randi M four a black wolf on the east end of Jasper Bench traveling to the east. At 7:45 a.m. I found a medium colorful grizzly across the river from the Confluence, a brief sighting. Later others saw the same grizzly traveling east around Dead Puppy Hill. At 7:55 a.m. Bruce P found one of the two 3 1/2-year-old grizzly sub adult grizzlies near Amethyst Bench, soon the second one joined the other. At 8:00 a.m. we had a large black bear in the tree line on Amethyst Bench. At 8:05 a.m. Chris H called with a large grizzly on Square Meadow below Ski Slope viewed from the Buffalo Ranch. At 9:15 a.m. Richard and Rita R found a small colorful grizzly on a low clearing on Norris viewed from the Confluence. At 9:25 a.m. I found a dark grizzly digging on Calfee viewed from the Confluence and it was digging and flipping rocks. At 10:00 a.m. Gary G found a grizzly traveling near the tree line south of Hubbard Hill, the grizzly kept going east and disappeared near Chalcedony drainage. At 11:25 a.m. Chris H, MacNeil L, and Emil M called with a young grizzly in sight in Little America. When I arrived, it was on a bison calf that it had killed. Mostly hidden in the sagebrush it would raise its head once in a while. Once a herd of nine bison approached, the grizzly buff charged, and the bison ran off. At 5:05 p.m. Blake M told me a puppy was in view on the porch at the natal den in Slough Creek. He saw two black puppies, but I only saw one black puppy.

Sunday - May 15th

32 degrees this morning in Silver Gate warming up to a beautiful 68 degrees. A note from the wolf people, both dens at Crystal and Slough Creek now have seven puppies each, both have five blacks and two grays. At 5:45 a.m. Richard and Rita R had a grizzly in the tree line south of Picnic Pullout, I was at Coyote and got to see it from there. At 6:15 a.m. I found a small colorful grizzly north of the pullouts of Dorothy's and Coyote. We had to park at the west end of Dorothy's and walk about one hundred yards to view the grizzly who was not doing much at all. At 6:20 a.m. I found a medium sized dark grizzly digging in Secret Passage north of Fisherman's Pullout. Surprisingly, we could not see it from Coyote Pullout which was closer but was in view from Dorothy's Pullout. At 6:20 a.m. we had a collared black wolf on the flats south and east of Dorothy's Pullout moving to the west. At 6:30 a.m. I found a large grizzly behind Square Meadow on the low part of Ski Slope viewed from the Buffalo Ranch. At 7:15 a.m. Randi M found the Middle Ridge grizzly sow with two yearlings on the eastern side of A-Z Meadow viewed from Midpoint Pullout. They grizzlies found a nice green spot to dig in. Tonight, I found them in the large clearing behind the eastern end of Jasper Bench heading back to A-Z Meadow. At 7:45 a.m. Blake M found the two 3 1/2-year-old grizzly sub adults south of Picnic Pullout but viewed from the Confluence. They were out again most of the day and ending up just west of Amethyst Bench tonight at 4:30 p.m. At 8:45 a.m. Blake M found a collared gray wolf on Jasper Bench viewed from Dorothy's Pullout moving to the west. At 9:00 a.m. Bruce P found a new grizzly family for us this year. From the Confluence he watched a lower clearing on Norris and found a grizzly sow with two yearlings we think. I was expecting a family of 2 1/2-year-old cubs to eventually appear in this area. I had watched them in 2020 with cubs of the year and last year as yearlings. We will be watching them to see if the sow throws them out this year that would mean they are 2 1/2-year-olds, but they sure look like yearlings. Maybe the K-2 grizzly family or the Druid Peak grizzly family both with two cubs of the year last year moved into that area. Only time will tell. At 11:00 a.m. I was watching the Crystal Creek den sight and had three gray and one black adult wolf in view near the den. At 12:00 noon I went west to Little America where on the north side of the road the grizzly was still on the bison calf carcass from yesterday. When I arrived, the grizzly was sleeping on a hill facing away from the road. It got up and slowly returned to the carcass area not too interested in feeding on it. At 4:00 p.m. there were no cars or grizzly but when I returned at 4:30 p.m. the grizzly was back near the carcass and a large bear jam was in progress.

People Seen

Wolf Watchers: From Montana: Don V, Rick M, Doug M, Melba C, Joe K, Taylor B, Jeremy S, and Janice and Cindy H. From Colorado: Bob P, Mark and Carol R, and Karol B. From Missouri: Frank H. From Utah: Paul H, CD and Brenda C, and Denny and Pam D. From Switzerland: Peter D. From Wisconsin: John and Marie E. From South Dakota: Sam and Ginny G. From Washington: David and Stephanie O. From Pennsylvania: Jack D. From Texas: Carl L and Carol L. And from Virginia: Colleen C. Bear Watchers seen this report: From Washington: John G, Randi M, Hank L, and Steve and Cindy L. From Utah: Dean and Jeri D, and Dave H. From Idaho: Wes W, Marc H, Jennings and Carla S, Blake M, and Kim and Joyce C. From Wyoming: Richard and Rita R, and Gene B. From Louisiana: Bruce P. From Montana: Doug M, Howard A, Jack G, Sarah W with mother and aunt, and Chuck and Debbie. From South Carolina: Scott T. From Oklahoma: Paul S. From Virginia: Big John. From Colorado: Rick and Len H, and Dennis R. From Illinois: Wayne and Maryann K. From Ohio: Jim and Twyla E. From Mississippi: Gary. From Arizona: Gene and Margaret. And from Missouri: Don and Carol L. Others seen this report: From Montana: Cliff B, Grant J, Mike S, Emil M, Bob L, Chris H, Quinn H, Audra C, Ken S and MacNeil L. From Wyoming: Kevin M. From Vermont: John K. From Florida: Mark L. From Idaho: Rob M and Karyn de K. From Colorado: Jim and Bobbie F. and Kim T. From Indiana: Jeff and Terry B. From Arizona: David and Phyllis. From California: Carol. And From Massachusetts: Ed S.

Yellowstone National Park

Lamar Valley Map - Yellowstone National Park