Yellowstone National Park 2022 Trip Reports

Trip Report ~ Bear & Wolf Sightings ~ by Bill Hamblin

16th through 19th May 2022
Yellowstone National Park

~ May 2022 ~

Monday - May 16th

37 degrees this morning in Silver Gate warming up to a nice 62 degrees. At 5:35 a.m. John G found a tall dark grizzly digging south of Fisherman's Pullout. At 5:50 a.m. John G made a great spot on the Middle Ridge grizzly sow with two cubs of the year in a small clearing on Middle Ridge viewed from Coyote Overlook. At 6:40 a.m. the Norris grizzly family with two two-year-old cubs were seen low on Norris viewed from the Confluence. At 7:15 a.m. a black collared and a gray uncollared wolf were on a carcass in the river corridor southeast of Dorothy's Pullout. At 8:25 a.m. Richard and Rita R found the two adult grizzlies on Norris viewed from Trashcan Pullout. I assume a courting pair, but the lighting was not the best and the sighting a short one. At 9:00 a.m. the two 3 1/2-year-old grizzly sub adults were viewed in the Amethyst Drainage, they were out and in sight for most of the day. Today I took a drive on the Chief Joseph Highway to Cody, Wyoming. Two miles past the turnoff from the Beartooth Highway I had a grizzly walking along a private driveway not two hundred yards off the highway. At 5:55 p.m. we had a grizzly on a carcass fifty yards off the road south of Boulder Lake Pullout. At 6:15 p.m. a gray wolf exits the natal den at Slough Creek and is quickly out of sight. At 6:50 p.m. we had a black wolf chewing on the carcass southeast of Dorothy's Pullout.

Tuesday - May 17th

37 degrees in Silver Gate this morning warming up to a nice 71 degrees. I had a nice bull moose across from Footbridge Pullout this morning. I had three moose at Warm Springs tonight. At 5:35 a.m. I found a dark grizzly on the Northern Divide almost at skyline digging viewed from Coyote Overlook. At 6:00 a.m. Kevin M called with a medium sized grizzly digging just east of Amethyst Bench, it was out for an hour and a half. At 6:15 a.m. Rita R on her birthday found two adult grizzlies north of the Buffalo Ranch on Ranger Hill. It turned out to be a courting pair, the boar was quite large. At 6:30 a.m. Kevin M had a medium sized grizzly north and east of Footbridge Pullout. Low clouds this morning meant a poor sighting and it soon moved out of sight and uphill. At 8:00 a.m. we had a dark grizzly digging north and between the pullouts of Picnic and Midpoint. This grizzly was in view for quite a while. At 8:25 a.m. a collared gray, a uncollared gray, a collared black, and a uncollared black wolf who had been in Round Prairie earlier were moving west south of Picnic Pullout. At 11:00 a.m. Kim and Joyce C found a new family of grizzlies in the Buffalo Ford viewed from Curve Pullout (actually John G and Randi M had seen them yesterday near the mixed conifer aspen forest, but I did not see them). The cubs were two-year-old cubs and is confusing in that we did not have any family with two yearlings last year around this area. At 11:45 a.m. a large black bear was seen on the slopes of Hellroaring. At 4:15 p.m. Kim H found the Norris grizzly family with two two-year-old cubs in the Inverted Triangle clearing below Druid Peak viewed from Picnic and then Trashcan Pullouts. At 4:50 p.m. the two 3 1/2-year-old grizzly sub adults were seen again on Amethyst Drainage. At 5:30 p.m. Kim C found a small black bear and a large cinnamon black bear north of the Buffalo Ranch just below the rock formations. At 6:35 p.m. Kim C found a small grizzly southeast of Boulder Pullout in Little America.

Wednesday - May 18th

33 degrees this morning in Silver Gate warming up to 70 degrees. I had a THREE DOG DAY today. We had a badger running around southwest of the Buffalo Ranch today. At 5:20 a.m. Gary G found a large grizzly leaving the carcass in the river corridor southeast of Dorothy's Pullout. At 5:35 a.m. John G found a smaller grizzly moving into the that carcass. The second grizzly stayed for almost two hours. At 5:50 a.m. Gary G found a medium sized colorful grizzly coming down the northern divide ridge south of Fisherman's Pullout. At 6:15 a.m. a black wolf was found bedded near the carcass in the river corridor. At 6:45 a.m. I found the Norris grizzly family with the two two-year-old cubs in the inverted triangle clearing viewed from Trashcan Pullout. At 7:25 a.m. Doug M (bear watcher) found the two 3 1/2 grizzly sub adult bears on Amethyst Bench. At 8:00 a.m. the Middle Ridge grizzly sow with two yearlings were digging high on the western flank of Middle Ridge. At 8:00 a.m. I was watching the Crystal den site and had two blacks and two gray adult wolves around the site and ten puppies. At that distance and that time in the morning telling blacks and grays was difficult. At 9:00 a.m. Kim and Joyce C found the new grizzly sow with two two-year-old cubs in the rock formation west of Mom's Ridge north in Little America from Boulder Pullout. They were bedded in a pile for thirty minutes or so then got up and moved to the east. Good viewing once they got to the sagebrush hills on Mom's Ridge. Later they were seen on this side of the river (and looked wet) from Crystal Pullout. Later still they crossed the Slough Creek Campground Road from west to east and ended up in the Slough Bowl for the evening digging for roots. Brad and Amy N showed me a small grizzly in the Secret Passage north of Fisherman's Pullout viewed from Coyote Overlook. Sleeping on a rock watching eagles and birds so there was some type of carcass around. The small grizzly finally slowly moved uphill and out of sight.

Thursday - May 19th

44 degrees and raining this morning in Silver Gate warming up to 48 degrees with a chilly wind most of the day. A coyote den was found basically north of the Soda Butte Cone. I have heard that four of five puppies have been seen. At 5:25 a.m. I found the medium sized dark grizzly digging almost at skyline on the northern divide ridge southwest of Fisherman's Pullout viewed from Coyote Pullout. At 5:45 a.m. John G found a small grizzly running towards the Amethyst Bench. It turned out to be one of the two grizzly 3 1/2-year-old sub adults, not long after both were in view and again in view most of the day. At 6:15 a.m. Kevin M had a grizzly north of the Soda Butte East Pullout. When I arrived, it was moving west in and out of the tree line. At 6:55 a.m. Richard and Rita R found what turned out to be the Middle Ridge grizzly sow with two yearlings on Specimen Ridge. Because the Specimen Ridge grizzly sow also has two yearlings, we were not immediately sure that it was the Middle Ridge family (the sow has a distinctive band of sliver around it behind her neck. The Specimen sow has no band of silver around and has not been seen yet this year). At 7:15 a.m. I found a courting pair of grizzlies above Coyote Pullout on the north side from Long Pullout. Richard and Rita R had seen them earlier, but the grizzlies were milling around, but I viewed them moving away to the north with the sow (smaller) leading the boar (larger) - definite courting behavior. At 7:25 a.m. Kevin M found a grizzly on a small carcass on east side of Junction Butte. Probably a bison calf that was still born as a cow bison was in the area. Tonight around 5:00 p.m. I found the same grizzly digging on the west side of Junction Butte from Rick's Pullout. At 7:35 a.m. Richard and Rita found two move grizzlies moving together north of Coyote Overlook from Straight-away Pullout in Little America. A long spot so we did not determine size. But later I found them again this time much closer between the pullouts of Dorothy's and Coyote to the north. Our joint guess is two 4 1/2-year-old sub adults. Last year we often had the two 3 1/2-year-old Slough Creek sow sub adult grizzlies in the same location. At 7:40 a.m. I spotted a large black bear in the tree line southwest of Straight-away Pullout. At 9:10 a.m. we had a black uncollared wolf moving east south of Midpoint Pullout in Lamar Valley. At 11:30 a.m. I watched a black and a gray adult wolf and one black puppy at the Crystal den area. At 3:00 p.m. I had a black bear in a clearing under Square Meadow viewed from the Buffalo Ranch. At 3:25 p.m. we had a medium sized dark grizzly near the Specimen Trailhead east of the Yellowstone River Picnic area moving away from a week and a half old carcass. Quite the bear jam and good viewing as it moved east between the road and Junction Butte. At 3:45 p.m. we had a cinnamon black bear with two cinnamon cubs of the year just behind the Floating Island Lake. At 4:00 p.m. my last sighting was a large black bear on the slopes of Hellroaring.

People Seen

Wolf Watchers: From Montana: Rick M, Claire L, Doug M, Wendy B, Melba C, Taylor B, Jeremy S, and Dan and Laurie L. From Missouri: Frank H. From South Dakota: Sam and Ginny G. From Colorado: Mark and Carol R, and Bob P. From Utah: Denny and Pam D. From Pennsylvania: Jack D. From Wyoming: Linda H. From New York: Rick and Maureen B. Bear Watchers seen this report: From Washington: John G, Randi M, Hank L, Froane and Judy S, Steve L. and Walt and Char H. From Utah: Dean and Jeri D, and Scott and JoAnn M. From Mississippi: Gary G. From Wyoming: Terri W and Richard and Rita R. From Louisiana: Bruce P. From Montana: Sarah W with mother and aunt, Scott M, Doug M, Mike and Kathy W and Shari S. From Illinois: Wayne and Maryann K. From Idaho: Kim and Joyce C. and Emmett W. From Colorado: Rick and Len H, Dennis R, Kim T, Tom K, and Kristina G. From Missouri: Don and Carol L. From Minnesota: Virgil and Marlene S. Others seen this report: From Montana: Bob L, Emil M, MacNeil L, Michael S, Mike S, Chris H, Audra C, Shauna B and Cliff B. From Wyoming: Kevin M. From Colorado: Kim T, and Jim and Bobbie F. From Vermont: John K. From Arizona: David and Phyllis. From Florida: Mark L. And from California: Carol.

Yellowstone National Park

Lamar Valley Map - Yellowstone National Park