Yellowstone National Park 2023 Trip Reports
Trip Report ~ Bear & Wolf Sightings ~ by Bill Hamblin
21 through 24 June 2023
Yellowstone National Park
Beautiful Mountain Lion ~ Lamar Valley ~ April 10th, 2023 ~ Photo by Linda Rudge Carney © All Rights Reserved
Mountain Lion ~ also known as the Cougar, Puma, Panther, or Catamount ~ Puma concolor
~ June 2023 ~
Wednesday - June 21st
30 degrees with frost on some windows this morning in Silver Gate warming up to 60 degrees. I had a THREE DOG DAY today (fox, coyote, wolf). At 5:20 a.m. eight wolves south of Picnic Pullout moving to the east. Others counted eleven and they went south and out of sight, however, a few came back going west later in the morning. At 5:40 a.m. Gary G found the grizzly sow with two cubs of the year on # 2 finger on Mount Norris. Good viewing on and off during the day. At 6:15 a.m. a black wolf was in the old Druid rendezvous area traveling back to the west. At 6:25 a.m. Gary G found a dark grizzly digging in Bear Meadow. At 6:35 a.m. Randi M found a colorful grizzly on Bear Meadow but in a different area of the large meadow. At 6:45 a.m. Gary G found the two Specimen Ridge sub adult grizzlies between the Bowl and No Bear Meadow. At 6:55 a.m. I found a medium colorful grizzly in the Bowl. This was the Specimen Ridge sow. As the sow approached her former two-year-old cubs (now called sub adults since they had been chased away) the sow charged both sub adults. One of the two sub adults started to approach the sow but then turned and ran away at full speed. The second sub adult was already running away at full speed. The sow eventually gave up the chase and started to dig for roots, etc. The two sub adults had been split up again because of the chase and did get back together and found a different place in the Bowl to dig for roots. At 8:50 a.m. Jeremy S showed me the black bear with the two black cubs of the year in the tree line on Amethyst Bench. At 9:00 a.m. a grizzly spotted on the Southern Divide Ridge. This medium sized grizzly was quite colorful and spent a good deal of time in view. At 10:05 a.m. I found the Slough Creek grizzly sow with two two-year-old cubs north of Coyote Overlook. A brief look but we moved to Long Pullout in Little America and looked back to the northeast and found them again at a long distance. Really late to have two-year-old cubs, as most have already been ran off and the sow has mated. Once in a blue moon the sow keeps the cubs for three years. Hope to find out if that will happen in the next few days. At 7:15 p.m. we had a black bear just off the road at Soda Butte Picnic area. At 7:25 p.m. I had a black bear in the woods near the Wyoming State Line.
Thursday - June 22nd
28 degrees in Lamar Valley this morning with a cold wind warming up to 74 degrees this afternoon in the park. Randi M and I watched two bighorn lambs in a herd of six bighorn ewes this morning. We saw an osprey flying over the Soda Butte Creek this morning. The osprey nest is in Lamar Canyon. Soda Butte Creek is a little clearer and better fishing now for the osprey. We had a golden eagle being attacked briefly at Slough Creek. Not sure what that was about as ravens and red trailed hawks were dive bombing the eagle. Gary G found a drone flying near the Lamar River Bridge. He called park dispatch, and they said the road construction people had permission to fly the drone this morning. Flying drones in any national park is illegal, but this was an approved exception. At 5:00 a.m. Gary G found the colorful Specimen Ridge sow grizzly in the Bowl. At 5:10 a.m. Gary G found the two Specimen Ridge sub adult grizzlies on the skyline high in the Bowl. The sub adults did move over the hill but returned after the sow had moved on to dig again for roots in the Bowl. At 5:20 a.m. we had a black bear in the tree line on Amethyst Bench. At 5:30 a.m. the black wolf that had been seen earlier appeared on Amethyst Bench and I got to see it. At 6:00 a.m. Gary G showed me a black bear moving across the lower part of A-Z Meadow. At 6:15 a.m. I found the grizzly sow with two cubs of the year on # 1 finger on Norris. At 6:30 a.m. I found a really light colorful grizzly, medium sized digging on K Meadow. At 10:15 a.m. I found a large black bear in some trees south of Crystal Rock south of the Slough Creek restroom. At 10:20 a.m. Randi M found two small black bears and one small cinnamon black bear in the same area. Not sure what was going on there, but never saw them again to determine what their relationship was. At 10:35 a.m. I found the grizzly sow with two dark yearlings high above the old Slough Creek den. The last two days we had found this grizzly family on the slopes of Hellroaring. They do move around a lot at times.
Friday - June 23rd
46 degrees in Silver Gate but only 38 degrees in Lamar Valley this morning warming up to 55 degrees with afternoon showers. Towards evening the showers became rain and it rained all night long. I had THREE DOG DAY today. At 5:15 a.m. a black GPS collared (you can see the white box for the extra sized battery) wolf was seen walking on Amethyst Bench. At 5:35 a.m. Gary G found the Specimen Ridge two sub adult grizzlies in the Bowl. At 6:00 a.m. I found the grizzly with the two cubs of the year on finger # 1 on Norris. At 6:40 a.m. I had a brief sighting of a grizzly on the skyline north of Picnic Pullout. At 8:00 a.m. Kate J of Silver Gate Guides found the grizzly sow with one yearling cub high above the Diagonal Forest in Slough Creek. In view for well over thirty minutes. This grizzly family has only been seen twice before, on June 4th and June 5th. At 11:00 a.m. we had a black bear on Phantom Lake. At 11:30 a.m. a pretty cinnamon black bear sow with one black cub of the year viewed from the Upper Hellroaring Pullout. At 12:00 noon we had a black bear above the road at Rainy Lake. From 1:50 p.m. to 2:50 p.m. I watched the grizzly sow with the two dark yearling cubs above the Diagonal Forest in Slough Creek. The grass is really getting high and sometimes we could not see the two dark cubs as they traveled to the east. At 3:30 p.m. my last sighting for the day was a black bear just off the road near Pebble Creek.
Saturday - June 24th
43 degrees this morning in Silver Gate warming up to 64 degrees with afternoon showers that cleared up towards evening. We had low clouds again this morning meaning most of the high clearing were in low clouds. At 7:30 a.m. Paul H showed me a medium sized colorful grizzly digging in the Bowl viewed from the old Buffalo Ranch. At 8:15 a.m. Kriztina G found the grizzly sow with two dark yearlings in Buffalo Ford viewed from Boulder Pullout in Little America. At 9:15 a.m. I found the grizzly sow with two cubs of the year on #2 finger on Norris. Good viewing from Footbridge all the way to Soda Butte East Pullouts. At 9:40 a.m. the two Specimen Ridge sub adults were on Ski Slope viewed from the old Buffalo Ranch. These sub adults are moving further to the east then before when they were with their mom. The area of the Ski Slope is usually occupied by a grizzly sow who had three cubs of the year last year. We have not seen this sow who had lost two of the three cubs of the year last year before the flood of June 12th. Maybe the two moved there as it had no other grizzlies there this year. At 9:45 a.m. Jeff B showed me a black bear in the tree line southwest of the old Buffalo Ranch. At 10:50 a.m. I found a medium sized colorful grizzly digging on the K Meadow viewed from Hitching Post and Footbridge Pullouts. At 11:30 p.m. the black female yearling of the Shrimp Lake wolf pack was south of the Soda Butte Cone. She was joined by a gray wolf after the yearling was out of our sight. At 2:15 a.m. I watched a small black bear above the Yellow Grass Meadow in Slough Creek. At 2:30 p.m. I found a black bear sow with two black cubs of the year above the Diagonal Forest in Slough Creek.
People Seen
Wolf Watchers: From Montana: Rick M, Wendy B, Melba C, Taylor R, Jeremy S, Janice and Cindy H, and John and Carolyn G. From Utah: Paul H. From; Oregon: Bruce and Kelly H. From California: Bill W and Glenda M. From Colorado: Kim B, Kriztina G and Charles E. From Ohio: Marshall and Linda G. And from Washington (I think) Story W. Bear Watchers seen this report: From Washington: Randi M. From: Mississippi: Gary G. From Oregon: Michael and Deb O. From Montana: Doug M, Greg and Tracie R, Chuck and Debbie, and Jeff B and Kathy M. From Georgia: Sandi R. From Wisconsin: John and Marie E. Others seen this report: From Montana: Quinn H, Evan S, Nate U, Michael S, Kate J, Audra C, Emil M, Cliff B and Bob L. From Vermont: John K. And from Wyoming: Paul B.
Beautiful Mountain Lion ~ Lamar Valley ~ April 10th, 2023 ~ Photo by Linda Rudge Carney © All Rights Reserved
Mountain Lion ~ also known as the Cougar, Puma, Panther, or Catamount ~ Puma concolor
Yellowstone National Park
Lamar Valley Map - Yellowstone National Park
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