Yellowstone National Park 2023 Trip Reports

Trip Report ~ Bear & Wolf Sightings ~ by Bill Hamblin

29 June through 01 July 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 ~

Thursday - June 29th

This is the last trip report for Yellowstone until late September. After a little over three months, it is time to go home for a while.

40 degrees this morning in Silver Gate warming up to 73 degrees this afternoon with a few afternoon showers. I had a THREE DOG DAY today. At 5:00 a.m. Gary G found a dark grizzly on Amethyst Bench digging. At 5:45 a.m. Gary G found a black bear running on the # 1 finger on Norris. At 6:00 a.m. I found a colorful grizzly digging on Penny Lane viewed from Footbridge Pullout. At 6:15 a.m. fourteen wolves of the Junction Butte wolf pack chased and killed a bull elk just across the Lamar River viewed from Hubbard Hill. Low flood this morning near the river so only one person got to see the chase and kill. Good viewing for most of the morning as the wolves would move away but return to the area. The yearlings like to chase off the ravens and eagles that arrive on the carcass after the wolves leave. At 6:30 a.m. I found the Mount Norris sow with two cubs of the year on the # 1 finger on Norris. At 6:00 p.m. Gary found them again but way up and south of the # 1 finger on Norris. Note: I could not find the family anywhere on June 30th. At 7:10 a.m. I found the Buffalo Ford grizzly sow with her two dark yearling cubs high east of the old Slough Creek den area. At 7:40 a.m. I found a rock on the skyline south in Crystal Drainage that I did not recognize. It moved and was a colorful grizzly digging right on top of the skyline. It moved over after a few minutes. At 8:40 a.m. I found the grizzly sow with two two-year-olds again high north of Coyote Overlook viewed from Boulder Pullout. A long spot so Gary and I moved to Long Pullout for a closer view. This morning the cubs were chasing each other around at full speed often running by the sow and then wrestling with each other standing on their hind legs. This went on for over fifteen minutes. It is late for the sow not to kick them off and mate, so may keep the cubs for a third year. At 9:00 a.m. Gary G found a black bear on the Southern Divide Ridge. At 5:10 p.m. Gary G found a small colorful grizzly in the Bowl viewed from the old Buffalo Ranch. We thought it may be one the two Specimen Ridge sub adults or the Specimen Ridge Sow; but it was too small for the sow, and we found the two sub adults still together the next day. Just another small grizzly in the area.

Friday - June 30th

41 degrees this morning in Silver Gate warming up to the warmest day of the summer so far, a warm 78 degrees with a nice breeze. At 5:55 a.m. Kate J found a big dark grizzly just west of Amethyst Creek. It would take its time to travel to the south through the big clearing behind the eastern end of Jasper Bench. At 6:00 a.m. Gary G found the two Specimen Ridge grizzly sub adults on Ski Slope. In most years, a grizzly sow with cubs stakes out the Ski Slope area, but we never saw the grizzly sow who had three cubs of the year last year but lost two of them before the flood of June 12, 2022. I am guessing that Ski Slope is perfect for the two sub adults as their mother never used to go that far to the east. At 6:35 a.m. from Slough Creek Gary G found a dark grizzly running and Kate J found them in the scope high in the large ravine east of the old Slough Creek den area. It was once again the Buffalo Ford sow with two dark yearlings. Again, this morning the two yearlings spent most of the time wrestling. Brief sighting as they disappeared into an island of trees in the drainage. Since today was both Gary's and my last day we moved on to glass other clearings and when we returned to Slough Creek they were no longer in sight. At 1:40 p.m. I found a small colorful grizzly in the high clearing south of # 1 finger on Norris. I was hoping it was the sow with two cubs of the year who were in the same clearing last evening but it was not. The grizzly was hunting elk calves as three cow elk were in the area watching the grizzles movements. The grizzly with head to the ground was zig zagging around often in circles searching. To my knowledge the grizzly was not successful and after thirty minutes it disappeared into a large stand of trees. At 3:00 p.m. I showed Larry and Linda R the Specimen Ridge sow digging in bare ground on in the Bowl. She is a medium sized grizzly with a Yellowstone Stripe around her body crossing the shoulders. This should be grizzly 1054, the nine-year-old grizzly who just threw out the two sub adults we had on Ski Slope this morning. At 4:10 p.m. we had a black bear grazing in the high clearing south of # 1 finger where the grizzly was hunting earlier. At 4:55 p.m. we had a small jam near Soda Butte Middle Pullout. The black female yearling wolf of the Shrimp Lake pack was moving around north of the road, maybe hunting ground squirrels. Good viewing for fifteen minutes.

~ July 2023 ~

Saturday - July 1st

I left Silver Gate just after 3:00 a.m. and with very little traffic got to Idaho Falls before 8:00 am.

People Seen

Wolf Watchers: From Montana: Rick M, Taylor R, Janice and Cindy H, and Dan and Laurie L. From California: Bill W. Bear Watchers seen this report: From Mississippi: Gary G. From Montana: Doug M. From Washington; Larry and Linda R. And From New Mexico: Lorie U. Others seen this report: From Montana: Quinn H, Michael S, Evan S, MacNeil L, Audra C, Bob L Cliff B, Emil M, and Kate J. From Idaho: Scott B. And from Vermont: John K.

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