Yellowstone National Park 2025 Trip Reports
Trip Report ~ Bear & Wolf Sightings ~ by Bill Hamblin
21 through 24 September 2025
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
~ September 2025 ~
September 21st - Sunday
34 degrees in Silver Gate this morning warming up to a nice 71 degrees out in the park this afternoon. I had a THREE DOG DAY today. At 6:40 a.m. Gary G found a grizzly below K Meadow. We were just east of the Institute watching and the grizzly was moving away to the east. At 7:15 a.m. Hunter G, Silver Gate Guides and Gary G spotted a grizzly southeast of Trashcan moving to the south. It was moving south and in good view walking through a low grass meadow. At 7:40 a.m. from Lamar Canyon East we got to watch ten black, and one gray Junction Butte wolf move to the north out of their rendezvous area going up Junction Pass. At 8:35 a.m. Jeff B called with a grizzly in the Slough Creek Bottoms. We moved around to different pullouts to see the grizzly, then decided to go up Dave's Hill at Slough to see the grizzly. My guess looking at the grizzly is that it was the four- and one-half year-old Junction Butte/Middle Family (that sow now has two yearlings that we viewed lots of time in the spring/summer). At 6:45 p.m. I found the grizzly sow with three two-year-old cubs (Druid Peak Family) north of the Fisherman's Pullout again. A long view as you have to go a mile or so to the east at the Institute to see this area. They were all in the same area as other sightings. At 7:15 p.m. we had a cinnamon black bear viewed west of Pebble Creek. It rained most of tonight with lots of puddles in the morning.
September 22nd - Monday
47 degrees this morning in Silver Gate warming up to a cool 61 degrees this afternoon out in the park. The fall colors are really good this year in the northern range. The Lamar River appears to me to be lower than other years for this time of year. I had a THREE DOG DAY today. At 6:50 a.m. Hunter G, Silver Gate Guides, spotted a grizzly south of Hubbard Hill. It was In view for quite a while moving slowly to the east. At 7:05 a.m. I found the grizzly sow with three two-year-old cubs (Druid Peak Family) in the same area as last night. Today we watched from a little farther away from Hubbard Hill. They were in view until 9:00 a.m. when they slowly moved off to the north and out of sight. At 7:50 a.m. I saw black object bedded southeast of Picnic Hill. We had walked up to the north for a better view. The object raised its head, and it was a wolf. Five black wolves eventually stirred and then traveled west for good viewing for over an hour. They ran into several bison and eventually took a yearling bison in the Amethyst Drainage. Good viewing of the wolves from a few pullouts. At 8:15 a.m. we had a black bear viewed near Pebble Creek. At 10:15 a.m. I found a black bear with one black cub of the year at the bottom of the Diagonal Forest in Slough Creek; they were in view for quite a while. At 10:30 a.m. Carol R told me that they had watched a grizzly in the Slough Creek bottoms in some willows. We walked up Dave's Hill and found the grizzly just across the Slough Creek. I think it was the four- and one-half year-old Junction Butte/Middle Ridge female. At 10:30 a.m. Gary and I watched two black wolves in the rendezvous area. We think that a bunch of the six pups traveled with the adults this morning, which was why we were only seeing two. At 10:45 a.m. we had a bear jam in Lamar Canyon produced a black bear on the north side of the road. At 11:40 a.m. a grizzly was walking to the west out of Round Prairie. Later in the day it was at the Confluence. We moved to Trashcan Pullout and the grizzly moved by us at about two hundred yards before moving southwest of Picnic Pullout. It was there a long time this evening. At 12:00 noon we had a bear jam at Trashcan Pullout. It was a black bear trying and then succeeding in crossing the road from north to south. From 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. I watched three black and two gray Junction Butte wolves in their rendezvous area; a few wolves must have returned later in the morning. At 2:15 p.m. there is a large black bear in sight around the mixed conifer aspen forest to the west in Slough Creek.
September 23rd - Tuesday
29 degrees this morning in Silver Gate warming up to 77 degrees out in the park this afternoon. I had a THREE DOG DAY today. Sad news today, 1479F of the Junction Butte pack was reported to have been shot in a legal hunt in Montana. She was the only surviving pup from 2023. Hunting is legal and allowed in Montana. Around Yellowstone National Park they have two areas that allow three wolves to be harvested. Area around Gardiner is 313, and around the northeast part of the park 316. Last evening wolf watchers watched the five wolves kill a yearling bison this side of the Lamar River and southwest of Dorothy's Pullout. I, along with many watchers, started there this morning. At 6:40 a.m. there was enough light to detect a grizzly leaving the carcass going to the east. We got a good look at the grizzly; it was a large dark grizzly and was in view for quite a while moving towards Amethyst Bench. At 6:50 a.m. Gary G found a grizzly on Jasper Bench traveling to the south, it had been near the carcass earlier. At 6:55 a.m. a black bear seen east of the west end of Jasper Bench. At 7:15 a.m. Gary G found a black bear above Jasper Bench below the A-Z Meadow. At 7:35 a.m. Gary G found a grizzly several hundred yards to the east of Picnic Pullout. It was digging and remained in the area most of the morning. In the afternoon it traveled east creating a large bear jam at the Confluence. Moving east it crossed the road to the north and was seen in the Soda Butte Valley to the north of the road. After I left Gary G said it recrossed the road to the south staying around the Soda Butte Cone before moving farther west. This grizzly was in view for most of the day. Early this morning wolf watchers heard a group howling south of Jasper Bench. They then moved to the west, being seen by wolf watchers in the Crystal Area viewed from Sough Creek. The wolves then moved back east and at 9:00 a.m. we counted eleven black and one gray wolf north of Fisherman's Pullout, wolf watchers had a count of eleven blacks and one gray. Some were the puppies. They soon went out of sight behind Jasper Bench. It is an area where the wolves like to spend their days there. With all the wolves in Lamar Valley, Gary and I hiked up to Dave's Hill. It was beautiful there. For the last eight or so weeks Dave's Hill has been the best spot to watch the Junction Butte wolf rendezvous area. No one was up there. At 9:30 a.m. we found the two black wolves that had been seen earlier by others and remained in the rendezvous area. At 9:40 a.m. a small black bear was grazing in the yellow grass Meadow at Slough Creek.
September 24th - Wednesday
30 degrees in Silver Gate this morning warming up to the high 70's out in the park this afternoon. A really quite day for me today. A small bull moose was seen in Round Prairie this morning. At 7:30 a.m. Kate J, Silver Gate Guides, called with information that she had two separate grizzlies at Ice Box Canyon. I headed that way and found the bear jam. The smaller grizzly was right above the road just east of Ice Box Canyon digging away and turning over rocks. It was there a long time. Debbie M told me that it later crossed the road to the south and was in good viewing again. We only saw one of the two grizzlies Kate reported. The grizzly we saw was smaller than the grizzly we have been seeing around the road the last week or so. At 9:00 a.m. the wolf watchers had two wolves in sight below and well this side of the Lamar River. When they moved to the west I could see them from the Institute. One gray and one black. The wolf watchers said the gray was 1478F and the black was 1545M. 1545M had not been seen in a while so the watchers were happy to see him. The wolf watchers also had a short sighting of two more black wolves on Jasper Bench. Also, watchers had seen two black wolves, believed to be the pups, cross the road north to south at the Lamar Canyon Bridge. No wolves were spotted in the rendezvous area this morning. It is usually about this time that the pups are old enough to follow the adults. Finding wolves will be a challenge now if the pups are with the adults. The Junction Butte wolfpack territory is very large. From west of Upper Hellroaring all the way to Tower Junction on the east side of the Yellowstone River, then east all the way to the east end of Lamar Valley. They also often travel up the Slough Creek several miles that way. At 12:30 p.m. we had a black bear north of the road near the Soda Butte East Pullout.
People Seen
Wolf Watchers: From Montana: Jeff A, Rick M, Leo L, Jeff B, Dan and Laurie L, Wendy B, Jeremy S, and Jack R. From Utah: Paul H, Denny and Pam D, and Celia L. From South Dakota: Sam and Ginny G. From Colorado: Mark, Carol, and Roch R, Bob P and John C. From New York: Rick and Maureen B. From Texas Carl L and Carol S. From California: Kathie L. From Washington: David and Stephanie O, and the sisters with the last name "Wolf" who I forget their first names and states they live in. Bear Watchers: From Mississippi: Gary G. From Iowa: Terry N and friend John. From Montana: Kathy W, Doug M, Margaret L, Carolyn G, and Bob J. From Wyoming: Tom H and Debbie M. From Vermont: Don P. From Washington: Steve and Cindy L. From Utah: and Ed and Sara S. Others seen this report: From Montana: Cara M, Michael S, Jamie H, Evan S, Hunter G, Russ K and his wife, Mike S, MacNeil L, Kate J, Grant J, Audra C, Jayden A, Dan and Cindy H, and Ashea M. From Vermont: John K. From Washington: Aaron M. From Florida: Ric and Vicky K. From Idaho: Scott B and his wife. And from the MIdwest: Bob A and Steve S.
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
Lamar Valley Map - Yellowstone National Park
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