Yellowstone National Park 2025 Trip Reports
Trip Report ~ Bear & Wolf Sightings ~ by Bill Hamblin
02 through 05 April 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
~ April 2025 ~
April 2nd - Wednesday
Wednesday April 2nd. 30 degrees in Gardiner but 20 degrees at Hellroaring this morning warming up to 40 degrees out in the park. The park service pulled out the five bison who drowned in Blacktail Ponds taking them to "boneyards" (the park service has places out of public view where the predators and birds can dispose of them). There may be one bison still in the ponds but farther away from the road. I visited the great horned owl nest near the Visitor Center in Mammoth tonight. I could not see the nest, but the male was visible in a nearby tree. I found no grizzlies or wolves today (others saw all eleven Junction Butte wolves at Hellroaring, and some of the Rescue Creek wolves on the Blacktail today). I spent an hour at the Petrified Tree Pullout watching the black bear den. The sow came just outside the den hole allowing me to see one cub to her side and the second back behind the sow.
April 3rd - Thursday
34 degrees in Gardiner this morning up only 24 degrees at Slough Creek this morning warming up to 33 degrees out in the park, but little wind today so quite nice. I hiked up to Dave's Hill at Slough Creek this morning to look around. Most of the snow is gone from Slough Creek all the way to Gardiner. I was told that the snowpack was about average, but the snow went quickly with the warm weather a few weeks ago. At 7:30 a.m. I got a one-minute sighting of two black wolves in Crystal Drainage, south of Slough Creek. We were sure they would reappear but never did. They had to be the Junction Butte wolves, probably the entire pack but only saw the two. Others had two black wolves on the Blacktail this morning. And Andrea B found five black wolves from Upper Hellroaring, both sightings probably Rescue Creek wolves. At 10:00 a.m. I just saw the brown nose of the Petrified Tree Pullout black bear sow in the den.
April 4th - Friday
27 degrees this morning in Gardiner but 18 degrees at Slough Creek this morning warming up to 34 degrees. The bald eagle is on the nest that you can see from the dirt pullout east of Long Pullout and also from Bob's Knob down Slough Creek Road. I listened to about three or four American Dippers this morning on the Confluence of the Soda Butte Creek and Lamar River. At 7:20 a.m. Paul H found the Junction Butte wolves near the Slough Creek Den. He first sighted a black wolf near the 890 tree near the den. Paul H heard some howling and found a pack of wolves very low below the den. We quickly walked down to Bob's Knob and found them again near the den. All eleven were present this morning, eight blacks and three grays. They took their time traveling to the east. They had a group meeting at the Sage Den before traveling through the Yellow Grass Meadow and out of sight to the east. A good thirty-five minutes of wolf watching.
April 5th - Saturday
15 degrees this morning in Gardiner, but only 8 degrees at Slough Creek this morning. Others coming from Cooke City report 1 degree this morning but warmed up to 50 degrees out in the park. I had my first moose of the year at Elk Creek this afternoon. A bull with one-inch bumps on its forehead. The moose was feeding then decided to bed. It laid down and put his head on a downed log looking quite comfortable. I found my first unita ground squirrel today at the Nature Trail Pullout on the Blacktail. Really early to see that they are coming out of their dens. I had no grizzlies for this entire report. However, tonight at 6:50 p.m. Jeff and Val B found a grizzly with a cub of the year on the #2 finger on Norris. That is really early to see a cub of the year. This spring I saw a lot of animals earlier than all my years coming to the park. Not sure what that means. Most of the landscape is bare ground from Gardiner to Slough Creek. However, the snowpack was slightly above average but the warm weather the last three weeks caused most of the snow to melt away. Now Silver Gate and Cooke City to the northeast still have three to four feet of snow.
People Seen
Wolf Watchers: From Montana: Rick M, Kristina G, Jeff A, Jeremy S, Claire L, and Jeff B. From Utah: Paul H, Charlie M and his family, and Julie A. From California: Glenda M. From North Dakoka: Sandy H. Bear Watchers: From Louisiana: Bruce P. From Wyoming: Kevin M and Sandi R. From Montana: Jack G, Jeff and Val B. Others: From Montana: Grant J, Bob L, Cara M, Mike S, Andrea B, Quinn H, Carl S, Shauna B, Jenny G, George B, Nathan V, Ashea T, Evan S, Kyle D, Emil M, and Dan and Cindy H.
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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