Yellowstone National Park 2025 Trip Reports
Trip Report ~ Bear & Wolf Sightings ~ by Bill Hamblin
14 through 17 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 14th - Monday
28 degrees in Gardiner but 15 degrees at Blacktail this morning warming up to a nice 55 degrees. I stopped at Blacktail Ponds at 5:35 a.m. this morning, turned the car off and rolled down the window to a chorus of wolves howling to the northeast. It does not get light until about 6:15 a.m. so I moved on unable to see anything even with the full moon behind me. At 6:48 a.m. I found the same grizzly, I think, moving over the ridge across Buffalo Ford and east of the rock formation. The grizzly was large and dark and crossed within feet of where it crossed yesterday morning. At 7:15 a.m. Ginny G found the Junction Butte Pack right across the Slough Creek straight north of Bob's Knob. All eleven present this morning, eight black and three gray. A large group meeting followed by a group howl before bedding. They later moved off to bed south of the Marge Simpson Tree. I did get to see the Bliss Pass Wolf Pack today. At 4:20 p.m. the black bear was again bedded off the south side of the road at Tower Hill. Lots of animals moving up into the Slough and Lamar area, with the largest number of bison I have even seen up in the Northern Range.
April 15th - Tuesday
38 degrees in Gardiner but only 23 degrees at Boulder Pullout this morning warming up to 64 degrees out in the park this afternoon. I viewed another vulture today near the Lamar River Bridge. At 9:00 a.m. I had a brief sighting of a black wolf with a lot of brown (probably 1479F or 1545M of the Junction Butte Pack, those two are colored that way, north of Long Pullout in Little America. The grizzly sow with one cub of the year reappeared today briefly again on # 2 finger on Mount Norris. From 1:00 p.m. through 1:10 p.m. the sow was digging in bare ground with the cub out of sight. The sow decided to exit the clearing with the cub racing to follow the sow out of sight. From 4:20 p.m. through 4:26 p.m. the family reappeared in a large snowbank. The sow was in a playful mood plunging her head through the snow, then laying on her back with all legs in the air with the cub close by. Then the play got rougher with the sow grappling the cub with her month raising it up so she could grab it with her front paws. Then the sow decided it was time to exit the clearing. The sow grabbed the cub by its neck and ran out of the clearing with the cub dangling from her month. I have never seen such rough play on a cub of the year that size. I viewed two different vultures today, one in Slough Creek and one around Elk Creek. Vultures used to be a rare sight in Yellowstone, but in the last few years we have seen more of them. At 5:20 p.m. we had a black bear sleeping next to a tree on Tower Hill. I had a THREE DOG DAY (fox, coyote, wolf) today.
April 16th - Wednesday
35 degrees at Gardiner but 26 degrees at Slough Creek this morning warming up to a nice 64 degrees with afternoon winds. We are supposed to get snow tomorrow and Friday. I had a vulture again today flying near Tower Junction. At 6:25 a.m. Paul H found the Junction Butte wolves bedded between the Southern Round Tree and Marge Simpson Tree. I was lazy this morning and opted to watch the wolves from Lamar Canyon West Pullout. I counted seven black and one gray of the Junction Butte wolfpack, missing one black and two gray. I left to check out other areas, but the wolf watchers did have all eleven again, eight black and three gray. Others said it was a very good day to watch the wolves. They chased bison, getting down a large calf or cow before the bison herd ran off the wolves. The wolves again visited the Slough Creek den site, so it is looking good for them to den there again this year. Not sure how many females are pregnant this year, could be three or more. At 4:10 p.m. we had a large black bear grazing south of Lower Hellroaring Pullout.
April 17th - Thursday
30 degrees in Gardiner but 24 degrees at Blacktail this morning warming up if can call warming up to 28 degrees out in the park. I had four inches of snow on my car in Gardiner this morning but much less anywhere else, I think it just blew in and attached to my car. All the hills were white again for a while. At 5:56 a.m. I pulled into the pullout at Blacktail Ponds. I noticed a dark spot out near the two bison carcasses which had drowned weeks earlier. Kevin M was there, and we soon saw movement the dark spot moving. A grizzly had apparently arrived last evening at 8:00 p.m. or so and was still there. I moved on but the grizzly entertained for a couple of hours before leaving and crossing the road to the south. The Junction Butte Pack had killed a bison in Crystal Drainage last evening and the wolf watchers were watching from Lamar Canyon West Pullout. They counted at least six black and two grays. At 7:30 a.m. I decided to glass Slough Creek finding no grizzlies but a black wolf near the den. Not sure why one wolf remained near the den, it was bedded one hundred yards away from both den holes. The wolf pack had left the carcass area moving east towards Lamar Valley. At 10:55 a.m. from Coyote Overlook in Lamar Valley I found three Junction Butte wolves high above the river corridor to the west, but they did not come into the Lamar Valley. I learned later that most of the pack returned to the carcass area.
People Seen
Wolf Watchers seen this report. From Montana: Rick M, Dan and Laurie L, Wendy B, Krisztina G, John B, Jeremy S, Melba C, and Ilona P. From Utah: Paul H. From South Dakota: Sam and Ginny G. From California: Glenda M and Rick, and Bruce and Maryjean Mc. From Washington: David and Stephanie O. And From Sweden: Jacob B. Bear Watchers seen this report: From Connecticut: Geoff F, his kids Luke and Kate, and girlfriend Tennile. From Louisiana: Bruce P. From Montana: Doug M, and Jack G. From Oregon: Larry and Char T. And From Wyoming: Kevin M. Others seen this report: From Montana: Quinn H, Ken S, Bob L, Nate U, Pete B, Michael S, Jamie and Michelle H, Byron F, Andrea B, MacNeil L, Dan and Cindy H, Cara M, and Chris 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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