Yellowstone National Park 2025 Trip Reports
Trip Report ~ Bear & Wolf Sightings ~ by Bill Hamblin
24 through 27 May 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
~ May 2025 ~
May 24th - Saturday
37 degrees in Silver Gate this morning warming up to 72 degrees. The warmer temperatures added to the raising water level of the streams and rivers. At 5:50 a.m. Randi M found a grizzly digging on the skyline north of Coyote Overlook. At 6:20 a.m. Blake M found the grizzly sow with two yearlings on the first sliver of Ski Slope. At 6:35 a.m. I found the grizzly sow with one yearling low on Square Meadow; later they were in view on the skyline above the long patch of snow, we watched them for over an hour. At 7:30 a.m. Kim C found a large grizzly on Druid Peak viewed from Picnic Pullout. At 7:30 a.m. Terri W found a small black bear on the south side of K Meadow. At 8:00 a.m. I found a grizzly digging in K-3 Meadow. At 8:05 a.m. Hayden G found a much smaller grizzly also digging in K-3 Meadow. At 8:30 a.m. Kim C found a dark grizzly traveling south in K-2 Meadow. At 8:30 a.m. Hayden G found a black and a gray Mollies wolf in the river corridor. At 9:05 a.m. we had a bear jam at the Soda Butte East Pullout; a medium sized colorful grizzly was in a clearing a couple hundred yards off the road. The bear was in sight for over an hour. At 2:30 p.m. one black adult wolf and three puppies were seen around the Slough Creek den. At 5:00 p.m. we had a black bear grazing north and between the pullouts of Coyote and Dorothy's. At 5:35 p.m. we had a black bear far west of the Chalcedony Fan. At 6:00 p.m. a tall grizzly was seen traveling south in the K-2 Meadow. Kim C and I agreed a different grizzly then the earlier sighting on K-2. At 6:15 p.m. Rick B found the mixed grizzly family (the sow, one large two-year-old-sized cub, and one small yearling sized cub) in a clearing below the Moosehead.
May 25th - Sunday
34 degrees in Silver Gate this morning warming up to 76 degrees this evening out in the park. I found a cow moose in the Bell clearing this morning, not sure why she is that high on the mountain. I had a THREE DOG (coyote, fox, and wolf) DAY today. At 5:35 a.m. Hayden G found a black bear west of Amethyst Bench. At 5:45 a.m. Hayden G found the grizzly sow with two yearlings in a small clearing east of A-Z Meadow; later tonight they were spotted on the northeast side of Middle Ridge. At 6:10 a.m. Hayden G found the grizzly sow with one yearling cub high on Ski Slope. At 6:40 a.m. Kim C found a black bear low on K-3 Meadow. At 6:50 a.m. Gary G found a grizzly high northeast of Pebble Creek Campground; it was glowing in the morning sun. At 7:30 a.m. Hayden G found a black bear in a clearing south of Trashcan Pullout. At 7:55 a.m. I found a grizzly digging on Calfee, then Hayden G found the second grizzly. It turned out to be a courting pair of grizzlies. At 8:10 a.m. Hayden G found a black bear high on Norris viewed from the Confluence. At 8:40 a.m. Paul H found the mixed grizzly family (the sow, one large two-year-old-sized cub, and one smaller yearling sized cub) northeast of Midpoint Pullout. This was a bear jam for the next couple of hours, even when the rangers arrived it remained a jam. At 11:20 a.m. I found what we believe was the grizzly sow with two yearlings low on Middle Ridge. I found them in a small clearing on Middle Ridge, but only one cub and the sow were seen. From 11:30 a.m. through 2:30 p.m. we watched four black and one gray adult wolves and all six pups from time to time. At 6:15 p.m. we had a bear jam in the Lamar Canyon as a large black bear could be seen to the north. At 7:25 p.m. Hayden G found the grizzly sow with three two-year-old cubs north of Trashcan Pullout. He rushed down the road to Picnic Pullout to tell me. We returned to Trashcan Pullout to find no grizzlies. Jason C then called from Hubard Hill with the four grizzlies in sight to the north. Around 7:30 p.m. Jeff B called with the grizzly sow with two cubs of the year northeast of Footbridge Pullout. We left the four grizzlies to see the three grizzlies from Footbridge. I had heard other people had viewed this family and Hayden G had them the night before, but this was my first viewing of the family. They were in view for a long time, lots of bear watchers there to share our scopes or point the direction for people with scopes. At 7:45 p.ml Hayden G found a small colorful grizzly digging in K-3 Meadow. At 8:00 p.m. Hayden G found a black bear on the # 3 finger on Norris.
May 26th - Monday
34 degrees this morning in Silver Gate warming up to 76 degrees out in the park this afternoon. I had a THREE DOG DAY today. At 5:35 a.m. we viewed two black Junction Butte wolves near the entrance to the den. At 5:50 a.m. Gary G found a courting pair of black bears on the A-Z Meadow. At 6:15 a.m. Hunter G told us about a grizzly north of Hubard Hill. When we arrived, it was on the skyline for a brief but good viewing. At 6:20 a.m. Kevin M found the two sub adult grizzlies digging in the Bowl. At 7:10 a.m. Emil M found the mixed grizzly family (the sow, one large two-year-old-sized cub, and one small yearling sized cub) on Penny Lane. They remained in view for a long time, but you have to move from Footbridge Pullout to Hitching Post. At 7:20 a.m. Gary G found the grizzly sow with two cubs of the year in the same clearing as last night, northeast of Footbridge Pullout. At 7:50 a.m. another courting pair of black bears were seen on the Southern Divide Ridge. At 8:00 a.m. Don P called with the grizzly sow with three two-year-olds north of the Institute. We rushed there, but I only got to see the fourth one going over the hill, Gary G got to see the third and fourth going over. We tried for hours to find them away with negative results. At 9:30 a.m. Gary G's friend Dave found a large grizzly on Norris. It was within a half mile of the mixed family but traveling to the south and away from the grizzly family. At 10:00 a.m. Randi M from Picnic Pullout spotted a grizzly digging north of Picnic. We were at Trashcan Pullout and could not see the grizzly. Finally, the grizzly moved far enough to the east for us to watch. In the afternoon I found the black bear sow with one cub of the year above Amethyst Bench.
May 27th - Tuesday
40 degrees this morning in Silver Gate warming up to 78 degrees out in the valley, much to warm to see any grizzlies in the hot middle of the day. Apparently last evening the Junction Butte wolves moved their puppies. I do not have a lot of details, but nine wolves were seen around the den, looking into and going into the den with no puppies seen. This has happened in other years, sometimes the pups are not seen until July. I hope they took them to a place that can be viewed from the road somewhere. At 5:35 a.m. Hayden G found a small colorful grizzly traveling north of Coyote Overlook. At 5:45 a.m. Hayden G pointed out a small herd of elk on the skyline with a large grizzly moving east to west below the elk herd. At 5:55 a.m. from the Institute I found the grizzly sow with the three two-year-old cubs digging on a high ridge to the north. In view for a long time this morning. At about the same time Gary G pointed out the two sub adult grizzlies that were digging in the Bowl. At 6:05 a.m. Hayden G found a large black bear moving up hill in the same clearing as the four grizzlies but a quarter mile to the east. At 6:55 a.m. a large black bear was spotted near the tree line near the Chalcedony Fan. At 7:00 a.m. Hayden G spotted a colorful grizzly north of Fisherman's Pullout viewed from Trashcan Pullout. A long way away it was moving to the north. At 8:30 a.m. Hayden G found a grizzly glowing on the # 3 finger on Norris, way to the south. It crossed the snowbank for good viewing before going out of sight. At 8:45 a.m. Hayden G found a grizzly moving in the Calfee Meadow. Then Terri W found the second grizzly in the area. It was a large grizzly and a medium sized grizzly. We had seen a courting pair of grizzlies on Calfee a couple of days ago, but something was wrong. The medium sized grizzly was following the large grizzly (during courting season the larger grizzly, the boar, always follows the medium sized, the sow). Soon they reversed with the boar following the sow. Good viewing as they traveled a lot in a long snowbank. At 9:10 a.m. Hayden G found three other grizzlies above and where the courting pair were moving to. Soon the sow started to run faster that way and that got the three grizzlies running fast to get away from the courting pair. Calfee is a long distance from where we were viewing from Trashcan Pullout. Our guess was this was the mixed grizzly family (the sow, the large two-year-old sized cub, and the small yearling sized cub), this family has been seen on Calfee earlier this year. Soon all five grizzlies had disappeared over the hill and out of sight. At 9:30 a.m. while we were watching Calfee someone noticed a gray collared Mollies wolf just across the Lamar River. It was moving through a bison herd looking over all the new calves. At 9:45 a.m. Kim C found the black bear sow with one black cub of the year above Amethyst Bench. At 10:00 a.m. Hayden G found a small colorful grizzly digging and moving around low on Ski Slope. Hayden is leaving us tomorrow, and as today's sightings reveal, he has a great gift to spot grizzlies.
People Seen
Wolf watchers seen this report. From Montana: Rick M, Wendy B, Jeff B, Kristina G, Melba C, Jeff A, Becky C, Jeremy S, and Taylor R. From California: Bruce and Maryjean Mc, Glenda M and Rick G, and Kathie L. From Missouri: Frank H. From Utah: Paul H and Celia L. From Oregon: Michael and Deb O. From Colorado: Bob P, John and Lisa C, and Mark, Carol, and Roc R. From Sweden: Jacob B. From New York: Rick and Maureen B. From South Dakota: Sam and Ginny G. From Illinois: Sandra and Ken H. From Texas: Carl L and Carol S. and From Wyoming: Dale and Faye B.
Bear watchers seen this report: From Washington: Randi M and John G. From Louisiana: Bruce P. From Mississippi: Gary G. From Illinois: Wayne K, and Mike G and his cousin Bill. From Wyoming: Kevin B and Tyler B. From Colorado: Rick and Tanner H. From Montana: Doug M, Valerie B, David B, Mike and Kathy W. From South Carolina: Margaret P. From Utah: Hayden G. From Nevada: Tammy M. From Virgina: Big John B. From Tenneses: Mike, Donna and their daughter and her family. From Idaho: Kim C, Leann T and her daughter's family, Carma and Jennings S, and Blake and Rachel M and their family. From Vermont: Don P. From Wisconsin: Mike S. And from Minnesota: Kevin, Barb, and JoJo B. Others seen this report: From Montana: Quinn H, Grant J, Nate U, Kate J, Hunter G, Leo L, Emil M, Cara M, Michael S and Shauna B. From Wyoming: Debbie M. From Washington: Aaron M. And from California: Carol 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
Lamar Valley Map - Yellowstone National Park
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