Yellowstone National Park 2025 Trip Reports
Trip Report ~ Bear & Wolf Sightings ~ by Bill Hamblin
25 through 28 June 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
~ June 2025 ~
June 25th - Wednesday
Wednesday June 25th. 43 degrees in Silver Gate this morning warming up to a nice 75 degrees out in the park in the afternoon. I watched a large bull moose south of Soda Butte East Pullout this morning. At 4:25 a.m. I had a large black bear cross the road west of Trout Lake this morning on the way into the park. At 6:00 a.m. a black bear south of the Soda Butte Cone spotted by Paul H. At 7:30 a.m. I found the grizzly sow with two yearlings (Middle Ridge family) in the Salad Bowl viewed from Coyote Overlook. At 7:45 a.m. Kyle D had a large grizzly walking the tree line below K Meadow; a long look but we watched it from Coyote Overlook. At 10:45 a.m. Gary G found a grizzly sow with two yearling cubs (Institute family) on Druid Peak. At 11:10 a.m. Gary G viewed a tall grizzly on the # 1 finger on Norris. At 12:35 p.m. we had a cinnamon black bear with one cinnamon cub of the year north of the Institute. At 5:45 p.m. the grizzly sow with one yearling cub (Ski Slope family) was on the skyline above the snow cornice viewed from Footbridge Pullout. At 6:20 p.m. Gary G found the grizzly sow with two yearling cubs (Specimen Ridge family) on the first meadow south and behind Ski Slope. At 7:20 p.m. Gary G found a colorful grizzly digging on the #2 finger on Norris.
June 26th - Thursday
Thursday June 26th. 36 degrees this morning in Silver Gate warming up to 75 degrees out in the park this afternoon. I viewed a cow moose on the top of A-Z Meadow this morning. I had a THREE DOG DAY today. At 4:45 a.m. Gary G found four black and one gray Junction Butte wolves south of Hubbard Hill. At 6:10 a.m. Randi M found the grizzly sow with two yearling cubs (Middle Ridge family) on No Bear Meadow. At 7:15 a.m. Gary G found the grizzly sow with two yearling cubs (Specimen Ridge family) on top of the last hill south of Ski Slope. I have only seen one grizzly on that clearing in all my years watching bears. At 8:30 a.m. Gary G watched a small grizzly being followed by a coyote in a low clearing below # 2 finger on Norris. It turned out that the grizzly was not seen again, but the coyote was a Mollie wolf. At first, we had 1090F, the black alpha female and oldest wolf in the park at eleven years old, with three gray wolves south of the Soda Butte Valley moving east towards us and eventually disappeared near the den over Dead Puppy Hill. Soon after two more grays and 1411F, the mother of the two pups, others have seen near the den sight follow the first four. So, we ended up seeing seven of the nine adult members of the Mollies wolfpack, missing an uncollared black female and one gray. A nice two pack day today. At 9:00 a.m. I found two sub adult grizzlies on the # 1 finger on Norris. One was larger and a colorful grizzly, the other smaller and darker. They were in view a long time with half the time wrestling and playing and the second half digging. At 12:45 p.m. the grizzly sow with one yearling cub (Ski Slope family) viewed on Ski Slope.
June 27th - Friday
41 degrees this morning in Silver Gate warming up to 75 degrees out in the park in the afternoon. We watched a cow moose on Ski Slope this morning, who bedded for a time for lots of people to see. I had a THREE DOG DAY today. At 4:55 a.m. we had been at the dirt pullout just east of the Institute for ten minutes when a dark grizzly stepped out of the tree line on Amethyst Bench. It dug for a while then moved to the east along the tree line disappearing under K Meadow an hour later. At 5:15 a.m. Gary G found the grizzly sow with two yearlings (Middle Ridge family) above Bear Meadow. Today they moved through No Bear Meadow and then stayed in the Bowl for a long time of good viewing. At 5:30 a.m. Gary G found the grizzly sow with one yearling (Ski Slope family) back on Ski Slope. At 6:00 a.m. I had a large black bear north of the Institute. At 6:30 a.m. I found a large black bear on Druid Peak viewed from Picnic Pullout. At 9:30 a.m. Gary G found a colorful grizzly digging on K-2 Meadow. From 9:35 a.m. through 9:50 a.m. we watched a collared gray Mollie wolf northeast of Footbridge Pullout. A coyote followed it. Paul H was scanning for bears towards Pebble Creek and the wolf walked into his scope. The wolf quickly went up and bedded again to watch the other direction and finally stood up and watched down the hill towards the road. It finally just walked over the ridge and out of sight now with two coyotes in the area, I assume a coyote den in the area was the reason for their being around the wolf. At 10:35 a.m. I found the two sub adult grizzly high south of the # 3 finger on Norris. Again, today they did a lot of wrestling and playing mixed with digging. At 12:45 a.m. from Lamar Canyon East I found three grizzlies north of Coyote Overlook. I could not see much of a difference in the size of the grizzlies, then noticed the fourth. It was the grizzly sow (still very late in the courting season) with her three large two-year-old cubs (Druid Peak family). The reason I found them so quickly after setting up was that a large, sixty or so, elk herd was looking back and downhill at them. The sow and two of the cubs disappeared into a conifer forest but the third cub decided to chase the elk for a while. The cub never got close to the elk who easily evaded the young grizzly. After a while, the cub joined the others in the conifer forest, and I did not see them before I moved on. At 2:10 p.m. I found a grizzly sow with two yearling cubs (Specimen Ridge family) digging in the Bell.
June 28th - Saturday
41 degrees this morning in Silver Gate warming up to the mid 70's this afternoon out in the park. I had a cow moose with a yearling calf close to the road at Warm Creek after this morning. I had a THREE DOG DAY pretty early this morning. At 4:45 a.m. Gary G found seven black and two gray Junction Butte wolves travelling east on Amethyst Bench. They were hunting and after a while got a newborn bison calf. In view for well over an hour this morning with good viewing. At 5:15 a.m. Gary G found the grizzly sow with two yearling cubs (Institute Family) in the saddle on skyline south of the Institute. At 5:25 a.m. a gentleman staying at the Institute showed us a large grizzly with a bison calf in its jaws running south of the Lamar River south of Hubbard Hill for the tree line. The grizzly made the tree line just before the wolves moved that way. This was a different calf from the earlier wolf one. At 6:20 a.m. I found a courting pair of black bears in the Salad Bowl, a large black boar, and a smaller cinnamon sow. At 6:45 a.m. Gary G found the grizzly sow with two yearling cubs (Middle Ridge family) in the Bowl. At 8:00 a.m. Hunter G, Silver Gate Guides, called with a small grizzly digging on the # 1 finger on Norris. We were at Footbridge Pullout and with the sun already up had a tough time finding and seeing this grizzly. Finally, I got a good look at a small grizzly with a little color when it got into the sunlight. At 8:30 a.m. I found a large grizzly digging in the second skyline meadow east of Penny Lane. In view for a while, then disappeared and was again in view when we left the area at 9:00 a.m. At 5:00 p.m. Gary G from Lamar Canyon East found a grizzly sow with two yearlings on Druid Peak. We wondered if this might be the Institute family but later, we found the Institute family again in the saddle south of the Institute. We called this the south arm of Druid Peak family and have only seen them three times. All three times north of the road. At 6:00 p.m. I found what turned out to be the Ski Slope family, a grizzly sow with one yearling on the highest meadow up high on the first meadow behind Ski Slope. This meadow is where we spotted the Specimen Ridge sow with two yearlings a few days ago.
People Seen
Wolf Watchers seen this report: From Montana: Rick M, Jeff A, Helena E, Jeremy S, and Taylor R. From Utah: Paul H. From Massachusetts: Jon W. Bear Watchers seen this report: From Washington: Randi M. From Mississippi: Gary G. From Montana: Doug M. And from Wyoming: Tom H and Sandi R. Others seen this report: From Montana: Quinn H, Mike S, Kyle D, Ashea M, Carol G, Tim G, Hunter G, Kate J, Jamie H, Jayden A, Audra C, Dan and Cindy H, and Paster Don. From California: Carol B. From Vermont: John K. And from Wyoming: Debbie M.
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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