Yellowstone National Park 2025 Trip Reports
Trip Report ~ Bear & Wolf Sightings ~ by Bill Hamblin
11 through 14 October 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
~ October 2025 ~
October 11th - Saturday
40 degrees in Silver Gate warming up to 60 degrees out in the park this afternoon. It rained most of the morning and afternoon making spotting animals difficult. I had a young bull moose cross the road in front of me today near the Northeast Entrance. From 12:00 noon through 2:00 p.m. we watched the Ski Slope grizzly sow with one light brown colored yearling cub south of Ex closure Pullout in Lamar Valley. They were in view for all but thirty minutes when they disappeared into the tree line. At 2:50 p.m. they came back into view as I moved on.
October 12th - Sunday
It was 33 degrees and snowing in Silver Gate this morning warming up all the way to 46 degrees this afternoon in the park. The drive into the park this morning was the worst whiteout I have ever been in. I was down to twenty miles an hour. Afraid of hitting a bison or encountering a rock I drove on. I finally found a large pullout and pulled off and waited. About fifteen minutes later it cleared up a lot. I had a THREE DOG DAY today. At 10:15 a.m. Missy O and Frank H showed me 1484M a gray Junction Butte wolf bedded on Jasper Bench. Others hiked north of Coyote Pullout to the first large hill and saw more of the wolves, but this was it for viewing from the roadside.
October 13th - Monday
24 degrees this morning in Silver Gate warming up to 50 degrees out in the park this afternoon. I watched a fox in the road just inside the NE Entrance this morning and later went through a coyote jam this afternoon as Limpy/Tripod was working the crowd of cars near Trashcan Pullout hoping to be fed. They have crews drilling around Pebble Creek and near the first Soda Butte Creek Bridge, I assume something to do with future road construction on the road from Tower to NE Entrance. At 9:00 a.m. three black wolves, one was 1489M, and one gray wolf 1484M were seen north and above the old Slough Creek Den. They encountered several small herds of elk, but nothing happened. Around 12:00 noon Jeff B called with a grizzly low on the # 2 finger on Norris. It disappeared and I moved on to the west. Soon Jeff B called again as the grizzly was crossing through the Trout Lake Pullout, I again missed the grizzly and headed back west. Soon Jeff B called again as the grizzly crossed the road again from north to south and was in Round Prairie. I watched it for over fifteen minutes as it crossed to the east. At 2:30 p.m. a tour guide called with a grizzly in the Slough Creek Bottoms. He was down in the Slough Creek Campground Road and recommended Bob's Knob. We could not find the grizzly, so he walked out to the Knob and found the grizzly coming out of the willows. It was, I think, the four- and one-half year-old female grizzly (Junction Butte/Middle Ridge). At 6:25 p.m. Geoff F called with grizzlies in view in Slough Creek, in the large ravine east of the Slough Creek Den. It turned out to be a grizzly sow with one cub of the year. Digging and traveling up and east great viewing with the light tonight. To my knowledge no one has reported a grizzly sow with one cub of the year in that area, a new grizzly family for me. At 6:40 p.m. a young lady in the same parking lot found another grizzly west of the grizzly sow and cub of the year. It was a medium sized colorful grizzly digging no more than four hundred yards from the grizzly family.
October 14th - Tuesday
30 degrees this morning in Silver Gate warming up to a nice 50 degrees with little wind this afternoon out in the park. I found no bears, either black or grizzly, and no wolves today. However, Kim and Joyce C had a large dark grizzly south of Picnic Pullout this morning. It was moving east and was out of sight before I got there. Later Jeff B and Larry and Char T found the medium sized colorful grizzly at Ice Box Canyon. I saw their picture and the grizzly was close. I arrived too late again to see this grizzly. The wolf watchers found the Junction Butte wolves at Hellroaring today. The final count was fourteen blacks and two grays, missing, I assure, 1478F.
People Seen
People seen this report: Wolf Watchers: From Montana: Rick M, Jeff A, Jeff B, Bob J, Marisa F, Jeremy S, and Mike and Jill B. From Missouri: Frank H. From Arizona: Steve J. From North Dakota: Sandy H. From New Mexico: Lynn C. From Florida: Andy and Missy O. From Colorado: Mark, Carol, and Roch R. From California: Bruce and Maryjean MC. And from Washington: David and Stephanie O. Bear Watchers seen: From Idaho: Kim and Joyce C. From Connecticut: Geoff F and Tennile, Luke, and Kate. From Montana: Jeff and Valerie B, and Kathy M. From Vermont: Don P. And from Oregon: Larry and Char T. Others seen this report: From Montana: MacNeil L, Matt D, Kyle D, Mike S, Michael S, Russ K and Jamie and Michele 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
Lamar Valley Map - Yellowstone National Park
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