Yellowstone National Park 2026 Trip Reports
Trip Report ~ Bear & Wolf Sightings ~ by Bill Hamblin
April 2nd through 5th, 2026
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 2026 ~
April 2nd - Thursday
42 degrees in Gardiner this morning warming up to only 42 degrees out in the park this afternoon. At 9:00 a.m. I traveled into the Lamar Valley since I could not find anything at Hellroaring Overlook, Elk Creek Pullout, Boulder Pullout and Slough Creek. The Junction Butte wolfpack had taken a large animal down in the river corridor south of Hubbard Hill. I watched for a while with a few still on the carcass which was not identified and the rest were bedded. I counted nine blacks and both gray wolves, but others counted the entire pack of fifteen wolves. They remained in the area for good wolf watching through the afternoon.
April 3rd - Friday
39 degrees with a little snow at Gardiner this morning warming up to 41 degrees with a cold wind most of the day out in the park, often with a little snow, sleet, and some sun. Around 9:00 a.m. Rick M found some of the Junction Butte wolves down in the Slough Creek bottoms. I hiked down to Bob's Knob and saw six black wolves moving up into some rocks. After I left three closer wolves were spotted only a few hundred yards from Bob's Knob. At noon Andrea B found the 5 1/2-year-old female grizzly on the south side of Junction Butte first watched from near the Yellowstone River Picnic area. It disappeared and we moved to Tower Gas Station parking lot where Jeff A found her in good view on Junction Butte. We watched her until 1:15 p.m. turning over rocks but digging a lot today.
April 4th - Saturday
34 degrees in Gardiner this morning warming up to a nice 50 degrees out in the park this afternoon with a mild cool breeze. The red-tailed hawk is on her nest in the rock formation south of Lamar Canyon East Pullout. I saw my first Unita ground squirrel this morning crossing the road near Fisherman's Pullout in Lamar Valley. I watched two pair of barrow's goldeneye ducks in the complete ice-free Floating Island Pond. At 6:30 a.m. I had a grouse on the road near Upper Hellroaring Pullout this morning. At 6:30 a.m. Paul H called having two grizzlies in view near the Marge Simpson Tree viewed from Lamar Canyon West Pullout. I was at Upper Hellroaring, and it took me seventeen minutes to get to where Paul was. It appeared to be two large and dark sub adult grizzlies. They divided their time by slowly moving east and stopping to play fight and wrestling. They spent a lot of time on their hind legs boxing with each other. At 7:00 a.m. Valeria B made a great spot of a black wolf above the Southern Round Tree in Slough Creek, using binoculars. It turned out to be four black and one gray Junction Butte wolves. They quickly disappeared and the wolf watchers found them again from Boulder Pullout. Their count was at least eleven. The wolf watchers went to Upper Hellroaring, a place the wolves sometimes travel through after disappearing from Boulder Pullout. To my knowledge the wolves were not seen again today. At 8:45 a.m. I found the 5 1/2-year-old female grizzly on the south end of Junction Butte viewed from the road level near Yellowstone River Picnic area. She soon disappeared but a few of the guides climbed the hill south of the road and watched her for a while. At 9:15 a.m. I found her again on the Butte from the Tower Gas Station. She soon disappeared again but at 9:30 a.m. I found her from Elk Creek Pullout. I decided to see if the wolves were being seen at Upper Hellroaring, they were not, but on returning at 10:00 a.m. the sow grizzly was seen in sight viewed from Elk Creek Pullout.
April 5th - Sunday
35 degrees this morning in Gardiner warming up to a nice 62 degrees out in the park. At 8:00 a.m. Doug M called with the 5 1/2-year-old female grizzly in view on Junction Butte viewed from the east side of Junction Butte. I was in Lamar Valley and rushed back to Lamar Canyon West to watch the grizzly again digging. Only in view for fifteen minutes, but others later saw this grizzly from the west side viewing from the high dirt Elk Creek Pullout. This evening, I saw her again on the northeast side of Junction Butte for around fifteen minutes. At 11:15 a.m. Grant J called with a newborn bison calf in Little America on the northside. I walked out a hundred yards and the calf looked like it had been born a day or two ago. It easily got up and nursed for a good five minutes or so before bedding. A couple of the herd cows came over to check the calf out and the cow did not mind. From 4:00 p.m. through 5:20 p.m. I watched two grizzlies from Elk Creek on the backside of Specimen Ridge. It appeared to be a grizzly sow with a two-year-old cub. The sow was darker and the cub was much lighter. It was a long look, so I called Jeff A, wolf watcher, to join me with his bigger scope. The family never got more than five yards from each other. They visited a snow patch and the viewing got pretty good as the distance was five to six miles away. They spent a lot of time on the downhill side of the snowpack, apparently the snow melt had something good to eat. We had a few groups join us at Elk Creek and Jeff and I showed them the sow and two-year-old and then the 5 1/2-year-old grizzly appeared on the northeast side of Junction Butte for about fifteen minutes of watching.
People Seen
Wolf Watchers seen this report: From Montana: Rick M, Jeff A, Jeremy S, and Mike and Jill B. From England: Jakob B. From North Dakota: Sandy H. From Utah: Paul H and Julie and Josie A. From California: Bruce and Mary Jean Mc and Glenda M. And from Arizona: Steve J. Bear Watchers seen this report: From Louisiana: Bruce P. And From Montana: Doug M and Jeff and Valerie B. Others seen this report: From Montana: Andrea B, Diane B, Quinn H, Brian B, Cara M, Melba C, Evan S, Michael S, JoJo K, Cliff B, Bryon F, Nate U, and Grant J. From Washington: Nick and Diane L.
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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