Yellowstone National Park 2026 Trip Reports
Trip Report ~ Bear & Wolf Sightings ~ by Bill Hamblin
April 14th through 17th 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 14th - Tuesday
36 degrees in Gardiner this morning warming up to only 48 degrees, the morning was nice with no wind but after noon had a cold wind. I finally saw a yellow-bellied marmot today, others had seen several, but I finally saw one. I heard my first sage thrasher today, beautiful song. From the Nature Trail I found my first moose of the season, a cow, and a yearling calf. At 6:15 a.m. we started again at Boulder Pullout. Looking to the northeast we spotted a dark grizzly eating on the three-day old carcass. Soon after a second grizzly was seen behind in the trees waiting its turn. At 7:30 a.m. Byron F showed me a grizzly rubbing on a tree near the Chalcedony Drainage. We were at Coyote Overlook, but friends were closer up the valley of Lamar and said it was a large grizzly with a lot of brown on it. The Junction Butte wolves, fourteen of the fifteen, were spotted by Paul H early around Amethyst Bench. They moved out of sight to the hills and south. At 9:30 a.m. I found five black and both gray wolves again on Amethyst Bench. The wolf watchers told me these were the adults. The pups and the rest were not seen later today. At 11:20 a.m. I found the grizzly sow with two-year-old blond cub back again on Middle Ridge viewed from Coyote Overlook. A long look but good light and we showed a lot of people two grizzlies. They were digging then resting and once the sow nursed the cub. They had travelled about four miles since yesterday's sighting in Lamar Valley. In view for well over an hour and were seen again tonight at 5:25 p.m. still on Middle Ridge. At 1:00 p.m. I looked at the carcass in the meadow below the fingers on Norris from Footbridge Pullout. Others had good views early but all I saw was a little movement from time to time when the ravens were close. At 5:00 p.m. I found a tall black bear with a lot of brown west of Chalcedony Drainage from the Confluence. At 8:10 p.m. watching from Nature Trail I found a black collared wolf four hundred yards sitting watching the road. I went down to S Curve, and the wolf was retreating back the hill then sat down looking at the road. I am sure it crossed after I left to the northwest.
April 15th - Wednesday
44 degrees in Gardiner with cold winds all day warming up to 47 degrees out in the park this afternoon. At 6:20 a.m. the 5 1/2-year-old female grizzly was approaching the four-day old carcass northeast of Boulder Pullout. Later I watched her moving east beyond the lake in front of the Peregrines. At 7:30 a.m. Mark L found the Druid Peak grizzly sow with her three large three-year-old cubs north of Soda Butte East Pullout. She has kept the cubs for an extra year, a rare event for grizzlies. They were mainly digging, but she stopped once to nurse all three cubs at once. We saw her again in the afternoon not far from this morning's sighting. At 9:30 a.m. JoJo K showed me a brown colored grizzly at the Confluence of Lamar River and the Soda Butte Creek. It had crossed the road north to south and was grazing in the willows. Randi M spotted a large scar above the eyes on the face of this grizzly. At 10:00 a.m. Blake M found the grizzly sow with one two-year-old blond cub across from Picnic Pullout, but he spotted her from Footbridge. They were out for hours digging and avoiding the numerous herds of bison in the Lamar Valley. We saw her again around 3:30 p.m. a little more to the west. She does like to move, yesterday we had her on the Divide Ridge from Coyote Overlook. At 10:30 a.m. Karol B was watching the carcass under the fingers of Norris from Footbridge Pullout when she saw not one but two grizzlies around the carcass. It appeared to be a sow and a yearling cub. The last four days we had been watching only one grizzly on or around that carcass. At 1:35 p.m. JoJo K showed me a large grizzly on the same carcass. Apparently since this morning the large grizzly arrived and pushed the sow and yearling off the carcass. JoJo said the bear moved really slowly bedding every few steps but finally got to the carcass and was feeding on it. At 3:30 p.m. Karol B was driving past the Confluence when a grizzly crossed the road south to north. We thought it may have been the bear that crossed at the Confluence this morning, but Randi M checked this grizzly and discovered no scars on its face, therefore a different grizzly. Randi got a good close look, and it had long and great looking claws. And finally on the way back to Gardiner, we had a colorful sub adult grizzly at Phantom Lake. It ran across the dried-up lake and crossed the road to the north just behind my car.
April 16th - Thursday
36 degrees and snowing in Gardiner this morning warming up to only 34 degrees out in the park this afternoon. The ride in this morning was a white out with big flakes. I drove 25-30 miles an hour. Fortunately, I met no oncoming cars, and no one tried to pass me. No real visibility out in the park until midmorning and then storms moving through the park left low clouds so viewing was not good. After 9:00 a.m. the roads were bare and dry, until arriving back in Gardiner this evening; a white out and the road from Mammoth to Gardiner was very icy. I watched a Ruddy male duck at Floating Island Pond today. Phantom Lake is completely dry, usually this time of year, there is always some runoff water in there in the spring. At 8:15 a.m. I watched a large grizzly on the five-day old carcass below the fingers on Norris viewed from Footbridge Pullout. Later Jim H and Paul H watched a second grizzly come to the carcass and run off the grizzly I saw. At 1:55 p.m. I watched the three 3 1/2-year-old cubs of the Druid Peak Family. Margaret, Paul, and I watched for about forty-five minutes and did not see the sow. A couple that had been watching the family before we arrived said they watched four grizzlies. We watched them move away and bed. They were walking our way but into a stand of conifers that was between the cubs and us on the road. They watched at the conifer stand for about twenty minutes; we were just seeing the three cubs. Last evening Paul, Jeff and Valeria watched a large male grizzly come into the area from the west. I hope nothing is wrong but hope to find the family tomorrow. At 5:20 p.m. I arrived at a grizzly road jam. A colorful sub adult grizzly was walking in the road ahead of four cars. It soon ran up the hill off the road. After a few minutes, the grizzly ran further up the hill.
April 17th - Friday
19 degrees in Gardiner but a cold 10 degrees as I passed by Hellroaring this morning warming up all the way to 32 degrees out in the park with a cold wind in the afternoon. I watched a Dusty Grouse posing in the Petrified Tree Pullout early this morning. At 6:45 a.m. I spotted a lone black wolf walking to the north in Buffalo Ford viewed from Boulder Pullout. Soon after we heard howling towards Junction Butte. We ended up with two blacks on the other side of the Lamar River and three blacks about 550 yards from the pullout. The three entertained us for a while. I left then, but Paul H saw about ten wolves across the river. Later they were seen for a while at Upper Hellroaring Pullout on the slopes of Hellroaring with most of the pack present. At 8:00 a.m. one large dark grizzly on the six- or seven-day old carcass in a meadow below the fingers of Norris from Footbridge Pullout. Later Jeff and Valeria B told me that there were two grizzlies on the carcass. I headed back around 10:45 a.m. and from the eastern curve pullout east of Footbridge I watched two large dark grizzlies around the carcass. From 1:15 p.m. through 3:45 p.m. we were entertained viewing to the north of Picnic Pullout. I found a grizzly briefly moving to the east. My bear watching friends joined me, but the bear had disappeared. Around 2:00 p.m. they noticed the three 3 1/2 cubs move around and do some digging. After about thirty minutes the smaller lighter cub suddenly ran north and out of sight. We wondered why the cub had run away, thinking maybe the noise from us at Picnic disturbed it. So, we were left to watch the two remaining cubs, a dark cub and a cub that was not as light as the small light cub. Someone then noticed another grizzly coming into the area of the two remaining cubs. The cubs were afraid and moved uphill while the new sow sized grizzly started to dig. The two cubs continued to watch the new grizzly, often getting to within fifteen yards or so of the new grizzly. The new grizzly paid no attention to the two cubs. After thirty minutes or so, the cubs came close and bolted away up the hill. The new grizzly did not react, but we think it growled at the two cubs. The two cubs separated from each other and still watched the new grizzly. The only explanation we produced is that new grizzly was their mother the sow of the Druid Peak Family. If the new grizzly was any other grizzly, it would not have put up with two smaller sub adult grizzlies that close. So, the sow was the mother of the three cubs. Yesterday we only saw the three cubs, no sow. I have never seen a sow ignore the cubs like that before. Courting season is usually mid-May through early July, so I have no explanation. Perhaps the sow had forced the three cubs to leave earlier, that would explain the small light cub running away and the hesitant behavior of the two other cubs.
People Seen
Wolf Watchers: From Montana: Rick M, Jeff A, Bob J, Wendy B, Jeremy S, Melba C, Mike and Jill B, and Taylor R. From Colorado: Karol B. From Utah: Paul H. From California: Glenda M. From England: Jakob B. From Wyoming: Christy and Paul G. And From Missouri: Frank H. Bear Watchers seen this report: From Louisiana: Bruce P. From Montana: Doug M, Les and Paula W, Margaret L, Jeff and Valeria B, and Chuck W and Debbie H. From Idaho: Blake M. From Wyoming: Kevin M. And from Washington: Randi M. Others seen this report: From Montana: Mike S, Michael S, Bryon F, Nate U, Cliff B, JoJo K, Marisa B, and Lee H. From Florida: Mark L and Bill L. And 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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