Yellowstone National Park 2026 Trip Reports
Trip Report ~ Bear & Wolf Sightings ~ by Bill Hamblin
April 26th through 29th 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 26th - Sunday
29 degrees this morning in Gardiner warming up to 36 degrees out in the park with intermittent showers moving through. At 6:25 a.m. driving into Lamar Valley I saw a black spot in a meadow to the northeast. It was a medium sized colorful grizzly digging. It was in view for a long time this morning. At 6:45 a.m. I found a bedded grizzly east of Jasper Bench viewed from Coyote Overlook. I thought it was a small dark grizzly when bedded, but when it got up and started to move and dig, it turned out to be a nice sized grizzly. At 7:25 a.m. I found a medium sized colorful grizzly digging in the old Druid Rendezvous area viewed from Footbridge Pullout. It slowly moved to the tree line, traveling south, I did not go back to Picnic or somewhere I could get a better look at it. At 7:50 a.m. Kevin M showed me a dark grizzly with only its back in view from the curve pullout north and east of Footbridge. It was digging and stayed in the same place for quite a while. Randi M watched it longer and it was a medium sized grizzly. At 8:40 a.m. Kevin M called with the Ski Slope grizzly sow and one two and one half year old light cub was out south of Picnic Pullout. I had just glassed that area and missed them. At 9:15 a.m. I heard the Junction Butte wolves were back near that old bison carcass in the Slough Creek Bottoms. I hiked Dave's Hill and they were spread out across the creek. Doug M and Paul H had a count of eleven blacks and the collared gray 1484M. They were laying around and howled several times. Some decided to move up and over Aspen Drainage and they howled back at the group still in the bottoms, who howled back at them. I watched a few wolves go over the Aspen Drainage and the trail to the west of it. Others were watching the bedded wolves when I spotted a gray and a black coming back this way, which accounted for two more making a total of 14 of 15 seen this morning. The black must have joined the wolves leaving, but Paul got to see the uncollared gray visit the Natal Den. Going inside a couple of times and throwing dirt from the den out with its paws. We are hoping that the missing black this morning is in the den, since most of the wolf watchers believe that 1385F, the alpha female, is not pregnant. While watching the wolves I glassed back at the Crystal carcass of two days ago. From Dave's Hill we ended up watching three different grizzlies. The first was spotted by Kevin M as it ran across the road at the Lamar River Bridge moving north to south. A medium sized colorful grizzly was seen again by Grant J, Yellowstone Safari, moving towards Crystal Rock. Then I noticed a larger colorful grizzly walk above the carcass site from the east, the site of the carcass can be seen from Lamar Canyon West but not from Dave's Hill. Then a large dark grizzly was seen walking around on Crystal Rock. We then saw it going to the east towards the carcass site. Randi got to see the big grizzly arrive at the carcass site. All this happened between 9:20 and 9:45 a.m. At 1:00 p.m. as a snowstorm was moving through, I spotted a large black bear running northeast from the Slough Creek restroom. It had just crossed the road. At 1:45 a.m. as the storm was breaking up, I found the Middle Ridge grizzly sow and one two and one half year old light cub again south of Aspen Pullout. Digging again today, the cub bedded for a few minutes than caught up with mom and both continued to dig. At 2:00 p.m. Bruce turned around near Aspen West and a large black bear was across the road to the north slowly grazing to the east and out of sight.
April 27th - Monday
37 degrees this morning in Gardiner warming up to 36 degrees out in the park this afternoon. At 6:40 a.m. I found a large grizzly digging southwest of Fisherman's Pullout. It was in view for quite a while this morning before moving off to the north and out of sight. At 6:50 a.m. I found a medium sized colorful grizzly digging on Amethyst Bench. It moved slowly to the east, and I last saw it south of Picnic Pullout. At 6:55 a.m. Quinn H, Wolf Tracker, called with a grizzly northeast of Coyote Overlook. It was a large dark grizzly digging for a while before moving north and out of sight. At 7:35 a.m. Mark L called with a grizzly close to the road at the Confluence. When I arrived, it was about 300 yards away to the south and digging. It remained in and out of sight behind the willows for a long time this morning. At 7:45 a.m. Jeri D found a grizzly in the Soda Butte Creek corridor. It soon came out of the corridor and in good viewing above the corridor digging. At 10:30 a.m. from Coyote Overlook I found a medium sized brown grizzly digging in the same meadow at the 6:55 a.m. sighting. However, this was a different grizzly, and it was in sight for over an hour and then bedded for another thirty minutes still in sight. At 12:15 a.m. I was watching the Slough Creek den area and viewed three different black wolves moving around to the east of the den site. The wolf watchers had found the wolves this morning on a new carcass above the Slough Creek near the Campground and across the Slough Creek. The high count was ten blacks and one gray this morning. At 1:15 p.m. we had a large black bear bedded across the Lamar River in the Lamar Canyon. At 1:30 a.m. we watched a large cinnamon black bear grazing in a meadow to the south between Slough Creek restroom and Lamar Canyon Pullout. At 1:50 p.m. Kevin, Randi and Dean showed me a small colorful grizzly digging in the meadow behind and south of the Crystal Rock. They had been watching for a while, but my sighting was only for a minute. Another snowstorm moving through the area made visibility impossible. I stayed for over an hour trying to get another look at the bear without success. At 2:50 p.m. I found the Middle Ridge grizzly sow with one two and one half year old light cub digging low on Specimen Ridge. They later ran down to feed in a meadow west of the Crystal Drainage.
April 28th -Tuesday
27 degrees in Gardiner this morning warming up to only 46 degrees this afternoon with a cool wind out in the park. Lots of kestrels in Lamar Valley today, they like sitting on the snow poles along the sides of the road. At 5:55 a.m. I found a dark grizzly traveling up hill in the Yellow Grass Meadow in Slough Creek. The last time I saw it, it was moving behind the Diagonal Forest. At 6:00 a.m. Frank H called with the Junction Butte wolfpack chasing a grizzly bear from their den area. Today's count was twelve blacks and both grays, and they all appeared to join in the chase. The grizzly was stubborn and it took several chases to convince the grizzly to move on. At 6:20 a.m. I found a big dark grizzly digging on the north end of the Northern Divide Ridge which is southwest of Fisherman's Pullout. This grizzly was in sight for about fifteen minutes. At 6:30 a.m. I found a medium sized colorful grizzly digging on Amethyst Bench. It was in view for about ten minutes, two bison appeared and the grizzly disappeared into the Amethyst Drainage. At 7:15 a.m. I found a medium sized colorful grizzly north of Hubbard Hill. Dean D arrived and noticed a second larger grizzly above the first grizzly. The first grizzly disappeared quickly, and the second grizzly sat down and looked down. Not sure if it was looking at the first smaller grizzly or looking at the cars on the road. At 7:35 a.m. I found a cinnamon black bear in the tree line south of Picnic Pullout. It was grazing and moving just a little in its search for food. At 7:40 a.m. Dean D found a small black bear near the Chalcedony Fan back in the trees. It was in view for quite a while moving to the east, always in the trees. At 8:00 a.m. Frank H called with two grizzlies north of Fisherman's Pullout viewed from Coyote Pullout. When I arrived, it was determined that these were two sub adults (one dark and one with blond color) recently dispersed from the Druid Peak sow (they were seen earlier with all three 3 1/2-year-old cubs but he sow pushed them off early). They were in view for a long time with others watching from Dorothy's Pullout also. At 8:30 a.m. Michael S, Wolf Tracker, pointed out a large grizzly now digging on Amethyst Bench. This grizzly was much bigger than the earlier sighting on Amethyst Bench. It dug for a while and then moved east. I last saw this grizzly it was close to the tree line south of Midpoint Pullout. At 9:00 a.m. Dean D found a small colorful grizzly digging near the Chalcedony Fan. It was in view for quite some time and in view again at 1:20 p.m. it was still in that area digging. At 9:30 a.m. Randi M found a cinnamon black bear behind a group of aspens below the fingers on Norris across from the Soda Butte Cone, viewed from Footbridge Pullout. A long spot and difficult to watch behind the trees. At 10:15 a.m. Paul H called with the Middle Ridge grizzly sow with one two and one-half year-old light-colored cub in the same clearing as the dark grizzly this morning, which was on the north end of the northern divide ridge southwest of Fisherman's Pullout. They were in sight for quite a while but then ran off quickly into the trees. We found a hiker up in the general area. Later they came back into the clearing and were in sight for a long time. At 1200 noon I found the Ski Slope grizzly sow with one two and one-half year-old light-colored cub in the old Druid Rendezvous area. Today they were quite a way out in the meadow, far from the trees. I passed by the area at 1:35 p.m. and they were still in view about the same place. At 2:10 p.m. we had a large cinnamon black bear north of the road in the Lamar Valley. Lots of people taking pictures. At 2:45 p.m. Elizabeth L found what we determined was a black bear very high in the meadow east of the Slough den area.
April 29th - Wednesday
33 degrees in Gardiner this morning warming up to 48 degrees this afternoon in the park. I watched a Dusty grouse again at the Petrified Tree Pullout this morning. It ventures into the road but moves into the parking lot when cars pass. I had a fox this morning but saw no wolves. To my knowledge only a black uncollared wolf and the uncollared gray male were seen today. The black came out of the den a few times today. The High Bridge construction just east of Gardiner started this afternoon: 24 hours a day until late October, up to a fifteen-minute delay possible. At 6:15 a.m. driving into Lamar Valley I noticed a dark spot in a newly snow-covered meadow. It was a small colorful sub adult grizzly digging for over an hour and a half. As it got warmer the touch of snow disappeared again. At 6:45 a.m. Jeff A, a wolf watcher, called with grizzlies southeast of Trashcan Hill. It was the Ski Slope grizzly sow and one two and half year-old light colored cub. This morning the sow was frustrated with the cub so she may have been thinking about courting time, but later everything seemed back to normal and they fed close together. We watched them later when a large black bear, bigger than the sow, ran close to them. They disappeared but remained in sight for most of the day, best watched from Enclosure and Confluence Pullouts. At 9:15 a.m. Dean D found a small black bear in the trees at Chalcedony Fan. At 11:15 a.m. a large cinnamon black bear was seen grazing in the Slough Bowl. At 3:15 p.m. I found the Middle Ridge grizzly sow with one two-year-old light-colored cub on the north part of the Northern Divide Ridge. They were digging away. Not sure where they were all day. At 3:20 p.m. Randi M had a larger sub adult north of Fisherman's Pullout. A big bear jam and it was digging only four hundred yards off the road. People seen this report: Wolf Watchers: From Montana: Rick M, Jeff B, Dan and Laurie L, Randy T and Jeff A.
People Seen
From California: Glenda M. From Missouri: Frank H. From Utah: Paul H. From Colorado: Karol B, Jim and Elizabeth L, and Bob P. From England: Jakob B. From South Carolina: Greg and Renee B. And from Oregon: Michael and Debbie O. Bear Watchers seen this report: From Washington: Randi M. From Louisiana: Bruce P. From Utah: Dean and Jeri D, and Mark and Liz H. From Wyoming: Kevin M. And from Montana: Jeff and Valeria B, David B, and Doug M. Others seen this report: From Montana: Anu L, Grant J, Quinn H, Matt D, Cam H, Byron F, and Andrea B. From Florida: Mark L and Bill L. And from Wyoming: Rick C.
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
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Lamar Valley Map - Yellowstone National Park
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