Yellowstone National Park 2026 Trip Reports
Trip Report ~ Bear & Wolf Sightings ~ by Bill Hamblin
May 8th through 11th 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
~ May 2026 ~
May 8th - Friday
31 degrees in Silver Gate this morning warming up to 68 degrees out in the park this afternoon. I watched three bull moose in the Soda Butte Valley this afternoon, and one cow moose this evening near Pebble Creek Campground. At 5:55 a.m. I found a black bear behind the Western Foothills. At 6:05 a.m. Gary G found a small colorful grizzly digging in the old Druid Rendezvous area. At 6:30 a.m. Gary found a small colorful grizzly north of Picnic Pullout; this is the Druid Peak sub adult. At 6:35 a.m. I found the Institute grizzly family of the sow, and two large two-year-old cubs. A brief sighting but it was nice to see them. At 7:00 a.m. Don P and Paul S found two grizzlies on the # 2 finger on Norris. It was a courting pair. I got to see them but missed the later action. Another boar grizzly approached the pair and started fighting with the boar grizzly. They wrestled and then tumbled their way down the mountain and into the trees. They literally rolled over and over fighting all the time. During all of this the sow sat down and watched. The winner came back later to rejoin the sow. At 7:15 a.m. Don and Paul showed me another large grizzly on the # 1 finger on Norris. It was digging away and never viewed the action on finger # 2. At 7:30 a.m. Gary found the two and one-half year-old Ski Slope now sub adult on her own. She was near Chalcedony Fan. A large black bear ran into the area of the young grizzly, and she ran away, but in a few minutes, it returned to digging in the meadow. At 8:40 a.m. the wolf watchers had a gray and a black Junction Butte bedded south of Trashcan. In the evening Laurie L called saying the two wolves were harassing the small grizzly. I arrived five minutes later, and the grizzly was back digging, and the wolves were out of sight. At 9:00 a.m. a large cinnamon black bear crossed the road north to south just east of Lamar Canyon East. A large bear jam for twenty minutes until the bear went out of sight. At 9:10 a.m. I found a grizzly on the backside of Ski Slope viewed from Lamar Canyon East. A tall grizzly in sight for a few minutes and only a few of us got to see it. At 5:15 p.m. Gary found a medium sized grizzly digging in the Bowl. At 5:30 p.m. I found a dark grizzly on the valley floor south of the Soda Butte Cone. A large bear jam, but the grizzly was digging at about three hundred yards. At 5:35 p.m. we had a cinnamon black bear on the # 3 finger on Norris.
May 9th - Saturday
41 degrees this morning in Silver Gate warming up to 60 degrees out in the park this afternoon. We had three bull moose south of Soda Butte Valley on the northeast end. Two were just starting their antlers but the third had fourteen inches of velvet, I watched a cow moose, and a cow moose with a yearling calf this evening at Lower Barronette. At 6:05 a.m. Gary G found a black wolf on Amethyst Bench. It turned into nine black and one gray of the Junction Butte wolf pack. They moved east and were in view for close to an hour. They did get a new bison calf, but it was consumed in five minutes. Frank H had a count of eleven blacks and one gray. Later in the morning Frank H, from on his walk on the Lamar River Trail, found that the wolves had returned to the Lamar Valley. Good viewing again for a while but then bedded behind the Western Foothills. Some wolf watchers got to see their bedded bodies from Trashcan Hill. At 7:00 a.m. I finally found a large grizzly moving east in Lamar Canyon. Others had been watching it earlier. It walked through the wolves even smelling the place where the bison calf was consumed. At 7:10 a.m. Marc H found a small colorful grizzly on the Southern Divide Ridge. In and out of sight for about twenty minutes. At 8:20 a.m. Gary G found the two and one-half year-old Ski Slope sub adult in a meadow near the Chalcedony Fan. It was in and out of sight for most of the day in that area. At 9:20 a.m. Michael S, Wolf Tracker, told me about a medium sized grizzly digging on the # 3 finger on Norris. At 9:25 a.m. Bruce Mc showed me a nice colored cinnamon black bear just off the valley floor south of the Soda Butte Cone. At 9:30 a.m. Randi M found a small grizzly in the Bowl near Little tree, big tree. It was in sight again this evening. At 11:00 a.m. I found a medium sized dark grizzly digging north of Lamar Canyon East. At 12:00 noon Gary found a small colorful grizzly northeast of the Institute. We hoped it was one of the cubs of the Institute family, but it was a single grizzly. At 1:45 p.m. I found a medium sized dark grizzly digging on the # 2 finger on Norris. It was in sight for forty-five minutes. At 5:30 p.m. we had a cinnamon black bear grazing to the south of Lower Barronette. At 5:45 p.m. Gary found a cinnamon black bear south of the Soda Butte Cone. At 6:05 a.m. a large dark grizzly was digging in the Inverted Triangle Clearing north of Picnic Pullout. Later we saw the two and one-half year-old Druid sub adult in the area. The large grizzly moved towards the small one, a brief chase but the smaller grizzly was much faster and ran out of sight. At 6:30 p.m. we had a large black bear west of the Chalcedony Fan.
May 10th - Sunday
30 degrees in Silver Gate this morning warming up to 67 degrees out in the park this afternoon. We had a very large bull moose for this time of year north of Round Prairie. At 5:50 a.m. Gary G found a small colorful grizzly digging in the Bowl. Later Doug M found another medium sized grizzly near the first grizzly in the Bowl. They appeared at first to be together but soon split going separate ways. At 6:00 a.m. Dean D found a grizzly on the skyline south of the Institute; we had seen a single grizzly there several days and we assumed it was on some sort of carcass. Soon we noticed a second grizzly close to the first grizzly apparently eating on something. Later a third grizzly was seen there, it was the Institute grizzly with her two large two and one-half year-old cubs. Later, I was not there, Randi M reported a fourth sow size grizzly join briefly the family of three. Another strange sighting almost never does the sow allow any other grizzly close to her cub. At 6:40 a.m. Paul S and Don P had a small colorful grizzly digging near the Moosehead. It was the three and one-half year-old Druid Peak sub adult grizzly. At 7:15 a.m. I found a black Junction Butte wolf bedded low on Norris viewed from the Confluence. It was eating or chewing on something. The wolf watchers came to see, and watching longer than I did, watched it carry off a leg assembly of some animal. It was bedded behind the Western Foothills and out of sight. At 8:25 a.m. Paul and Don had a small colorful grizzly traveling east in No Bear Meadow. At 8:40 a.m. I found a medium sized colorful grizzly digging low on # 1 finger on Norris. At 11:00 a.m. I found a medium sized colorful grizzly digging in the K-3 Meadows, in sight for almost forty-five minutes. At 12:45 a.m. I found a small colorful grizzly digging northeast of Coyote Overlook. It soon laid down and remained laying down for forty minutes or so. At 12:55 a.m. Randi M found a large black bear northeast of Coyote Pullout. It was heading for the road but soon the traffic spotted it, and it returned to the north.
May 11th - Monday
36 degrees in Silver Gate this morning warming up to a warm 84 degrees out in the park this afternoon. Gary and I both watched a pine marten on the road this morning. It was coming right at us and was in good view in the headlights. Randi showed us a cow moose walking to the top of A-Z Meadow this morning. We had three bull moose right off the road this evening at the Soda Butte Picnic Area. At 6:00 a.m. I found a small colorful grizzly digging in the Inverted Triangle north of Picnic Pullout. It was the three and one-half year-old Druid sub adult that keeps to herself. At 6:20 a.m. Terri W found a small colorful grizzly behind the Western Foothills digging away. It was the Ski Slope light two and one-half year-old sub subadult. The sub adult was in view again this evening. At 6:50 a.m. I found a grizzly digging north of Coyote Overlook. In sight for twenty minutes or so, then ran off to the northwest. At 7:00 a.m. Terri W found a courting pair of grizzlies on the top of Ski Slope. This was the Ski Slope sow with a large dark male following her. We later watched them bedded on top of Ski Slope, with the boar on the snow and the sow on the bare ground. At 8:00 a.m. Michael S, Wolf Tracker, pointed a grizzly digging in the willows south of the Confluence. We had a good view of it from the hill north of Footbridge Pullout. In and out of view for almost an hour. The grizzly was in view again tonight, close, and not behind the willows. At 8:10 a.m. Gary G found a medium sized colorful grizzly digging on the #3 finger on Norris. It was in sight for almost an hour. this grizzly was in view again tonight on # 3 finger. At 8:40 a.m. we had a large black bear grazing near the tree line west of Chalcedony Fan. At 8:45 a.m. Gary found a medium-sized black bear grazing on K Meadow. At 10:30 a.m. from the road at Slough Creek we watched a black collared wolf near the Junction Butte den. Wolf watchers expect puppies to be seen soon; the uncollared black wolf has been in the den close to two weeks. The Middle Ridge sow with one large light cub had been seen by others in the Slough Bowl this morning according to Celia L. It then crossed the Slough Creek Campground Road east to west and was out of sight. I found them bedded north of the Lamar River Bridge. Great viewing for over an hour. At 1:50 p.m. a large cinnamon black bear crosses the road from north to south near the east end of the Soda Butte Valley. It easily crossed the Soda Butte Creek by swimming and walking across. At 5:00 p.m. I found the Institute grizzly sow with two large two-year-old cubs north of Picnic. Good viewing as they were in the sun. Only in sight for fifteen minutes.
People Seen
From Montana: Bob J, Dan and Laurie L, Rick M, Jeff A, Bob P, Mike and Jill B, and Jeff B. From California: Glenda M, and Bruce and MaryJean Mc. From Oregon: Michael and Debbie O. From Utah: Celia L, and Denny and Pam D. From Missouri: Frank H. From Texas: Carl L and Carol S. From South Carolina: Greg and Renee B. And from Idaho: Roger and Lynda S. Bear Watchers seen this report: From Washington: Randi M. From Mississippi: Gary G. From Utah: Dean and Jeri D, Scott M, Bill and Chris M, and Dave H. From Wyoming: Kevin M, and Tom H. From Idaho: Marc H and Larry M. From Louisiana: Bruce P. From Florida: Chris C. From Georgia: Ken C. From Oklahoma: Paul S. From South Carolina: Scott P, Don P and Margaret P. From Ohio: Jim and Twyla E. From Montana: Jeff and Valeria B, Doug M, Carol B, Shauna B, Kathy W, Chuck W and Debbie H. Others seen this report: From Montana: Quinn H, Michael S, Cam H, Cliff B, Russ K, Evan S, Kate J, Anu L, Ashea M, Dan H, and Audra C. From South Dakota: Phillip H. From Florida: Mark L. And from Colorado: Jim F. From Washington: Aaron 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
Yellowstone National Park
Lamar Valley Map - Yellowstone National Park
| Yellowstone National Park Trip Reports | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2032 | 2026 | 2020 | 2014 | 2008 | 2000 |
| 2031 | 2025 | 2019 | 2013 | 2007 | 1999 |
| 2030 | 2024 | 2018 | 2012 | 2005 | 1998 |
| 2029 | 2023 | 2017 | 2011 | 2004 | 1997 |
| 2028 | 2022 | 2016 | 2010 | 2003 | 1996 |
| 2027 | 2021 | 2015 | 2009 | 2002 | 1995 |
| Yellowstone Geyser and Thermal Videos | |
|---|---|
| Beehive Geyser Eruption | Old Faithful with Bison |
| Beehive Geyser Eruption Two | Pocket Basin |
| Fan and Mortar | Roaring Mountain |
| Grand Geyser | Rocket and Grotto |
| Old Faithful One | West Thumb |
| Yellowstone Waterfall Videos | ||
|---|---|---|
| Cave Falls | Mesa Falls | Undine Falls |
| Gibbon Falls | Rustic Falls | Upper Falls |
| Lower Falls | Tower Fall | Wraith Falls |
| Yellowstone Ranger Station Videos | ||
|---|---|---|
| Bechler | Tower Fall | |
| Yellowstone Area Videos | ||
|---|---|---|
| Lamar Valley | Picnic Areas | Ponds in Little America |
| Yellowstone National Park WebCams | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| All WebCams | East Entrance | Mammoth | Mount Washburn |
| North Entrance | Old Faithful Live | West Entrance | YVO WebCam |
| All WebCams |
|---|
| All U.S. National Parks, National Monuments, National Recreational Areas, and National Seashore WebCams |
| Entrance Cities and Gateway Towns | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Gardiner, Montana | Silver Gate, Montana | West Yellowstone, Montana | Cooke City, Montana |
| Livingston, Montana | Cody, Wyoming | Jackson Hole, Wyoming | Yellowstone National Park |
| Links | |
|---|---|
| The Great Outdoors Net | Great Outdoor Recreational Places |
| Gardiner, Montana | West Yellowstone, Montana |
 |  |