Yellowstone National Park 2026 Trip Reports
Trip Report ~ Bear & Wolf Sightings ~ by Bill Hamblin
May 20th through 23rd 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 20th - Wednesday
32 degrees in Silver Gate this morning warming up to 54 degrees out in the park this afternoon. My first new mountain goat kid on the fingers this morning. A coyote den with at least five pups on Dead Puppy Hill this year, they had the den there today years ago. At 5:15 a.m. Gary G found a boar and a sow on the small old carcass south of Coyote, looking back from the Institute. At 5:25 a.m. I found a medium-sized third grizzly near the pair of grizzlies on that old carcass. At 5:40 a.m. Frank H called with a grizzly on the Confluence carcass, soon after the grizzly headed south to the tree line and Frank let us know, we then saw the large grizzly from the Institute. At 6:00 a.m. Gary found a grizzly zig zagging through the sagebrush on Norris. We assumed it was hunting elk calves; grizzlies try to find the calf that the elk cow hides in the sagebrush. The calf has very little smell when young, but the grizzlies have a great nose. Today the grizzly found nothing. At 6:10 a.m. I found a small colorful grizzly north of Picnic Pullout. It was seen a few more times today. At 6:35 a.m. we finally got down to Footbridge Pullout to see the grizzly digging on the # 3 finger on Norris that Bruce had earlier. At 6:45 a.m. Terri W found a black bear grazing on the # 3 finger to the south. At 7:40 a.m. Gary found the Pebble Creek grizzly sow with two big two-year-old cubs. Again, today they were high northeast of the campground on what is the west end of Barronette Peak. At 8:00 a.m. two black wolves of the Junction Butte pack were seen south and east of Picnic Pullout. At 8:30 a.m. I found a medium sized grizzly digging northeast of Coyote Overlook. This grizzly was in sight for a long time this morning. At 8:30 a.m. another black wolf of the Junction Butte pack seen south of the Institute. At 8:45 a.m. Gary had a brown grizzly north of Coyote Pullout. It was a medium sized grizzly and was mid-way up the hill to the north. At 9:00 a.m. Tim O found a courting pair of grizzlies on the skyline to the south. A great sighting as they were on the skyline with a bright blue background. At 9:15 a.m. I found a single large grizzly north of Coyote Overlook. We were not sure at first if this was Gary's grizzly or a new grizzly. But then we saw both of them, the smaller grizzly quite a bit to the north of the smaller grizzly. At 10:30 a.m. Kim C and Gary G showed me a light grizzly digging on # 1 finger on Norris. Kim had it earlier, and Gary showed me the grizzly when I got there. At 10:45 a.m. we had a black bear northeast of Footbridge Pullout. At 11:00 a.m. we watched a black bear in K-2 Meadow. From 2:00 p.m. through 3:00 p.m. Randi M and I watched a strange scene. Randi found three grizzlies moving south on the A-Z Meadow from the Institute. We quickly relocated to Dorothy's Pullout. We finally determined we were watching two boars and a sow, with mating on their minds. They were about twenty yards apart, and the sow seemed to like the smaller boar. The smaller boar and the sow got together, but the large grizzly moved towards them. The pair moved off with the small boar walking away followed by the sow. To those just seeing this, they would assume the pair was a sow and a cub (the only time we find a courting pair, the small one (the sow) leads the large one (the boar). All were friendly and had no aggressive behavior at all. After an hour we left confused as the three traveled up the hill in a close threesome.
May 21st - Thursday
35 degrees this morning in Silver Gate warming up to only 50 degrees with a cold wind this afternoon out in the park. We woke up to snow and snowing this morning. Pilot Creek to the east had four of five inches. In Silver Gate less than an inch and the roads were wet with little slush. But with snow you have low clouds and for the bear watchers that's trouble. Most of the grizzlies we see are in high meadows, this morning those meadows were covered in low clouds. At 5:40 a.m. I found a grizzly in front of the shale forest north of Fisherman's Pullout. At 6:00 a.m. Doug M called with a large grizzly in Round Prairie. I got there and the grizzly was near the tree line and disappeared. It came out again after I left moving to the east. At 7:00 a.m. I found a tall grizzly near the Chalcedony Fan. This is the bear that looks either a grizzly or black bear. Today we decided that it was a grizzly. At 7:50 a.m. I had a medium sized grizzly north of Picnic. Later it moved over near the Moosehead. At 8:00 a.m. Gary called with a small grizzly on the east end of Amethyst Bench. It moved quickly across the bench to the west. At 8:50 a.m. I found a large grizzly on the top of K Meadow. It was moving up high and disappeared over the top but came back for a few minutes allowing more people to see the grizzly. At 10:15 a.m. I found a courting pair of grizzlies (same pair as yesterday) on the skyline south of Coyote Overlook. The pair moved around a lot this morning, the sow running over the skyline and the boar following, then coming back into view with the boar following. At 10:40 a.m. I found my only wolf today, a collared black wolf on Jasper Bench. The wolf people had all fifteen wolves today on Jasper. That means they have no pups this year. Not sure what happened as the wolves seemed to go in and out of the den and a lot of tail wagging looking into the den. But there are no surviving pups this year. At 11:30 a.m. Don P found a brown grizzly digging north of Hubbard Hill. It was not moving around a lot; it found something good to dig up. At 11:35 a.m. we had a black bear in the fan south of Midpoint. At 1:00 p.m. I found another courting pair on the Southern Divide Ridge (or Salad Bowl). The sow was leading and the boar followed up and over the top of the hill. I later watched them again near the skyline. At 3:30 p.m. I found a small grizzly digging in the Inverted Triangle Clearing, below Druid Peak. It was not as big or colorful as this morning's grizzly near the Moosehead. At 3:45 p.m. Blake M showed me a cinnamon black bear on the # 1 finger on Norris.
May 22nd - Friday
24 degrees in Silver Gate this morning warming up to 58 degrees out in the park this afternoon. Dunraven Pass and the Beartooth Highway opened this morning at 8:00 a.m. Now all the roads in Yellowstone are open. We watched two golden eagles on the Hubbard Hill carcass this morning. I had a small bull moose at Warm Springs, and six bull moose near the Pebble Creek Campground tonight. I had a THREE DOG DAY today. At 5:00 a.m. Frank H called with a large grizzly on the Hubbard Hill cow bison carcass. It stayed for a while but gave it up to the ravens and headed for the tree line. At 6:00 a.m. I found a small colorful grizzly digging near the Moosehead. It was in sight again a couple of times during the day in that area. At 6:10 a.m. Blake M found a small colorful grizzly digging in the Bowl. At 6:35 a.m. Gary G found a small colorful grizzly digging in the old Druid Rendezvous Area. At 7:00 a.m. we had a black bear south of Picnic Pullout. At 7:45 a.m. Randi M found a grizzly digging north of Hubbard Hill. It was in sight a long time and then it walked the skyline for great viewing. At 8:00 a.m. I found two grizzlies low on Bear Meadow. It turned out to be the two Specimen Ridge sub adults. At 8:20 a.m. two black wolves were seen south of Fisherman's Pullout. They traveled west and out of sight. At 9:30 a.m. Randi found a second larger grizzly digging in the Bowl. At 10:10 a.m. I found a small colorful grizzly digging in the Inverted Triangle Meadow. At 11:00 a.m. Blake M found a medium sized cinnamon black bear near the coyote den on Dead Puppy Hill. Both the male and female coyote ran the must larger bear off. Others have seen six pups; my high count is still only five puppies. At 12:30 p.m. we watched a courting pair of grizzlies in the Bowl. They were mainly digging but moving a little with the sow leading the way. At 1:30 p.m. we had a large cinnamon black bear north of the Upper Baronette Pullout. At 6:00 p.m. I found a courting pair of grizzlies high on the Southern Divide Ridge. Don P had seen the other courting pair in the Bowl just before this, so we knew this was the second set of courting grizzlies. At 6:15 p.m. I had a small colorful grizzly on the second clearing behind Bear Meadow. At 6:30 p.m. we found three different grizzlies in the same area. A large, a medium and a small colorful grizzly. Not sure what their relationship is. I do not think they were a family group and did not appear to be interested in courting. Earlier in the day Paul H had seen the Pebble Creek grizzly sow with her two big two and one-half year-old cubs northeast of the Campground. I found them and 7:10 p.m. and watched them, first from Footbridge Pullout, and then Soda Butte Middle Pullout and then because they were on the far south side of clearing, I watched from the first pullout in Round Prairie.
May 23rd - Saturday
37 degrees in Silver Gate this morning warming up to the low 60's out in the park this afternoon. At 5:30 a.m. Jayden A, Silver Gate Guides, found a grizzly in the Bowl. We watched and spotted a second grizzly near the first. It was a courting pair of grizzlies. At 5:45 a.m. Gary G found two Junction Butte black wolves coming to the newer bison carcass south of Fisherman's. The wolves had badly damaged the cow yesterday morning, she had died later in the morning, so the wolves moved to the carcass. At 6:00 a.m. I found a small colorful grizzly digging in the meadow below the Moosehead viewed from Picnic Pullout. At 6:30 a.m. Doug M from Footbridge Pullout found a medium sized darker grizzly digging in the old Druid Rendezvous Area. At 6:40 p.m. Gary found a small colorful grizzly on the # 1 finger on Norris. At 6:50 a.m. Kerrie O found a third grizzly in the Bowl. The courting pair were still there and this grizzly was quite a way from them, all digging in the Bowl. At 6:50 a.m. I had a cinnamon black bear grazing on the one-half finger on Norris. At 7:15 a.m. Doug M found a medium sized grizzly high north of Picnic Pullout. At 7:30 a.m. Hayden G showed me a black bear in the new growth forest above the large meadow behind the eastern end of Jasper Bench. At 8:10 a.m. Terri W had three grizzlies high on Middle Ridge. It was a courting pair and a separate large grizzly. I arrived late and Terri showed me the single large grizzly. At 8:25 a.m. Gary found a medium sized colorful grizzly digging northeast of Coyote Pullout. It was glowing in the sun and easy to watch in the sagebrush. The wolf watchers had spotted other wolves of the Junction Butte pack to the north of Dorothy's this morning. We stopped at the Institute and with help from the wolf watchers; we got to see eleven black and two gray wolves. Hayden and I got to show a lot of people the wolves. The wolves remained traveling east, and Hayden and I got to show more people the wolves from Trashcan Pullout as they continued to travel east. Meanwhile, one black wolf crossed the road to the south and we watched it move into the creek corridor. At 11:30 a.m. I found a grizzly digging on the # 4 finger on Norris. Others had seen the grizzly this morning on # 3 finger. At 11:35 a.m. we had a black bear high in a clearing northeast of Footbridge Pullout. At 11:45 a.m. Dave S showed us a medium sized grizzly in the heavy sagebrush on the first skyline meadow east of Penny Lane. At 3:00 p.m. traveling out east of Cooke City this afternoon I watched a grizzly sow with two yearling cubs. At 6:00 p.m. Hayden G found what I believe is the K-3 grizzly family on Calfee. A grizzly sow with two big two and one-half year-old cubs. We never saw this family as yearlings last year, but either the wolf plane or the bear plane had taken pictures from the air, so they were around last year as yearlings, just not seen by us bear watchers. At 7:40 p.m. Gary called with the Pebble Creek grizzly sow with two big two and one-half year-old cubs northeast and above the campground (west end of Baronette Peak).
People Seen
Wolf Watchers: From Montana: Rick M, Marisa F, Jeff A, Melba C, Wendy B, and Jeff B. From Oregon: Michael and Debbie O, Bruce, and Kelly H. From Missouri: Frank H. From Colorado: John and Lisa C, Mark and Carol, and Roch R. From England: Jakob B. From Wyoming: Dale, Fay, and Mel B. From New York: Rick and Maureen B. From California: Glenda M, Kathie L, and Bruce and MaryJean Mc. And from Idaho: Roger and Lynda S. Bear Watchers seen this report: From Montana: Doug M. From Mississippi: Gary G. From Washington: Randi M. From Louisiana: Bruce P. From South Carolina: Don P and Margaret P. From Alabama: Marci H. From Tennessee: Mike and Donna F and family members. From Wyoming: Terri W, Rita R and Will. From Idaho: Kim and Joyce C and Blake and Rachel M and family members. From Ohio: Tim and Kerrie O. From Utah: CD and Brenda C, Hayden G, and Mark and Liz H. From Iowa: Steve S and Bob A. From Colorado: Rick and Tanner H. And from Oregon: Bill and Karen M. Others seen this report: From Montana: Mike S, Hunter G, Kate J, Cara M, Cam H, Michael S, Quinn H, Nathan V, Audra C, Anu L, Russ K, and Jayden A. From Colorado: Jim F. From Washington: Aaron M. From Idaho: Scott B. And from Wyoming: Ted K.
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 |
| New | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Bear Photos & Videos | Geology (USGS pdf document) | Expedition Yellowstone | |
| Yellowstone National Park WebCams | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| All WebCams | East Entrance | Mammoth | Mount Washburn |
| North Entrance | Old Faithful Live | West Entrance | YVO WebCam |
| 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 |
 |
 |