Yellowstone National Park 2026 Trip Reports
Trip Report ~ Bear & Wolf Sightings ~ by Bill Hamblin
June 13th through 16th 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
~ June 2026 ~
June 13th - Saturday
45 degrees this morning in Silver Gate this morning warming up to 69 degrees out in the park this afternoon. The golden eagle nest in the high rock formation north of Footbridge Pullout has one big chick in it now. At 5:30 a.m. I found the Institute grizzly sow with her two colorful two and one-half year-old cubs on the skyline north of Picnic. At 5:50 a.m. Hunter G, Silver Gate Guides, called with a small colorful grizzly north of Trashcan Pullout. It took a while for the small grizzly to get high enough for us to watch it from Picnic Pullout. We believe that this grizzly is the Druid Peak small colorful sub adult. At 5:55 a.m. Randi M found and we watched a medium sized grizzly farther up the hill north of Picnic Pullout. At 6:45 a.m. Gary G showed me a small grizzly digging on Specimen Ridge viewed from Coyote Pullout. We believe this is the Specimen Ridge light colored sub adult. At 9:30 a.m. Gail and Julie had a medium sized grizzly on Specimen Ridge. At 10:45 a.m. Ashea M called with a courting pair of grizzlies on Penny Lane. We watched them from Picnic Pullout as they disappeared into the tree line and out of sight. At 11:45 a.m. Gary G found another grizzly digging on Penny Lane. At 12:00 noon Gary G found a cinnamon black bear grazing in the second skyline clearing east of Penny Lane. At 1:30 p.m. while passing Round Prairie, I watched two large cinnamon black bears grazing together. At 1:50 p.m. we had a large black bear northwest of Warm Creek, not too far off the road.
June 14th - Sunday
38 degrees this morning in Silver Gate warming up to the mid 70's this afternoon out in the park. I had a bull moose in the tree line in Lamar Valley this morning. The coyote puppies are still being seen on the lower west end of Dean Puppy Hill, but no longer near the den. At 6:10 I found the Institute sow with her two colorful two and one-half year-old cubs northwest of the Institute. A brief view of ten minutes, but later they were in sight again for almost an hour. At 6:15 a.m. Gary G found a medium sized grizzly in the Bowl; it later moved to the top of A-Z Meadow. At 6:20 a.m. I found a small colorful grizzly digging in the Bowl. Randi identified it as the Ski Slope two and one-half year-old light colored sub adult. At 6:25 a.m. Doug M found a courting pair of grizzlies high east of the Bell. At 6:40 a.m. Gary G found a medium sized grizzly northeast of Coyote Pullout. It was in sight this morning for over two hours. At 7:15 a.m. we found another grizzly digging in the Bowl; this one was medium sized and darker than the other grizzly who was still in sight at the top of A-Z Meadow. At 8:45 a.m. we found another grizzly family. A grizzly sow with two dark colored two and one-half year-old cubs in the Inverted Triangle Clearing north of Picnic Pullout and before Druid Peak. We believe this family is the Pebble Creek family. At 9:15 a.m. Michael S, Wolf Tracker, called with a large grizzly on K Meadow; We arrived to watch the large grizzly go over the top of the hill and out of sight. At 1:10 p.m. I passed a bear jam north of Soda Butte Picnic area. It was a large black bear grazing. At 3:00 p.m. driving past Cooke City to the east that collared grizzly with two ear tags was grazing and eating dandelions south of the road. It has not got into trouble lately, but one day this week Gary found it walking the middle of the road from the NE Entrance to Silver Gate. It does not shy away from people.
June 15th - Monday
45 degrees in Silver Gate this morning warming up to near 80 this afternoon out in the park. At 5:20 a.m. I found a medium sized grizzly traveling on A-Z Meadow. It moved north and then south and was in view for quite a while this morning. At 5:30 a.m. I found the Institute sow with her two-light colored two and one-half year-old cubs on the west end of Druid Peak. At 5:35 a.m. I found the Middle Ridge sub adults running around on Bear Meadow watching from the Institute; Never did see what or why they were running around. At 5:45 a.m. I found a large black bear, larger than the two sub adults, which were found by Randi M low on Bear Meadow. At 6:00 a.m. I glassed the old Druid Rendezvous area and found the Junction Butte wolves had come into view from the south. We did not move closer, but we had a count of eight black and both grays. The wolf watchers had a count of fourteen, twelve blacks and both grays. At 6:20 a.m. Kim H found a small grizzly digging on Middle Ridge viewed from the Institute. At 7:00 a.m. the fifteenth Junction Butte wolves were found south of Dorothy's Pullout. A black collared yearling later crossed the road to the north. Later I was traveling west past Old Road Pullout, and the yearling was right above the road wanting to cross the road back to the south. So, all fifteen JBs were around this morning. At 7:45 a.m. Kim H had a small colorful grizzly digging on the top of A-Z Meadow. At 9:20 a.m. Tim G had grizzlies on Penny Lane. We arrived at Trashcan Pullout to see them; there were three grizzlies. The largest grizzly of the three quickly went out of sight. We think it was the K-3 grizzly sow with two large two and one-half year-old cubs, but we are not sure as we had a courting pair in that area yesterday. At 10:00 a.m. Kim H found a small black bear southwest of Picnic Pullout in the tree line. At 10:45 a.m. we had a large black bear near Rick's Pullout on Tower Hill. At 6:15 p.m. I had four black bears in view in Round Prairie. It appeared to be two sets of courting black bears. One set had two cinnamon black bears, and the other had a black and a cinnamon black bear.
June 16th - Tuesday
45 degrees this morning in Silver Gate this morning warming up to near 80 degrees out in the park this afternoon with high winds. I stopped to check on the red-tailed hawk south of Lamar Canyon East. The three chicks are getting big. At 5:30 a.m. Gary G found the two Middle Ridge sub adult grizzlies digging in Bear Meadow. They moved around a lot, but in sight for quite a while this morning. At 5:50 a.m. I found a dark grizzly in the high skyline saddle northeast of the Institute. At 5:55 a.m. Gary found a grizzly digging in the Bowl. At 6:40 a.m. I found a large grizzly traveling east on Druid Peak. At 7:45 a.m. Gary found second grizzly digging in the Bowl. We watched the first one slowly go south and over the skyline. The second grizzly we think was the Ski Slope light colored sub adult. It too eventually traveled up the hill and over the skyline close to where the first grizzly crossed. At 8:05 a.m. Gary found a grizzly sow with two dark two and one-half year-old cubs north of the Institute, we think these are the Pebble Creek family. At 9:30 a.m. Grant J, Yellowstone Safari, called with three grizzlies north of Coyote Overlook. We arrived in time to see and identify them. It was the Institute grizzly sow with her two-light colored two and one-half year-old cubs. They were in sight for only a few minutes. I think it is a little unusual that we still have two or three sows with two and one-half year-old cubs who have not thrown out the cubs and mated. Although mating occurs into July, my experience shows most sows with two and one-half year-old cubs have usually mated or being courted by this time.
People Seen
Wolf Watchers: From Montana: Rick M, Jeff A, Bob J, Marisa F, and Taylor R. From California: Glenda M. From Utah: Charlie M. From Oregon: Richard and Linda Y. From Wyoming: Paul and Christy G. And from Connecticut: Geoff, Kate, Luke F and Tennille. Bear Watchers seen this report: From Mississippi: Gary G. From Washington: Randi M. From Colorado: Kim H. From Utah: Gail and Julie, Ed and Sara S, and Gayle and Brett. From Montana: Doug M, Tim G, and Jeff and Valerie B. And from: Idaho: Jennings and Carma S. Others seen this report: From Montana: Ashea M, Kate J, Jayden A, Hunter G, Mike S, Cam H, Michael S, Quinn H, Audra C, Andrea B, Anu L, and Chris H,
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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