31 May 97 - Saturday

We were up at 4:00 am and on the road by 4:30 am. We managed to beat the road construction and traffic. I didn't have to take the cruise control off until we hit Pocatello, ID construction. We arrived at the Three Bear Lodge in West Yellowstone at 11:15 am, checked into our room and relaxed from our drive. We went into the park and fished the Madison and Firehole. The Madison was high and we had no hits on it or the Firehole. My son Joseph (11) and Rachel (5) tried their best to catch something, but had no luck. Although they had a lot of fun trying, it was the first time Rachel had fished, and I am confident she will get better.

We drove around the Fire Hole Lake drive and watched White Dome Geyser erupt while a coyote causally walked by us at the same time it was going off. Another coyote passed us on the way back to West. We had light showers in the evening as we walked and window shopped. We then crashed and burned from our long drive.

01 June 1997 - Sunday

We slept in and checked out and headed to Mammoth where we would be headquartering the rest of our trip. There was a lot of water in the meadows along the Madison and Gibbon Rivers. Gibbon Falls was roaring with tons of water pouring over it. It has been unusually warm plus the added rainfall has made it an interesting spring to say the least. We saw elk and buffalo, but not near as many as usual as the meadows were all under water. We also saw a moose above Mammoth as we were just about to make our decent into the Mammoth Hot Springs area.

We checked into our cabin and unpacked and had lunch. We then set out to Lamar Valley to see how things were shaping up for spring wildlife watching. Elk were calving and this would make it prime time for watching bears and wolves. We pulled into the third turnout past the Specimen Ridge Trail sign to meet with some fellow wildlife watchers. There was a sow griz and two spring cubs on the hillside. It was fun to watch them eat and play. We watched them for about two hours and then headed down the valley to see what else was happening. No one was at Slough Creek and we did not see any wildlife activity, so we headed towards Lamar.

We met some of our old friends from last year, Bill and Bobby Clark from Arlington, Texas. They had seen some black bears across the valley before we arrived, and things were pretty slow. We visited and scoped for a while and then headed down the valley. We didn't see any more bears or wolves. We did see elk, elk calves, buffalo and buffalo calves, and antelope.

02 June 1997 - Monday - Record Day!

Rachel and I were up at 4:30 am and on the road at 5:00 am. Beautiful sunrise and scenery. Saw a young moose just east of Elk Creek along the road. I met another friend Bill Hamblin from Pocatello on the hilltop at Slough Creek. We watched for quite a while before he headed down the valley towards the Lamar picnic grounds. A few more wildlife watchers stayed on and finally picked up a sow and two spring cubs feeding across the valley near a ridge top. I watched them for a while and then headed down the valley.

I drove down to the Lamar Picnic area. Bill was there and had noted a sow and three yearling cubs. The sow has an injured right front paw and limps. The local wildlife watchers named her "Gimpy". We watched them for about an hour when someone stopped by and said there was a mating pair of griz about 500 yards down the road. We could not see them as they were behind a ridge from where we were. We all jumped in our vehicles and headed down to the next pullout.

There was a large bore with a sow just below the ridge top. We watched them for about 20 minutes before they disappeared over the top. Wow, what a day! Nine griz in one day, that was a record for me!

I headed back to Mammoth to pick up the family and head down to Hayden Valley. We arrived at North Twin Lake when we noted (didn't have a lot of choice here) a large traffic jam. A sow and two cubs were about 100 yards off the road. We joined in the fun and hopefully have some great shots. The bears were feeding for a few days on an elk kill and had thrilled tons of early Yellowstone visitors. Beautiful bear and cubs. Met a few friends who had printed the trip reports and were using them to plan their trip. Twelve grizzly bears! That will have to stand for some time, but I would not mind breaking it! That was really exciting!

We did some spotting in Hayden Valley, with no luck seeing bears. Not many elk or buffalo in the area. We drove down to Lake and then back to Canyon. We hiked down to Lower Falls and then down to the brink of the falls and hopefully will have some really nice shots to add to the page.

We went back to Mammoth for a short break and then headed to Lamar Valley. Just east of the Yellowstone Picnic area, a large black bear was up on the south hillside. We watched it for a while, and then it came down, crossed the road right in front of us and walked across the meadow and up the hillside. When the black bear was about out of sight, we headed on our way down the road towards Lamar. We did not see any activity at Slough Creek so we continued on our way. We talked with fellow spotters and there was very little activity. We then heard a report that the Druid Peak Pack was out and hunting. We went down to the Lamar picnic grounds and just missed the pack. We headed up the valley (west) and just missed the pack at each turnout except the last. We were all hopeful and finally they showed up and chased an elk herd all over the hillside behind us. They finally chased some elk over the ridge and disappeared. What a day! A day of days for me and others I am sure! We headed back to Mammoth to hit the sack.

03 June 1997 - Tuesday

Joseph and I were up early and headed out to Lamar. We stopped at Slough Creek and watched three grizzly bears with Rick MacIntire and about 6:30 am one of the black wolves of the Rose Creek Pack showed up and made his way to the elk kill and fed for awhile. Rick said that he felt the wolf would feed for a while and then go back to the den to provide breakfast for the pups.

When the wolf headed back to the den. Joseph and I headed down Lamar Valley to see what else may be out and about. We did not see any more bears or wolves as we made our way to Soda Butte and back. When we were on our way back to Mammoth, we came around a bend in the road and there stood a grizzly cub on the right side of the road. This was about .5 of a mile east of the Gardner River bridge. It was a beautiful cub. It ran down the road about 30 feet and then went into the forest. It stood on a small hill for a few seconds as he looked up and down the hillside for mom. I was driving and Joseph tried to get a picture, but the auto focus was on and it kept trying to focus on the limbs and trees around the cub. So we have it in our memory and share the experience. It was really a beautiful griz cub. We did not dare get out of the car to see where he was headed. We just figured mom was close and we did not care to meet her.

We went into Gardiner for breakfast and then we headed out to see Undine Falls, Wraith Falls and hike to the Hellroaring Trail. The spring flowers were blooming and we had a great hike. There is an Osprey nest on the one pole of the suspension bridge over Hellroaring. There is a chick in the nest. I was able to get some pictures and one of the parents was close by so we did not want to disturb the chick or parent. We met others on the trail who had not noticed the nest. I would imagine the babe will take to wing soon and not be there on our next trip.

We then went on to Tower Falls. Joseph and I hiked down to the bottom of the falls and took some pictures. We had lunch and then rested a little before heading back to Lamar Valley. We drove to Cooke City for supper. Just outside the park and just before entering Cooke City, there was a young bull moose chewing on some brush just off the road. We took some pictures and then went to eat.

After supper, we slowly drove into the park and spent some time glassing the hills and vales for bears and wolves. We talked to the telemetry folks. The Druid Peak Pack was near, but because of signal bounce, they could not determine which side of the valley the pack was on. We make our way to the Lamar Ranger Station where we noted one of our fellow wildlife watchers - Jim, watching something through his spotting scope. We pulled over and he said he was glassing the mountain top when he noticed some movement. It turned out to be a large single grizzly bear. We setup the spotting scopes and had a blast watching the bear. It was fun sharing our scopes and the experience with other Yellowstone visitors. It is a thrill to watch someone see their first grizzly in the wild. It just so happened that our neighbors were in the area and saw us and stopped to see what everyone was looking at. They also were able to see their first griz in the park.

We made our way down to Slough Creek to see what was going on. Five of the Rose Creek Pack had come out and made a kill across the valley from where the group was watching. They had killed an elk cow. A griz and two cubs were in the area and she had killed an elk calf. The wolves harassed the bears and then headed back to their den. We had just missed the action. We talked for a while and then headed back to Mammoth for a good nights rest.

04 June 1997 - Wednesday

My wife and daughter (Carlene and Rachel) were not feeling well, so we slept in. We drove the old dirt Gardiner Road to Gardiner, Montana for breakfast. We looked around in the Albright visitor center and then took a nice easy drive to Tower. We then drove up Mount Washburn as the road had opened that morning for the season. We drove up to Dunraven and had a snack and slowly headed back towards Mount Washburn and stopped and scoped out the valleys and hillsides for bears. We saw two cow elk in the whole valley. So we figured it was time to move on.

We arrived at Slough Creek and setup our spotting scopes on the hillside watching for the bears and wolves to return. We had a great evening visiting with new friends from Maryland, California, Idaho and other places. The mosquitos were fierce and we spent most of the evening swatting them and telling stories of things we had seen in the park or heard of happening in the park.

Here is one story told by Bill Clark host of the Tower campgrounds. A group of young ladies were camping together and had put all their food and makeup in the bear box by their campsite. But the last person who was in it, forgot to shut it. The ravens landed and had the makeup strewn all across the campground. When the group returned and saw the mess they started cleaning it up. Bill went over to them and told them "thank you for leaving the makeup out." The young ladies had a puzzled look on their faces. He explained that the ravens had had a beauty contest and that the Tower ravens had won thanks to them and their makeup! One of the young ladies left a throw-away camera on the table. A raven swooped down and picked up the camera and flew off with it, with the young lady running after and yelling at the raven, but he did not heed her complaints. It seems they needed the camera to take pictures of all the made up ravens. As Bill was cooking his pork chop on a grill, he walked over to a camper to tell him his battery was charged. When he returned, his neighbor was laughing. It seems that a raven had swooped down and picked up the chop and flew off with it. Bill did not know whether to believe his neighbor as he was wiping his chin as he was telling him the story. But somewhere there is a raven nest in the Tower area, with makeup, a camera and maybe a pork chop bone!

There was very little wildlife activity while we were sharing stories and killing skeeters. A bumper crop of skeeters this year with all the water. Just before sunset, Tom from Maryland noticed a black wolf along Slough Creek on the opposite side of the valley. We were able to watch him for about 2 or 3 minutes before he disappeared behind a hill. We watched the elk nervously walking and running along the creek, but the sun set and we all headed for our places of abode.

05 June 1997 - Thursday

We were up at 5:00 am and out at 5:30 am. We stopped at Slough Creek at 6:15 am and saw one black wolf from the Rose Creek Pack and a sow grizzly and two cubs feeding on a kill. We also saw in one large tree by the creek side, two balk eagles and two red tail hawks.

We headed down to Lamar Valley and stopped at the third turnout about 8:00 am. Bill and Bobby were here and had a sow griz and two cubs up on the hillside by the ski slope (on the south side of Lamar Valley). We watched the cubs run and slid and play in the snow, it was a blast. They can really move and just chased each other and slid all over. A lot of fellow wildlife watchers stopped and enjoyed the activities. A large black bear also made his way across the hillside west and below where the sow and cubs were enjoying their day.

We then made our way out of the park to Cooke City for breakfast. We drove back towards Tower. We saw a year old black bear cub above Rainy Lake and a sow black bear and spring cub just across from Calcite overlook. They were just looking for food and giving visitors a great photo op. The cub was fun as it romped along and climbed on logs and just ran around as mom was busy looking for roots and food. I hope we have some great pictures.

We made our way back out to Lamar, but it was overcast and started to rain. We talked for a while and decided to call it a day and headed back to Mammoth.

06 June 1997 - Friday

We were up early and headed to Gardiner for breakfast. Carlene, I, Joseph and Rachel took a ranger tour of Mammoth Hot Springs. Joseph and Rachel finished their last requirement for their Junior Ranger Badges. We then went to the Albright Visitor Center where they were presented their Junior Ranger Patches. They were thrilled as were we. We then packed up and made a slow easy drive out of the park and headed home. It was a fantastic record trip for us. What a great time!

We saw - Antelope, Badgers, Bald Eagles, 8 Black Bears, Bighorn Sheep, Buffalo, Canada Geese, Coots, Coyotes, Deer, Ducks, Elk, 26 Grizzly, 4 Moose, Red-Tailed Hawks, Sandhill Cranes, 5 wolves of the Druid Peak Pack and 3 of the Rose Creek Pack.