Yellowstone National Park 2024 Trip Reports
Trip Report ~ Bear & Wolf Sightings ~ by Bill Hamblin
17 through 20 June 2024
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 2024 ~
June 17th - Monday
45 degrees this morning in Silver Gate warming up to just 53 degrees. I checked out the red-tailed hawk nest south of Lamar Canyon East today and the two chicks are getting big. I saw a large bull moose tonight at Warm Springs near the northeast entrance. I viewed a cow moose with a new calf later tonight at the Soda Butte Picnic area. I had a THREE DOG (coyote, fox, and wolf) DAY today. At 5:05 a.m. Gary G had a grizzly digging in the Bowl viewed from the Institute. At 5:15 a.m. I found the grizzly sow with one cub of the year on Ski Slope. At 5:40 a.m. Randi M found the grizzly sow with two cubs of the year in Bear Meadow. This family moved a lot today. At 6:30 a.m. I found the second sub adult grizzly in the Bowl; this one was out of sight early but joined the other and both feed close together. At 7:10 a.m. I found the grizzly sow with two cubs of the year on Penny Lane viewed from the Confluence. We had not seen this family since June 7th, and this is the sow that got separated from the lone cub of the year which we have not seen in a few days. This family is in and out of view most of the morning. At 7:15 a.m. I found a grizzly sow with two cubs of the year on Cal Fee, which is the meadow southeast and behind Norris viewed from the Confluence. Randi M thinks this may be the K-3 sow and two cubs of the year, but that would mean that they had to cross the Lamar River. Grizzly sows have been seen "carrying" the cubs across water on their back. At 7:55 a.m. I found the grizzly sow with four cubs of the year in a clearing above the Bell. This is straight south of the Institute and well over three miles. However, the light was good, and they were digging in a nice meadow. At 8:00 a.m. we watched a grizzly family that MacNeil L told us about. It was a grizzly with two yearlings, and they were moving fast this morning. This is only the second time we have seen this family and do not know much about them. At 10:00 a.m. Randi M found the grizzly sow with three cubs of the year in a small meadow east of A-Z Meadow. At 1:15 p.m. I found a black bear above the Slough Creek wolf den area. At 1:25 p.m. 1479F the black female yearling wolf was around the den area. At 1:30 p.m. the largest cinnamon black bear I have seen this year was grazing in a meadow near Lower Barronette. At 6:45 p.m. we had a black bear seen south of the # 1 finger on Norris.
June 18th - Tuesday
37 degrees this morning warming up to just 53 degrees out in the park. We watched the coyote puppies at the Ranger Rock den north of the Institute. Seven puppies playing and chasing around today with two playful adults playing keep away. I went down the Slough Creek Campground Road to look at the golden eagle nest. One of the adults left as I arrived, and I only saw one chick in the nest, one must have fledged. I checked out the great horned owl nest down the road and it has also fledged. At 5:25 a.m. Randi M found a sub adult grizzly digging low in the Bowl. At 5:45 a.m. Randi M found the grizzly sow with two cubs of the year on the first meadow behind and south of Bear Meadow. At 6:50 a.m. I found a bunch of grizzlies on the second meadow behind Bear Meadow. When they came out into a clearing it was the grizzly sow with four cubs of the year. Interesting the grizzly sow with two cubs of the year sensed the family with four cubs of the year, sitting down and looking their way. That had to be over a half mile between two families. At 7:05 a.m. Gary G found the grizzly sow with three cubs of the year on Middle Ridge viewed from the Barn at the Institute. The Middle Ridge is straight south of Slough Creek, so that is a long-distance spot. At 7:10 a.m. I found the grizzly sow with one cub of the year on Ski Slope. So, at this time Gary G, Randi M and I were watching fourteen grizzlies all in view at this time. The sows with one, two, three and four cubs of the year were all in view. At 7:35 a.m. Gary G found the grizzly sow with two cubs of the year again on Penny Lane. Today they did not stay around long and quickly moved into the tree line not to be seen again this morning. At 7:50 a.m. Gary G found a colorful grizzly north of Trashcan Pullout. Randi and I were down the road, but Gary's directions put us on the grizzly. Later in the morning the grizzly was seen in the Inverted Triangle clearing north of Picnic Pullout. At 8:05 a.m. we all saw a grizzly moving quickly over the south side of the #1 finger on Norris. At 8:35 a.m. Gary G found a new family for us bear watchers, a grizzly sow with two yearling cubs on the clearing northeast of Pebble viewed from near the Soda Butte Cone. A long spot but great light this morning and they were near the top of the meadow made for good viewing. At 10:30 a.m. I found a grizzly digging in a small clearing north of the Institute. After ten minutes it moved to the side and bedded. Then two cubs of the year came to bed with her either under or behind her. We were not sure we saw two cubs, so we staked out the clearing waiting for them to get up to determine what we were seeing. About an hour later the sow got up and moved away slowly with two cubs of the year following her. At 1:00 p.m. we had a cinnamon black bear boar following a black sow in the meadow east of the Slough Den, a courting pair. At 1:05 p.m. we had a black wolf near the Slough Den. At 1:40 p.m. another cinnamon black bear, this one darker, following at a distance the courting pair of cinnamon/black bears. At 3:00 p.m. we watched a large cinnamon black bear losing its winter fur in the large meadow at Lower Barronette.
June 19th - Wednesday
25 degrees in Silver Gate this morning warming up to 50 degrees. I had three foxes today all on the road near Silver Gate. At 5:25 a.m. I found the grizzly sow with two cubs of the year on No Bear Meadow. Later they moved to the Bowl Clearing and then went over the top of the hill going west and out of sight. At 5:45 a.m. I found the grizzly sow with one cub of the year again on Ski Slope. At 6:20 a.m. we had a colorful grizzly high in the A-Z Meadow. At 6:45 a.m. we watched a courting pair of grizzly's high north of the Institute. The light was not good and could not tell if in was the boar with brown pants. At 6:50 a.m. the grizzly sow with two cubs of the year were seen on Norris best viewed from the Confluence. At 7:00 a.m. Doug M (bear watcher) showed me a grizzly low on Penny Lane. At 7:20 a.m. a black bear was in view in a high clearing south of Trashcan Pullout. At 8:45 a.m. with Doug M's help we watched the grizzly sow with three cubs of the year from Crystal Pullout in Little America. Today they were on the west face of Middle Ridge. At 11:00 a.m. I found a grizzly digging on the #1 finger on Norris. At 3:35 p.m. with Paul H's help I found the grizzly sow with three yearling cubs northwest of the Institute. They fed into a clearing and then fed back the way they came and out of sight, in view only fifteen minutes. At 5:40 p.m. the grizzly sow with two cubs of the year again in view high northeast of Pebble Creek. We saw them from Footbridge but moved east to Soda Butte Middle Pullout to get a better look at the family. At 5:50 p.m. we had a dark grizzly digging on the # 3 finger on Norris.
June 20th - Thursday
28 degrees this morning warming up to a very nice 81 degrees out in the park. Gary G found a moose with a group of bison south of the Soda Butte Cone early this morning. At 5:35 a.m. the grizzly sow with one cub of the year seen on Ski Slope again. They moved slowly over a large snowbank and out of sight going to the south. This cub is almost always running around and is a light brown in color and a pleasure to watch, especially in the snow. At 5:45 a.m. we found the grizzly sow with three cubs of the year again on Middle Ridge viewed from the Barn at the Institute. They soon went over the top of the hill but reappeared twice for a brief view. At 6:40 a.m. I went east to Soda Butte East Pullout and found a grizzly digging on the # 3 finger on Norris. Again, the sun rose and blocked us from watching from Footbridge Pullout which is west of the fingers and looking directly into the sun. At 7:10 a.m. we again found the grizzly sow with two cubs of the year high northeast of Pebble Creek. Again, Soda Butte East Pullout was the pullout that was the closest to watch the family and still see the clearing. At 9:50 a.m. Michael S, Wolf Tracker, called with the grizzly sow with two cubs of the year in the Bowl. Gary G, Randi M and I had been in position to watch the Bowl most of the morning, so we were surprised that they came into view after we went west to search for other grizzlies. This shows how viewing can go. Sometimes the grizzlies appear after we were sure we had that area covered. The family went into an area of downfall trees where we found them again and watched for another two hours. At 11:00 a.m. I had a grizzly sow with two cubs of the year on the skyline north of the Institute. They were right at the top and viewing was spotty and infrequent.
People Seen
Wolf Watchers: From Montana: Rick M, Jack R, Jeremy S, Carolyn and Tim G, and Kristina and Cory G. From Utah: Paul H. Bear Watchers seen this report: From Washington: Randi M. From Mississippi: Gary G. From Montana: Doug M, Mike and Kathy W, and Jeff B and Kathy M. And from Colorado: Rick and Tanner H. Others seen this report: From Montana: Carl S, Mike S, Audra C and her mother Tish, George and Jenny B, Cara M, Kate J, MacNeil L, Hunter G, Michael S, Bob L, and Evan S. From Vermont: John 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
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