Yellowstone 2026

Wednesday, May 20, 2026 Well, it seems none of the Junction Butte pack's pups have survived. Late Monday, 13 members of the pack went east to Round Prairie, the big meadow out by Pebble Creek campground, including the pups' mother. This is about 10 miles from the den. Early Tuesday, the remaining 2 members were seen heading west from the den and not seen in the area again.  By 9:00 am, no wolf had been seen in the den area.  The only reason for the wolves to stay in the den area is the pups.  Without that, they go where ever they want. This means there are no pups left. So I spent the day in the Lamar Valley watching a bison carcass and waiting for the wolves to find it.  Except for a yearling early, none did. Around noon, I went east to find a place to have lunch.  Along the way, I saw this moose:  

 Monday, May 18, 2026 Still cold and windy. Nothing ws happening at the den.  Most of the wolves had left yesterday morning on what ppeared to be a hunting prarty.  Later, several of them came back.  Most of the wolf watchers had found them out in the Hellroaring Creek area.  They were a very long way way. Back at the den, all we had was wind and cold. Any wolves there were either in the den or bedded down out of sight. It was brutal. So I decided to go see geysers.

 Sunday, May 17, 2026 Very cold today, made worse by the wind.  I had to scrape snow from my windshield and it was below freezing when I got to Slough Creek and only got to about 40F. Didn't really do any photography today, so here's a bear video from yesterday.  

 Saturday, May 16, 2026 It was a good morning for wolf watching.  Th weather haw cooled, so there is more activity.   The big action started just after I set up my scope. Somebody said there were 2 bears at the bottom of the slide. The slide is a landmark on the hillside behind the den area. Sure enough, there were 2 bears - a mother and yearling grizzlies. They were faced with 2 wolves at the moment: This kind of activity went on for 45 minutes. There would be long minutes of nothing - the wolves and bears just eyeing each other and other moments of fast action:                                                        Until finally, the bears decided to leave: The wolves do not like bears near their pups.  We haven't seen them yet, but we are sure they are in the den because the wolves are still ther...

 Friday, May 15, 206 A mostly quiet day.  The wind was ferocious making wolf watching difficult. I took my friends Robin and Frank to show them the peregrine falcon nest.  They are using the crevice across the canyon from the turnout.  I got this video.  The sound you hear is the Yellowstone River at the bottom of the canyon.  

 Wednesday, May 13, 026 Not much to post the last few days.   It's been pretty quiet. Get out to the den area and watch just a dew wolf movements.  It has been warm which keeps the activity to a minimum. In the meantime, we get short bits like this:       We are expecting cooler weather that may increase the activity. And there is a new bison carcass that they haven't found, yet.  And we're still waiting for pups.