Grizzly in River, Baby Bear Asleep in the Tree!

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Geo: 44.9766, -110.702

We were on the road out of Slough Creek by 5:45. Found the wolf watchers at one of the first overlooks heading into Lamar Valley. Two of the watchers were Doug and Kathie and we joined the other onlookers who were there. Doug had a grizzly with cub briefly in his scope that we got to see. Commented about some of the new names for areas that were not marked on the map Northern Tier of Yellowstone that can be bought in Silver Gate. Doug explained the area in front of us was xyz and also showed us where the "salad bowl" was.

I asked Doug about the Lamar Canyon pack since the death of 754 and 06. (This is Laura's impression of what he said). Most of the Lamar Canyon pack has left the park in search of elk in the area near Cody, Wyoming. Some of them are still in the park and Tall Gray is one of the alphas and there are three pups at least but there is some uncertainty as to who the mother is. 755 (alpha male of Lamar Pack before death of 754 and 06(alpha female) is still hanging out in the park and evidently does move around. Had been seen near Mt. Norris. Also 820, one of 06's daughters had been kicked out of the Lamar pack and is sometimes seen with 755.

Laura's read is the wolf watchers seem somewhat discouraged by the new laws allowing for the killing of the wolves so near the edge of the park and the failure of attempts to stop them. Doug has started a website, War of 754.com, where he is hoping people will get active trying to stop the killing of the wolves on the edge of Yellowstone Park. Evidently there are only about 70 wolves in the park at the moment so there is a great deal of luck in seeing the wolves.

Doug talked some more about the Junction Butte Pack and a little on the history of this pack. It is always interesting to hear stories from him and the other watchers. It evidently is more difficult to see the wolves than it has been in the past so feel very lucky about the sightings we have had. The wolf watchers are a very dedicated group and wolf watching does require a lot of patience and being willing to stand around and wait for a sighting! He and Kathie got a call and so they had to go check out the report.

We drove back up toward the Blacktail Plateau and saw nothing and then decided to go back into the Lamar Valley and see what was going on. There was a jam as we headed into the valley. Could not see what was sighted but people were out of their cars and looking over the bluff. We pulled into the same overlook we had been in and got out and tried to see what they were looking at.

All of a sudden, "there is a bear swimming in the river!". It was a huge grizzly swimming against the current and got out on the other side, shook off and headed up the hill. According to others, it was 211 also known as Scarface; a known grizzly in the Lamar Valley. Watched until he disappeared from sight.

Drove the Blacktail Plateau and stopped and had lunch near the place where we had enjoyed the deer sighting the other night. Did not see any wildlife but this time of day it is not unusual for the wildlife the be quiet and resting.

Then decided to head back toward Mammoth near the Floating Island area to see what we could see. There was a bear jam in full swing. We got ourselves turned around heading back toward Floating Island, pulled off the side of the road and sat down to watch. Talked to some of the people heading back to their cars and they said it was a mother and cub and then we could see the mother's and baby's head occassionally lift up like the little one was playing.

The crowd left the area and we continued to sit there and were rewarded because after about an hour, the mother and cub got up and started moving. Robert spotted them moving and we were off! We were the only ones there and so we got to watch the progress of the little bear and his mother. We pulled over where the original "bear jam" had taken place and what a great show. The baby would climb up on a log, fall off, try to get back up, stop and look at a leaf and just being a baby bear! At one point, the baby was hanging by his arms over the side of a log eating some leaves. By this time the crowd had grown again!

We were in the best position and the ranger showed up and did his best to keep the crowd behind the "big rock" which he determined was about 50 yards from where the mother was wandering around. Finally, the baby bear tired of all the fun and mom sent it up the tree where it was hanging legs and arms over the limb. Mom settled down underneath the tree to take a nap as well.
While we were ther
e some researchers from the State of Wyoming doing research on people's attitudes toward animal safety. I was asked if I would answer some questions and happily answered the questions. There were a lot of questions about bears but then about other wildlife as well. It was all very interesting.

From there we headed back to Floating Island to see what we could see. We saw the baby scaup again watched as the mother would hide them in the reeds.

From there we started heading back down toward the Tower Junction. Because of the construction, we tended to stay on one side of the construction or the other because of the wait in line and the fact that the road is closed from 11 pm until 7am.

We saw Bob Landis pulled over and stopped to talk to him. He is a famous wildlife photographer/videographer we have met on previous trips to Yellowstone. He has a video about 06 that will be available in March of 2014.

He showed us the general area where the Junction Butte pack has their den. He has seen it from the air. He talked about the wolves in general and the fact there were not really any wolves seen this winter. Because there was so little snow, he said he had only shot one video by this time whereas he usually shoots 20! We also talked about our experiences in Africa.
Decided to have another dinner at Roosevelt Lodge and after dinner drove back toward Lamar Valley and Slough Creek and were stopped momentarily by a bison slowly crossing the Yellowstone River on the bridge!

Stopped and got to see coyote kits sitting on the hillside. Were so very cute to see and then headed back to the campsite.

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