Yellowstone

Yellowstone National Park

During my days in Yellowstone National Park I observed about 15 separate grizzly bears, most of them from a distance through binoculars. But also a few relatively close-up. I also saw about 15 different black bears, making it a remarkable three days for bear watching. In fact, some "veteran" visitors I talked to called it "bear bonanza", and the best season for years. It turned out I arrived at the optimal time of year to observe bears, as it still was lots of snow in the higher areas, whereas the northern and lower-altitude parts of the park were green. In May the bears tend to stay at lower elevation, and can more often be seen close to the roads compared to during summer and autumn. Last time I visited Yellowstone, in late July of 2001, I only saw one black bear and no grizzly's. Thus, it was an extraordinary stay.

The weather was another story, it was freezing cold, and for about half the time I spent there it was snowing. When I left it was more like a snowstorm. This of course made it difficult to get any good photos of the wildlife, but all the bear sightings more than made up for the bad weather.

Grizzly bear

Wolf in the snow, Hayden Valley

To the left you can see a picture of a wolf. It was snowing, so I did not get any good pictures of this predator. In total I saw 2 wolves, the other one only through a telescope with the help of a local. In addition to the bears and wolves, I also saw coyotes and many other mammals, bald eagles and other birds, of which some are shown on this page.