Trail Log 1995-1997 - Lamar at Colorado State University

crows are unusual inside Yellowstone
end of seminar.
Showered. Drove down to Slough Creek to get campsite. Looked around on way back. Coyote
howling nicely, where the elk hid the calf. Back to Lamar Valley. Sow and yearling cubs in great
distance on mountain across the valley. Black bear on bench level, opposite and across the river.
Return to ranch. Badger digging in the yard. Seen nicely, digging furiously here and there.
Watched it 40 minutes.
Back out with Gene Ball in van. Snipe seen flying below along water, nice but brief.
May 31, Saturday.
Sow with two cubs of the year at Slough Creek by the river, in sage in the distance on old carcass.
Cubs of the year can run under her belly. Cubs of the year are the size of her head. They are
smaller than a coyote. We watched her on the hillside for an hour, wandering around, for a time
on an old carcass.
Pitched camp at Slough Creek, then returned and packed up at Buffalo ranch. Back down to Slough
Creek, the sow and two cubs still there.
Drove to Mammoth Hot Springs. Lunch there. Brief drive up to Mammoth Terrace area. Drove to
Bozeman. Checked Jennings in his hotel (Sleep Inn), and I put him to doing the wash while I
shopped. Took him to motel and drove back to Yellowstone. Ate supper at Slough Creek
campground. Sow and two cubs seen again briefly near dark. Rainy now and again. Quiet night.
June 1, Sunday. Up at 6.15. Sow and two cubs of the year seen again in the distance on the
hillside. There was another sow and two cubs down the Slough (west), seen only briefly, too far
to make out much. But this would be grizzlies number 16, 17, and 18.
Drove back up to Lamar Valley. There was a limping sow and three cubs in the sagebrush hillside
north of the road. Watched her quite a while. Nicely seen through the scope, the second or third
best viewing I have had. The cubs were quite playful. She had a decided limp. She didn't seem
to put her front right paw down on the ground at all. Others said she had been limping two days.
Watched them as they climbed the ridge and went over it. Very nice silhouetted on the skyline, the
cubs still playing, and she limping. A bit of pathos and some grandeur.
This would be grizzlies 19, 20, 21, 22.
Drove up toward Soda Butte. Returned to campground and packed up. Ate breakfast. Drove to
Mammoth Hot Springs. Called Giles. Drove to Norris. Lunch.
Between Norris and Canyon, there was a cinnamon black bear eating an elk calf carcass in the
timber. Watched it half an hour (pix). I could have thought it a grizzly cub, though there was not
much hump. The way it postured suggested some. But there was no dished face.
On to Canyon. Bought gas. On to Fishing Bridge. Lots of snow drifts through here, 3-4 feet high.
Stopped by Visitor Center. To Bridge Bay and set up camp. Called Jane, this is our 41st wedding
anniversary.