04/28/2026
Yellowstone Insight Archives.
May 31, 2013
On a warm Spring morning in 2013, I met my guests at a pre determined location to start our Wildlife Photography/Hiking tour.
If you’ve been on tour with me, you might remember me telling you about this unique experience, as I recounted this special moment and shared the images with you.
My guests on this particular day in 2013 had made a tall request - they hoped to hire a local guide to find them an opportunity to photograph wolves & grizzly bears, but from a trail, not roadside.
We were limited in designated trails where they wanted to spend our day. I did a pre-tour check with the park’s wolf biologists, inquiring about spring time carcasses. I was slightly concerned we might walk into a situation where grizzly bears were enjoying a feast of winter-kill bison. Thankfully, the biologists had recently observed that area on routine monitoring flights and were not aware of any carcasses near the trail we were to hike that day.
They did inform me about a known wolf den that was being used not far off the trail. They asked that we not walk off-trail in a specific area of the planned hike. As the designated trail was officially open, they couldn’t ask that we not go there - just to be sensitive to the denning space and not encroach upon the area when passing.
I didn’t inform my guest about the wolf den because I was unaware of their level of ethical photography (we were not going to focus on wolf puppy images) and I didn’t know if we would actual see wolves on this hike.
As we neared the general denning area, a lone wolf crested a ridge directly in front of us. It didn’t notice us as it was looking into the light of the rising sun. The black wolf disappeared from our view into trees. It was not long after that an adult grizzly bear waltzed into the scene, tracking the lone black wolf.
A second wolf quickly became visible to us as she rose from the vegetation on the hillside. She had noticed the approaching bear and didn’t take kindly to its proximity to her den and new litter of puppies. She charged at the bear and began barking loudly.
Rest of story is in the comments…
…………..
