Wyoming
Yellowstone Grizzlies Observed Farther East In Wyoming — And Earlier
Fred McClanahan Jr. is a native of Fort Collins, Colorado, but he loves Wyoming because of its more conservative mindset and abundant wildlife, especially grizzly bears.
“It’s the grizzlies that keep me coming back,” he told Cowboy State Daily.
And he got a special treat after he left Cody last week headed for Yellowstone National Park. As always, he was eager to watch and photograph Yellowstone’s bears.
But he’d hardly gotten out of town when he saw his first bear of the day — a grizzly out for a brisk stroll along the shore at Buffalo Bill Reservoir west of Cody.
“I had just made it out of the tunnels, and there he was,” McClanahan said.
He was referring to a series of three tunnels along Highway 14-16-20 between Cody and the Buffalo Bill Dam, the last of which is the Wyoming’s longest highway tunnel.
‘He Was On A Mission’
The bear was busily lumbering along a dry section of the reservoir bed “that hadn’t filled in yet,” he said.
McClanahan caught some video of the grizzly going on it way in the middle of a typical Wyoming springtime snow flurry.
The bear wasn’t distracted by highway traffic, or anything else, McClanahan said.
“He was on a mission. I’m not sure where he was headed or what he was after, but he was really moving,” McClanahan said.
Bears Moving Down Toward Cody
McClanahan has been visiting Yellowstone since the early 1980s. He tries to make two trips per year, one in the spring and one in the summer.
“I still have the canceled check from the first time we made a reservation for the motorhome at the Fishing Bridge campground. I think it was $9,” he said.
Back then, about the only places to see grizzlies were between “2 miles outside the of park and 2 miles inside the park,” he added.
But in recent years, grizzlies have become commonplace at lower elevations east of the park.
“I have friends who live in the Wapiti area (a rural community west of Cody). They say grizzlies are seen there frequently,” McClanahan said. “I just saw that one, at Buffalo Bill, but I’ve heard about several others.”
There were two incidents in Park County last year that ended badly for the grizzlies.
In May 2023, a large male grizzly near Highway 14-16-20 west of Cody was mistaken for a black bear and shot by a hunter.
In September 2023, a grizzly was spotted near the base of Heart Mountain between Cody and Powell and appeared in a “Your Wyoming Sunrise” photo in Cowboy State Daily.
Unfortunately, that bear became too habituated to human-occupied areas and food sources, so wildlife agents captured and killed it.
A Robust Population
A grizzly sighting at Buffalo Bill Reservoir isn’t surprising these days, Wyoming Game and Fish Department Large Carnivore Specialist Dan Thompson told Cowboy State Daily.
“It’s definitely not out of the ordinary to have grizzlies seen in that area. We have a lot of grizzly activity on the South Fork and North fork this spring. Essentially another obvious indicator of a robust grizzly bear population,” he said.
Spring is prime time to spot grizzlies at lower elevations, he added.
“It’s pretty standard when bears come out of the den to move lower,” Thompson said. “That’s where it greens up first. So we generally see that move to lower elevations out of the den.”
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
The 2026 postseason has arrived for Wyoming High School boys’ basketball teams in Class 3A and 4A. They participate in regional tournaments from Thursday through Saturday. The regionals will be in Buffalo, Evanston, Gillette, and Lovell. Three sites will use the format: two wins qualify a team for the state tournament next week in Casper, or two losses eliminate a team. The 4A East Region has three loser-out first-round games on Thursday, followed by two days of games for seeding. The 4A East Regular Season champ draws a first-round bye and has qualified for the state tournament.
WYOPREPS 3A-4A BOYS BASKETBALL REGIONAL TOURNAMENT SCHEDULES
Except in the 4A East Regional, Friday starts with elimination games. The regional semifinals are on Friday night. The final seeds for next week’s state tournament will be determined on Saturday. The schedules below for this weekend are based on the brackets sent to WyoPreps. It is subject to change.
THURSDAY, MARCH 5:
Final Score: (3) Pinedale 58 (6) Mountain View 40
Final Score: (2) Cody 58 (7) Powell 46
Final Score: (1) Lovell 75 (8) Lyman 43
Final Score: (4) Lander 65 (5) Worland 40
FRIDAY, MARCH 6:
Game 5: Mountain View vs. Powell, noon – loser out
Game 6: Lyman vs. Worland, 1:30 p.m. – loser out
Game 7: Pinedale vs. Cody, 6 p.m. – semifinal
Game 8: Lovell vs. Lander, 7:30 p.m. – semifinal
SATURDAY, MARCH 7:
Game 9: Winner Game 5 vs. Loser Game 8, 11 a.m. – loser out
Game 10: Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 7, 11 a.m. – loser out (at LMS)
Game 11: Winner Game 9 vs. Winner Game 10, 5 p.m. – 3rd Place Game
Game 12: Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8, 2 p.m. – Championship Game
THURSDAY, MARCH 5:
Final Score: (3) Douglas 85 (6) Rawlins 50
Final Score: (2) Wheatland 57 (7) Burns 40
Final Score: (5) Torrington 35 (4) Newcastle 28
Final Score: (1) Buffalo 69 (8) Glenrock 44
FRIDAY, MARCH 6:
Game 5: Rawlins vs. Burns, noon – loser out
Game 6: Newcastle vs. Glenrock, 1:30 p.m. – loser out
Game 7: Douglas vs. Wheatland, 6 p.m. – semifinal
Game 8: Torrington vs. Buffalo, 7:30 p.m. – semifinal
SATURDAY, MARCH 7:
Game 9: Winner Game 5 vs. Loser Game 8, noon – loser out
Game 10: Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 7, 1:30 p.m. – loser out
Game 11: Winner Game 9 vs. Winner Game 10, 7:30 p.m. – 3rd Place Game (if necessary)
Game 12: Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8, 4:30 p.m. – Championship Game
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THURSDAY, MARCH 5:
Final Score: (NW-3) Kelly Walsh 64 (SW-2) Riverton 49
Final Score: (NW-1) Natrona County 77 (SW-4) Jackson 23
Final Score: (NW-2) Green River 50 (SW-3) Evanston 40
Final Score: (SW-1) Star Valley 62 (NW-4) Rock Springs 60 – Erickson makes a turnaround jumper at the buzzer off an offensive rebound for the Braves.
FRIDAY, MARCH 6:
Game 5: Riverton vs. Jackson, noon – loser out
Game 6: Evanston vs. Rock Springs, 1:30 p.m. – loser out
Game 7: Kelly Walsh vs. Natrona County, 6:30 p.m. – semifinal
Game 8: Green River vs. Star Valley, 8 p.m. – semifinal
SATURDAY, MARCH 7:
Game 10: Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 7, 11:30 a.m. – loser out
Game 9: Winner Game 5 vs. Loser Game 8, 1 p.m. – loser out
Game 11: Winner Game 10 vs. Winner Game 11, 4:30 p.m. – 3rd Place Game (at EMS)
Game 12: Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8, 4:30 p.m. – Championship Game
THURSDAY, MARCH 5:
Game 1: (1) Sheridan = Bye
Final Score: (2) Cheyenne Central 75 (7) Cheyenne South 35 – Bison are eliminated
Final Score: (3) Thunder Basin 75 (6) Laramie 59 – Plainsmen are eliminated; Bolts qualify for state
Final Score: (4) Campbell County 59 (5) Cheyenne East 39 – loser out; Thunderbirds are eliminated; Camels qualify for state.
FRIDAY, MARCH 6:
Game 6: Cheyenne Central vs. Thunder Basin, 4:30 p.m. – semifinal
Game 5: Sheridan vs. Campbell County, 7:30 p.m. – semifinal
SATURDAY, MARCH 7:
Game 7: Loser Game 5 vs. Loser Game 6, 11:30 a.m. – 3rd Place Game
Game 8: Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6, 2:30 p.m. – Championship Game
James Johnson Winter Showcase Basketball Tournament 2026
Photos from game action at the James Johnson Winter Showcase tournament in Cheyenne.
Gallery Credit: Courtesy: Shannon Dutcher
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