Bears

The Wyoming Range is home to grizzlies

The Wyoming Range occupies the southernmost reaches of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) — an area home to grizzlies. According to the Yellowstone Grizzly Bear Investigations 2020: Annual Report of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team, grizzly populations have been steadily increasing — that is, recovering — throughout the GYE. As their populations have recovered, grizzlies have gradually expanded their occupied range.

Although the Wyoming Range is outside the “demographic monitoring area” of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team, there have been confirmed sitings of grizzlies in the Wyoming Range in recent years. The following map, taken from their report, highlights siting locations in/around the Wyoming Range.

Runners and pacers must carry bear spray

All runners and pacers must carry a can of bear spray. (Bear spray is one item on our required gear list.) The can should be readily accessible on your chest — not buried in the bottom of your running pack.

To learn how to use bear spray, check out this video from the National Park Service.

What are the odds you’ll see a grizzly?

We receive some variation of this question several times each year. We try to answer it in a comprehensive and balanced manner. We have some data and a lot of anecdote. Below is an email response I’ve delivered in various forms to curious runners.

“The best information I can give you on grizzlies is the latest interagency grizzly report. It acknowledges the spread of grizzlies throughout the greater Yellowstone ecosystem (GYE) and notes several confirmed grizzly sightings in the Wyoming Range from 2006 to 2020. The report does not, however, offer an annualized total of confirmed sightings specifically in the Wyoming Range.

When talking to folks who live and work in the Range —wranglers, outfitters, guides, etc. — it seems like "two or three" sightings per year is the common count. This count, by the way, is global — that is, total sightings across the Wyoming Range. I have no idea if "two or three" is valid.

We had two credible sightings in our first year (2021). About a week before the race, a scientist, who was hiking in a leisurely (non-professional) capacity, believed he saw a grizzly near our course and sent us an email. The scientist saw the bear about six miles west of the Rimrock aid station. Then, during the race, a runner and her pacer, both of whom are local, claimed to see a grizzly a few miles north of the Deadman aid station. The pacer, importantly, is a guide in the Wyoming Range — someone, in other words, who has seen grizzlies before.

In our second year (2022), we received reports of an elk kill in the area near 2021's first grizzly sighting. According to the person who reported the kill, it had signs of a grizzly. They didn't explain what that meant, however. The person readily admitted they were not a grizzly expert but spent a fair amount of time in grizzly country.

If you crosswalked our 2021 and 2022 experiences, you wouldn’t be faulted for assuming that a grizzly has travelled around the northern half of the Willow Creek drainage. Against this backdrop, I'll say black bears are common throughout the Wyoming Range, and runners have seen plenty of them.”

You’ll see plenty of other critters

While it’s unlikely you’ll see a grizzly during the race, it’s likely you’ll see a few of the following critters at some point on the course:

• Black bear

• Elk

• Deer

• Moose

• Coyotes

• Fox

• Badgers

• Horses

• Cattle

• Sheep

• Wolverines!