Tom Miner Basin is known for its abundant grizzly bear population. The area is about 30 miles north of Yellowstone National Park. It is home to an estimated 40 grizzly bears out of the 750 in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem.
We were dispersed camping in the Carbella Recreation Site nearby when we heard about this area.
Three separate people that we spoke with mentioned to us that the Tom Miner basin area, about 5 miles from the Carbella Recreation Site, is known by locals as one the best spots to see grizzly bears.
In fact, some local hunters said they won’t even go in the Tom Miner basin area due to it being a known grizzly bear habitat and the dangers that ensues.
One of the grizzly bear watchers we spoke with mentioned that a hunter had recently had to kill a grizzly bear there in self defense.
Apparently, the best time to see grizzlies at this location is in August and September, which just happened to be when we were there.
Although the bears live in the area year-round, during these two months they feast on caraway roots that grow in several cow fields nearby on private land. They dig up and eat the caraway plants as they are fattening up for winter.
Despite this being on private land, the ranch supports the viewing of the grizzlies from an appropriate distance.
Driving to Tom Minor Basin
We decided to go check out the area at dusk from the safety of our pickup truck. Not knowing what to expect, we headed up the road from the Carbella Recreation Site where we were camping to check it out.
The location is in the Google map below.
To get to the Tom Miner basin area head down the Tom Miner Road and cross the Yellowstone River.
You will see a sign warning you about a one lane bridge up ahead.
Cross the picturesque metal bridge. It has a weight limit of 6 tons, so keep that in mind depending on your rig size.
Once you cross the bridge (and see the dumpster on the right), you’ll see a sign pointing to the Tom Miner campground to the left.
Take the left and continue about five miles. You will pass through some very pretty hillside residential areas.
When we visited in early September 2018, we fully expected to be the only people with binoculars looking for grizzly bears. However…
Lemonade Stand
We were driving up a gravel mountain road and came across some children selling lemonade at a lemonade stand.
We were a bit surprised by the sight of kids selling lemonade on a quiet gravel road in the mountains with very few cars, so we stopped to buy some lemonade to help support them.
When we paid our $1.00 for the lemonade, we were surprised to see a wad of cash in their lemonade piggy bank.
That should have been our first sign of the popularity of the Tom Miner basin area for grizzly bear watchers.
Tom Miner Basin Grizzly Bear Watching
We continued up the road to where we came upon a full-fledged tailgating party of about 30 cars and grizzly bear spectators.
They had binoculars, scopes, tripods, and some seriously expensive camera lenses.
We were very surprised to find a whole community of grizzly bear viewing spectators watching from a parking area.
Apparently, this area has been profiled by several media sources, including Yellowstone National Park and some outdoorsy and wildlife media publications.
Hence it is a grizzly bear viewing secret no more.
We saw about 4 grizzly bears with our binoculars when we were there. We were able to see the grizzlies up close with binoculars and watched them feast on the roots of the caraway plants.
People we spoke with mentioned that there were about 30-40 grizzly bears that live in the area and can be seen, along with wolves that frequent the area.
We weren’t able to get good photos of the grizzlies as they were so far away, but with the right camera lenses, you could get some great shots of the bears in the field across from our viewing area.
There are some grizzly bears in the field above, and we could barely see them. We just couldn’t get a good photo!
Several people near us let us look through their scopes to see fantastic images of the grizzly bears. It was a very cool experience!
