Saturday, January 2nd - 3 Dog Day

I forgot that my phone’s time never changes so although the alarm was set for 5:30 Montana time it went off at 5:30 Minnesota time – 4:30 a.m. I was not happy.

I got up at 5:30 and was out the door by 6. I dug out the wheels of my car before attempting to drive and it worked despite the 2 inches of snow that had fallen overnight.

Cooke City was still pitch black and completely deserted. When I reached the park there was only one set of tire tracks ahead of mine, which I later discovered was the snowplow. Halfway to Lamar Rick Mcintyre passed me, so then I was the second one in the valley. I passed Rick at several pullouts but headed to the bathrooms at the picnic area before turning around and heading back into Little America. Rick and another guy, Bob, were at Boulder pullout and I had just missed seeing the Lava Creek pack and hearing them howl back and forth with the Druids, who hadn’t been seen but whose signals were being picked up across the river canyon from where the Lava Creek pack was. I’ve watched wolves near Rick quite a few times but have never officially met him. We introduced ourselves and started chatting about Minnesota, the Wildlife Science Center, etc. He got out his telemetry equipment and talked about the signals…Druids 690 and 691 and Lava Creek alpha female 471. He told me Bob (who was talking to someone else who had joined us) was from Wisconsin so when that person left I was chatting with Bob about Wisconsin/Minnesota, how lucky he is to live in Gardiner, etc. He was a nice guy and very knowledgeable about the park’s wolves. A while later I overheard something he said to a British man about films and it clicked…that was Bob Landis, the maker of incredible, amazing wolf and nature films! I was embarrassed that I didn’t realize it before. He’s a very nice man.

As always, wolf-watching in Yellowstone becomes a social event too…it is so fun and interesting to meet people from all over the world…although at one point it was about 8 or 9 Minnesotans. I met new “wolfwatcher” friends and saw some others that I recognized from last summer.

Our searching finally paid off and we saw a black Druid uphill from the carcass of something that the Lava Creek Pack had actually killed.

 I think it was 690 but there were so many numbers flying around today I’m not positive (there's one gray in the main pack right now, either 690 or 691). She walked out of sight and shortly after that a coyote was spotted. Then a gray wolf that it turned out was an “unknown” wolf who may be trying to hook up with the Druid females appeared. The alpha female of the Druid pack died last fall and the alpha male is the father of all the remaining females…wild wolves seem to have an aversion to mating with their own offspring (although it does happen occasionally and happens in captivity) and he has been away from the pack lately, on his own…suffering greatly from a bad case of mange. Breeding season for wolves is generally January/February (sometimes into March) . He was spotted today up near where he was yesterday…I didn’t go see him but probably will tomorrow if he’s seen.

This unknown gray wolf and the coyote were then joined by another coyote…the wolf kicked one of the coyotes off the rock he’d been sleeping on and took it over himself. Rick made the analogy to the late 1700’s where people with many servants would have a servant warm up their bed for an hour before they get in it. Eventually an unknown black wolf showed up and he and the gray fought a little bit and then the black left.

Meanwhile, I found the Lava Creek pack –  sleeping in the snow off to our East on our side of the river. Then I looked back over a short time later and the black wolf, 06 (a 3 year old female) was running downslope…so was 471. The gray, 174, followed a short time later. They hung out on the rim of the bluff for a while…and 471 went over. She was gone for a very long time. We were always watching the two trees that the ravens were flying around…when they’d all fly up in the air we knew a wolf was probably on the carcass. There was a golden eagle there also, for quite a while.  Eventually, 471 came back, with blood on her muzzle. She is a stunningly beautiful mostly white wolf. It was sunny a lot today (and my face is bright red as a result) and the sun really highlighted her.

We also saw a red fox way up to the left from the area where the wolves and coyotes were (wolves, coyotes, fox = "3 Dog Day").

Side note: I had no idea how funny Rick is. After someone was disappointed by a coyote not being a wolf he said, “excuse me everyone. I don’t know if you’re all aware that the NPS has started a program due to the fact that (and of course we’re all anticipating some major, cool program) coyotes have very low self esteem due to the fact that people are always disappointed that the animal they see is a coyote and not a wolf. They’re starting a program to raise their self esteem and bringing in a team of California specialists (or therapists) and it would be very helpful if, upon seeing a coyote, you could be very enthusiastic about it. Thank you.” HILARIOUS…..

I was badly in need of more caffeine by 12:30 and finally found my little stove, buried in my backpack, and heated up water. No coffee EVER tastes so good as instant coffee made on a backpacking stove out in the wilderness while wolf-watching.

Throughout the day, we were watching herds of elk and bighorns up on Specimen Ridge... including bighorns running up a cliff face, and of course there were also bison at other locations in Little America.

Occasionally, we would see various Druids on the carcass through tree branches (they had pulled it uphill a bit)  so it could be hard to identify them at times although we were able to figure out that it was a bull elk carcass, because we could see the antlers.   At around 2 pm the Lava Creek females went down into the river canyon. The male waited up on the rim for quite a while, seeming to watch them. It certainly looked as if he was leaving it up the the girls to check things out and make sure it was safe to proceed. No comment…

Eventually he got brave and went down himself.

We waited and waited for them to either show up on the carcass or come back up but never saw them again. Rick got a call about a lone black wolf over by Roosevelt so he went to check it out. He radioed back that it was Dull Bar, one of the Druid females who has mange. I was badly in need of a bathroom break by then so figured I’d go the extra 2 miles to Roosevelt with a chance to see her. She wasn’t around, so I went back to Boulder. There still hadn’t been any more wolf sightings. I was debating snowshoeing or hiking but was hesitatnt to miss any altercation between the Druids and the Lava’s. Someone got a call that Dull Bar was being seen from the Elk Creek pullout so I thought, why not…and drove over there. She was down in the sage, quite a ways off, near some bison, who turned to watch her but weren't very concerned. I wondered if she was seriously going to take on two bison all by herself but then we saw her eating something else. Either she killed a rodent or there is an old carcass there. I left after watching her for 10 minutes or so. Nothing was happening with the Druids/Lavas so I went on through Lamar. It was too late for a hike at that point. I got stopped by bison in Lamar, and then stopped to watch a coyote by the road (had seen another earlier in Little America) and while he stopped to, um, use the bushes, he was very, very focused on the ravens that were flying overhead. VERY focused. They must know that ravens can lead them to a carcass…they’ll frequently try and sneak in and steal bites from wolf kills.

I also stopped at the Confluence (of the Lamar River and Soda Butte Creek) to look for otters in the open water....they're seen there sometimes but not tonight.  As I was walking back to my car I glanced up and there was a Bighorn watching me from a small rock shelf above me...I've never seen them there before.

I enjoyed the beautiful drive back to Cooke City, looking at the “ghost mountains”…the snow clouds descend and you see only the faintest outline or glimpse of the mountains…they look beautifully ghostly.

Since I did not bring my scope (should have brought that and left the snowshoes home), Rick said I could rent one in Silver Gate and told me where to find the house of the Pine’s Edge Cabins Manager. We had watched wolves with his brother Doug last summer. He gave me a deal on scope rental for 2 days (and let me take it tonight) and I played with his dog while we chatted. She was a funny border collie…she would lay her Frisbee down next to me and then when I went to pick it up she would lunge in and grab it. Her “game” was to keep you from picking it up. She’d take it, bring it back and lay it down next to you and then if you didn’t go to try and grab it she would whine.

Doug’s brother showed me a lot of his and Doug’s pictures last summer and told me stories to go with them…it was really interesting and cool! He’s a very nice guy. I finally left with my scope and went to take a badly needed shower and then dinner at the Soda Butte again.

Now I’m listening to people who are WAY too loud downstairs…yelling at each other, kids screaming, etc. I am not happy and hope I can sleep. I’ve stayed here before with no issues but I had no ice bucket last night, they didn’t clean my bathroom sink today and didn’t clean out my coffeepot or bring me more coffee. I’m not happy about that and won’t hesitate to call if needed, about noise.
© 2010 Tara Morrison

Friday, January 1 - New Year's Day in Yellowstone!

5 a.m. on New Year’s Day comes VERY early…especially when you didn’t get to sleep until after 1 a.m. and are awake at 4:15 a.m.. I had left lots of last minute things to do this morning but we were on the road to the airport only 5 minutes late, which wasn't too bad. The check-in kiosk was almost deserted…more employees than passengers. I was happy that my two bags were FREE…sometimes the small things can make you happy.


I breezed through security, which was also deserted, and went to Chili’s for breakfast and a bloody mary. I got carded….I was quite happy to present my driver’s license. At least she didn’t call me “honey” (see my trip reports from early July).

My flight was about 1/5th empty so I had a row to myself. I tried to sleep but kept waking up because of turbulence…I hate flying to begin with, turbulence makes it much, much worse. We finally got below the clouds and I saw mountains…I got very choked up with tears of happiness. I know that sounds sappy and corny but it’s true…to me, Montana and Wyoming mountains feel like “home” and something in my soul just isn’t complete unless I am within sight of them. We went West and then turned and came back so I was on the south side of the plane and could see the Tobacco Root range and then the range that contains Hyalite Peak…a mountain I couldn’t climb last summer due to snow, but I want very badly to climb. It’s south of Bozeman but from the summit you can see into Yellowstone, and it is part of a proposed wilderness corridor that will include parts of the Gallatin National Forest adjacent to Yellowstone.

We landed and I got my rental car before our bags were even in…and it literally took 2 minutes. Gotta love these small Montana airports…they are beautiful and things are very efficient!

After taking approximately 9 minutes to figure out how to adjust the driver’s seat, I called my friend Rebecca and went to meet her for coffee at my favorite coffee place, Rockford Coffee.

But upon arrival, I discovered it was closed…how disappointing! So we went to Perkins instead and had a very nice lunch.

The it was off to Wholesale Sports to buy bear spray (for cougars) and stove fuel and a quick stop at Target.

The east side of Bozeman Pass was incredibly windy….I missed driving my Suburban, it’s much more stable, I felt like my Hyundai Santa Fe was going to get blown off the road.

I stopped at one of my favorite Montana grocery stores, Albertson's in Livingston, for groceries. I had forgotten my Clif Bloks/Shots in Bozeman and they didn’t have them. In the checkout line the man behind me proceeded to unload much of my cart after saying “Happy New Year” and asking how I was. Montanans are so nice!

I stopped for a few pictures driving south through the Paradise Valley. I was struck by how brown everything is…there is just no snow on a lot of the ground. The mountains have some but not nearly what I would expect this time of year. They better get more quickly or it is going to be a busy fire season next year.

Emigrant Peak

Middle of the Paradise Valley between Livingston and Yellowstone

Electric Peak

It was snowing as I drove South

I had planned to stop at the Yellowstone Assn. store but due to the time I just drove on past Gardiner and Mammoth…I wanted to reach Lamar by dark. About 5 miles outside of Mammoth there were two beautiful bull elk near the road…it was interesting to see them with their beautiful winter coats.

Then I saw a coyote in the road in front of me, and stopped to watch him. He crossed, went across a frozen pond and started hunting. He would listen intently and then boing boing POUNCE! He kept coming up with an empty mouth though, and would shove his nose back into the snow as if searching for the mouse he thought he should have had. The snow was deeper here, as I would see it later in Cooke City, but the Lamar area had less.

A mile or so before Hellroaring I saw Rick McIntyre’s truck and pulled off…there were about 6 vehicles. Rick and another “wolf watcher” that I recognize but don’t know (note: would later find out her name is Lynnette, and we had watched wolves the Druid den together last summer), had scopes on a lone wolf far off to the north…they think it was 480M, the probably former Druid Alpha Male who is still suffering from severe mange. These wolves with mange seem to sleep standing up at times but this one had finally, it seemed, found a warmer spot to actually lay on the ground for a while. What a horrible ailment.

I was told the other Druids had been in Little America so decided to make my way there, as I didn’t hav e my own scope (drat!) but the roads were so awful I had to go very, very slowly. I saw several more herds of elk and never did see the Druids, but it was getting pretty dark by the time I went through Little America. It was dark when I reached the Buffalo Ranch. I only passed two vehicles after that, but did have one buffalo Jam on the road. It was much quieter than during the rut. I had the windows open and the heat on, just in case I could hear wolves howling.

The Lamar Valley and the road towards Cooke City are all yours at night in the winter…there’s just no traffic. If you stop and turn off the car you hear water, wind and that’s about it.

I reached the Super 8 and couldn’t find a place to park. They directed me to one spot and then told me to go across the street. I did that but almost got stuck and may not get out tomorrow. I definitely won’t be using any non-plowed pullouts with THIS vehicle. I had a burger over at the “Soda Butte” and then went back to get the rest of my things. I somehow knocked a stray usb cable down between the back seat and the floor of the back of the car. When I reached down to get the cable my hand got wedged…I could….not….get …..it….out. I actually got scared and thought I’d have to start screaming for help but finally I got it free.

Hoping to be up at 5:30 tomorrow to be in Lamar around dawn…I’m exhausted, so we’ll see….

© 2010 Tara Morrison

34 hours until Takeoff...

 It's Wednesday night, December 30th.  I leave at 9 a.m. Friday for Montana and Wyoming, my two favorite states (so far...haven't been to Alaska yet).  I've been reading up on all the wolf pack changes and events from this fall/winter...things have changed a lot since summer.  The lone black pup of the Canyon pack that Rosie and I waited all day to see and finally saw playing with his mom...he hasn't been seen in a long time and is presumed dead.  None of the Druid pups survived, and that pack has endured other changes including the fact that they are still dealing wtih mange.  Someone wrote that they appear to sleep standing up because it's too cold for them to lay down to sleep, they have so little hair left.  But some wolves do survive this and I'm sure some of the Druids will. 

I am already sad that a week from now I'll be back home but I plan to savor every second out there...I've never been to Yellowstone in the winter and am ridiculously excited about it.  But then again, I'm always ridiculously excited for a trip.  I hope to have many adventures to report!

© 2010 Tara Morrison