Tuesday, January 5 - Sad Departure (and home to a bomb scare!)

The motel was nice for being $49, but the glass doors are definitely not sound-proof. I went to sleep at 10 and was woken up repeatedly between 11 and 3 by people talking, headed to and from the hot tub, etc.  I tried the bathroom fan and it was really noisy, not "white noise", so I turned it off. It was also noisy from 5 am on with people opening and closing doors. I had planned on sleeping in, but gave up and got up at 7:30 and watched tv and read my book.  I'll stay here again but will ask for a big fan to block out the noise, or get a room on a higher floor.

I took my time eating breakfast and checked out at 11.  My first stop, of course, was an antique store.  I had been saying in November that I needed to go to Montana to get an antique spoon for my cool Polish Pottery sugar bowl.  And I got one...an antique silver baby spoon with a cool curved handle. So now I have a Montana connection every time I put sugar in my coffee.  It's the little things...right?

I also bought an antique Glacier Park little circular copper thing...I want to start collecting old things from Glacier and Yellowstone but there apparently aren't many around...they're bought up as quickly as they become available.  I then went to the Sportsman's store to return my bear spray that hadn't even been taken out of the package since I didn't spend time snowshoeing by myself  in the areas where there could be cougars.  Then I headed to the airport.  It was snowing in every direction and I couldn't even see the mountains. In hindsight, I could have driven over to Willow Creek for lunch  at the saloon (it plays a central role in one of my favorite books,( Blind Your Ponies by Stanley Gordon West) but there wasn't enough time by the time I thought of it. I shouldn't have taken my time at the hotel.

I returned my car easily (so fast at this airport!) and then while checking my bags discovered they were heavier than when I arrived...I forgot I was taking lots of my unused food home.  But I shuffled things from one bag to another and still had two free bags.  Then I went through security.  They asked to search my purse and wanted to know if I had a tape measure or candle in it, which I did not.  But I told him I didn't mind, search away...I am VERY happy they are being so careful.  It turned out it was my little copper Glacier thing that looked suspicious.  They tested my purse for explosive residue and then put the Glacier thing through the scanner again.  It was fine, of course, so I went to find the restaurant.  The restaurant was OUTSIDE of the secure area, I discovered.  So I had to let the nice security guys let me out.  I had lunch and had to go back through security but at I got the Glacier thing out right away and didn't have any other problems.  They were searching people very thoroughly, I was glad to see.

While waiting to board   the plane I thought I saw one of my fellow confirmation leaders from St. Andrews but it's someone I've never met and I wasn't sure it was him so I didn't say anything.  (Note:  I discovered at church the next night that yes, it  WAS him). 

As we took off into the clouds I tried not to cry but couldn't keep tears from rolling down my face. I know it may sound silly and ridiculous but leaving the mountains is really, really hard for me.

The flight was very smooth...as usual, I counted to 60 at takeoff and then relaxed a little although I really didn't like going up through all the snow clouds.  But at least I didn't clutch a teddy bear the whole time, like the woman sitting next to Matt on his flight to Amsterdam yesterday.

I called Marc when we landed and were taxiing, as we were 40 minutes early.  He told me there had been a bomb scare at the airport that afternoon.  That is NOT what you want to hear.  It was a false alarm, but still scary.  There seemed to still be a lot of law enforcement people around, and some media crews were still there as well.

It was a short but very sweet trip...not exactly what I had planned since I didn't get much exercise in (snowshoeing)  but that's ok, the wildlife-watching was phenomenal and I can snowshoe here in Minnesota anytime, but I can't see wolves, elk and bison.  I have to say I am now wanting to move West even more than before....I cry when I arrive there (happy tears) , cry more when I leave....I think I need to be there.  Now if I can just convince my kids....Logan has basically "dared" me to find a job out there.  Stay tuned...
© 2010 Tara Morrison

January 4 - Last Day in Yellowstone

I was on the road out of Cooke City at 6:16 am. No wildlife sightings on the way in today. I was at Slough Creek at 7:08 – no howling heard. I was at Boulder at 7:16. No howling there either and it was still too dark to see. It is an amazing experience to be in the middle of Yellowstone National Park and know that you are literally the only person around for miles.  It's magical and awe-inspiring to feel the power and spirit of that place in the solitude...

I started driving back toward Slough Creek and passed Rick, so I turned around. He went to Boulder. We got our scopes out…he was getting Druid signals to the West and 471’s signal a little East. Calvin and Lynette showed up and we all tried but failed to see any wolves. Several times we heard howling…one wolf, very faint.  Bob Landis called from Slough Creek once and did not hear the howling, then 10 minutes  later called again, saying he had howling and a “black dog” but it wasn’t moving.


I followed Rick over to Slough…I wanted to make sure to see a wolf on my last day in the park. We walked out the Slough road to the same spot as yesterday. It was the Druid yearling female, standing down on the flats. She was standing, swaying, not moving otherwise. She usually had her head down and started to actually lower hear rear end at times…but then would jerk herself up.  I have no idea why she chose to stay behind when the others left the area, and even though Rick thought her coat looked to be in better shape than the other wolves who havemange, my gut feeling is that she isn’t going to make it. I hope I’m proven wrong. It was a very, very sad and hard thing to watch. We didn’t hear howling although 471’s signal was very strong but before we got there Bob had heard howling that seemed to come from just behind and above her. I searched and searched but no could not see her.  By then it was snowing heavily and the visibility, even just across Slough Creek, was bad…the slopes above it would have been just about impossible to find a white wolf. Bob left to head to Lamar and we were with a local guide and his customers, letting them peek in our scopes. At one point a coyote came in from the left of the wolf not knowing she was there. When she saw the wolf she started alarm barking and rearing up on her hind legs. The alarm barking/yipping went on for a good 10/15 minutes although she kept moving farther away. The wolf looked at her and didn’t move. Rick was going to move on, I was going to stay hoping to see 471, but Calvin and Lynette called from Wrecker pullout hear the confluence of the Yellowstone and Lamar Rivers and they had the Druids in view…luckily I had just learned where this pullout was, just above the Lamar River Canyon between Slough and Tower. Rick and I both stopped to look for the Silver pack…they weren’t visible. So I continued back to my car.  When I reached Wrecker, Calvin was in his car and Lynette and another woman were at different spots with scopes…no wolves in sight. The wolves had come from the North and down to the river looking like they knew where they were going. Calvin and Lynette had been seeing a lot of bird activity but there was no good vantage point to see the wolves on the carcass due to steep cliffs, etc. – without getting too close ( by law you need to stay at least 100 yards away from wolves but people who really love watching wildlife usually stay farther away than that...far enough away that there is no chance of disturbing the wolves or changing their behaviour). I spotted one of the Druids going up the bank on the South side of the river and we saw bird activity over there. As we watched and it snowed, we started talking about the weather and the approaching storm. It sounded pretty ominous so I decided I better try and get back to Bozeman tonight. I watched longer and the whole pack (this group of the Druids) came up from where I’d seen the black wolf. Earlier, Lynette had wondered who the 6th wolf was since they saw 6 of the Druids, and the yearling female who was with them yesterday was back at Slough Creek. I thought it must be Triangle Blaze, the mange-stricken yearling male we saw all by himself yesterday. Sure enough (Rick was there by then) it was him! I wish I’d seen that reunion.

What a sight…the Druids sitting on the ridge above the river canyon, looking right at us…and I could even see their piercing golden eyes through the scope.

Druids!

I reluctantly left to drive back to Cooke City for my stuff and to turn in my rented scope in Silver Gate, and then I headed back.

There is about 1000 feet of elevaton difference between the Lamar Valley and the Northeast entrance of Yellowstone near Silver Gate and Cooke City, which is why there is so much more snow here.

It was snowing harder by the minute at this point. 

Snowing at Warm Creek

(No moose in sight today)

I had a cool bison sighting at the Soda Butte cone. I stopped to take a picture of the cone in the snow,

Soda Butte

Dormant Hot Spring Dome

and as my car door made a noise, this bison appeared from behind the rock. He just stood there and watched me as I snapped a few pictures and got back in my car.  There was another one just down a hill behind him, drinking from Soda Butte Creek.

Bison Who Surprised Me at Soda Butte

I had another fun coyote sighting also.

Rick passed me around Round Prairie and waved, so I knew there must not be much action in the Lamar Valley, it was only about 1:00 p.m.

The Top of Druid Peak in the Snow

Druid Peak

I love this mountain

As I drove through Lamar the roads got worse and it was really bad headed up to Mammoth…lots of snow on the road. I stopped at the Blacktail area to look for the Blacktail Pack but didn't see them...just a small herd of bull elk.

Mammoth Hot Springs

Down in the brown area just outside of Gardiner, I passed a bunch of Pronghorn running along the river to my right.  The lead doe kept looking at me and then at the road so surmising that they wanted to cross the road (which will make sense if you've read my other trip reports  :)   ) I stopped.  She kept looking at me and eventually led them all across the road. It looked like it was a herd of does along with last year's fawns, who were getting pretty big. One of them got to the pavement and looked at it; put his feet on and off of it several times like he was telling himself "you can do it!  You can do it!" and finally scrambled across...he didn't like the pavement at all and seemed to be getting up his nerve to cross. It was very amusing to watch, I wish I'd gotten it on video.  I also saw some Pronghorn closer to  Roosevelt Arch. 

Pronghorn

Roosevelt Arch looking Southwest

I made it back to I90 and over Bozeman Pass…the temperature changed to 31 degrees right at the pass and instantly it was snow instead of rain.  I had been anticipating it being very slippery or full of snow and it was neither, it was a very easy drive.

I checked into my cheap hotel ($49!!!) that has the nicest owner - homemade banana bread, cookies, chocolate, cider and coffee - all next to a roaring fire.  There's a pet bird - cockatiel I think - and books, puzzles, etc.  It's just very "homey".  The rooms were a little on the "tired" side but large and comfortable.  I'll stay there again - the Lewis and Clark Motel near downtown Bozeman.

I made dinner in my room (soup) and went for a walk all the way through downtown Bozeman and back a little later in the dark.  It's a very nice town, with a pretty and healthy-looking (economically) downtown area.  I could live here...easily.

It was hard to leave the park, and it will be hard to leave the mountains tomorrow. I leave a piece of my soul behind in the mountains  on every trip…
© 2010 Tara Morrison

Sunday, January 3rd - Silver Pack!

Well, either I was exhausted or the noise stopped…I turned the lights out at 9:30 and woke up at 1:45 a.m. and then slept well until my alarm went off at 5:30.


I was headed out of Cooke City at 6:08 a.m. The town is completely dark and deserted at that hour, with the Soda Butte sign glowing neon red in the blackness. If it wasn’t for that sign you wouldn’t be able to see a thing. 

I drove a little faster today. I saw a red fox in my headlights at about 6:30.  I was in Little America at 7:15, at the Boulder pullout again…I sat for a while listening for howling, went to the picnic area bathroom and came back. Still no howling but a very vocal coyote was nearby. I left there at 7:45 and found Rick a few pullouts down. He was picking up signals from both the Lava Creek Pack and the Druid females but couldn’t see them. After  we both searched, he said we’d go back to Boulder. Nothing there either. Bob Landis called from Slough Creek…he had howling there so we went that direction, stopping at the pullout past the outhouse towards Lamar Canyon. We got out and immediately heard a LOT of howling. Rick asked me to try to get a visual on those wolves while he looked for signals…I failed (hated failing and feeling like I let Rick McIntyre down!) and he couldn’t get any signals from Agates, Mollie’s or any other collared wolves. It sounded like a pack of maybe 4 or 5 being answered by 1 wolf. Bob called again with a visual on wolves at Slough Creek so we went there and walked down the road to the spot where Rosie and I spent that wonderful morning watching the Cottonwood Pack last summer. We saw all the Druids…all in this group of them anyway…690, 691 (the only gray), "white line", the yearling female, and the new black male.  Only Triangle Blaze, the yearling  male who so bravely saved his sister a few months ago when she was under attack by the Miller Pack, was missing.  They were on the long, low bench and the male disappeared so Rick asked me to find him while he looked for the Lava Pack. I found him on some rocks above the bench, very hard to see. Rick came to MY scope to see where he was…I was glad to come through this time. We watched them on and off for a good hour and a half or more. For a while it was just Rick, Bob Landis and I…very cool way to spend a morning. A coyote was barking a very, very short distance away and Bob took his sound equipment over to record it. His movie camera is pretty cool but has to be very heavy to lug around.  He’s a very nice man. Soon other people showed up too and as always, it is so fun to help people find and see wolves. The new black male would seem to want to lead the females to the right and they would stop and not want to go anywhere. It was pretty funny after a while.  I noticed that the yearling female was always the straggler...always last and hanging back.   For a while the male bedded down in a meadow and the others just stood…the theory is that they try to rest standing up because, due to the mange, it is uncomfortable for them to lie down. They constantly scratch at themselves, even licking their paws and then scratching their faces. Their coats are pathetic and their tails are even worse. The new black came to them without mange but he is scratching now too. It’s like lice, it is contagious.

Rick finally decided to go check out Boulder and other spots again and I followed him but partway back to our cars, Calvin had spotted the Silver Pack, high on a rocky, conifer-covered knoll above Lamar Canyon, East of Crystal Creek. 

Sure enough, the alpha female was laying there…what a gorgeus silver color she is. Stunning. This pack is rarely seen, they only occasionally come into the park from Wyoming.  The alpha male is a HUGE gray wolf. He got up and down occasionally while the silver alpha female hardly moved. A pup would bound in and out of the scene occasionally, sometimes going to lay on a snowy knoll to the left of his mom…greeting dad, greeting mom, etc. We were never sure if we were seeing two different pups or just one, coming in from different directions. Once I paid attention to coat markings it was only one. There had been two spotted in this pack before.  It was kind-of cool to have Rick saying into his recorder for his notes “Tara reports…”, “Tara observed…”. We watched them for a very long time, also looking back to watch the Druids. Rick left, I stayed wanting to see what the Silver Pack would do. The male has what appears to be an injured right front leg…it appears to be black and probably it is dried blood although it was hard to tell. Rick asked if I could see any red on it and I couldn’t. He thinks it’s an injury and not mange.

I saw the alpha male turn to the side and saw his distended stomach and they must have just eaten, it was huge. Everyone else finally left and I walked back out by myself for another look at the Druids…they were gone, I looked for 10 minutes but I couldn't see or hear them.

I drove to Boulder then,  and Peter, a man Rick had introduced me to earlier, was there along with Rick. They had 471 and the yearling Druid male, Triangle Blaze, in sight (he hadn't been with the pack for several days). Rick asked me to look for the other Lava Creek wolves…I failed again, he found her first. But I did help a lot of people see them and directed them to the Druid male who was very far off and hard to find. Rick eventually left and I chatted with Peter quite a bit…he saw the  Lava Creek "06 female" kill and elk by herself a few weeks ago, and that wasn't the first time.  She is one tough wolf.

Rick showed us the place across the valley where the Crystal Creek acclimatization pen had been.  The area is out of sight but we got the idea of where it was.  When wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone in 1995 and 1996, they were brought from Canada (the same subspecies of the gray wolf that is native to the area...the Tundra or Rocky Mountain Gray Wolf) and put into chain link pens that were about an acre in size.  They were left here for about 10 weeks so that the wolves would hopefully get used to the area and wouldn't just run back to Canada as soon as they were released.  This technique is called a "soft release" and it worked well.

Crystal Creek Acclimatization Pen Area

 just beyond the crest of the hill in the center

Sometime mid-afternoon, a park ranger truck went back going very fast with his lights and siren blaring.

Little America

I left for awhile and drove up to Elk Creek, there was nothing there…I was debating hiking but decided there was too much wolf action going on, so I went back to Slough Creek. The Silver Pack alpha  female was STILL there. Robin and Steve came and a woman named Kat who works in the park, I chatted a lot with all of them. A woman and her son and grandma were down from Bozeman for the day and the grandma got SOOOOO excited to see the silver wolf…it was so cute watching her, I love helping people see wolves! She kept thanking us. I made coffee and soup. Calvin and Lynette came back too and had only had a brief sighting of two of the Blacktail pack. We watched until 4:30. The Silver Pack female got up and stretched a few times and went back to sleep. She definitely must have just eaten, to be laying in one spot for so long, only waking to stretch a few times.

Slough Creek area

I climbed up Dave’s hill with my scope to get a different view. Not so bad going up…I was following fresh bison hoofprints so I was very wary and slow. Coming down was harder…my mukluks, as wonderful as they are, do not have good traction and I did something to my thigh…not a pulled muscile, it actually felt like the muscle separated from the bone. A weird, alarming feeling.

South End of the Slough Creek area -

You can see why wolves are hard to spot

Everyone left then and I took one more look and left too.  Just before Cooke City, in the dusk, I saw two large shapes off to my right. Just a half hour before that, I had been thinking:  “I need to see moose” and there was a cow and BIG calf in a small open stream (Warm Creek). They were a little wary so I drove to a pullout and got out to watch them from a distance. It was too dark for a picture and hard to see well. The calf was definiltely focused on mom. I watched in the growing dusk for maybe 10 minutes as they drank from the stream, and then I left.  It was such a peaceful scene to stand there in the twilight watching them with no sound but falling snow and wind in the trees.  No vehicles passed the entire time...it was just me and the creek and the moose.

On my way through Cooke City I saw two sheriff’s cars and the ranger truck at a building that had a first aid symbol on it…as well as someone walking a dog that had an orange vest or something on. Search and Rescue dog, I thought. It must have been an avalanche. I asked my waiter at dinner and then Marc had gotten the whole story online…a 35 year old snowmobiler had been killed in an avalanche somewhere close to Cooke City.  This seems to happen every winter near Cooke City.  Very, very sad.
© 2010 Tara Morrison