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

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

Wednesday, August 26-Of Mice and Matchbox Cars

What a night.  I got almost no sleep.  I had fallen asleep very late, and then woke a short time later to rustling sounds.  I turned on a light and looked around.  We had no food in the cabin but I finally spotted a mouse over by our bins of clothes and bathroom stuff.  I hate mice!  He would appear and disappear, I was never sure if there was one or more than one. I couldn't figure out where he had come in.  I tried to sleep with all the lights on, but of course I could not, because I knew he was in our stuff and making too much noise.  So I began looking around for something to throw.  Matchbox cars!  I gathered up all of Jack's matchbox cars and sat on my bed.  The kids continued to sleep, luckily they were very, very tired. 

Matchbox cars make a very effective aresenal against mice.  However, it helps if you have many of them and don't have to venture into the mouse-infested area to retrieve the already-thrown cars to use again.  At one point I ran out so quickly I also used the cabin's shampoo and of course, the little bear-shaped bar of soap. 

That was especially gratifying, for some strange reason, to almost hit a mouse with teddy bear soap.  I discovered the entrance they were using was a tiny gap under the cabin's front door.  They would go out, wait 60 seconds...literally, and then come back in.  I'd throw a car, they'd go out, and the cycle continued.  I was so incredibly tired.  And at Roosevelt, there is no one on duty overnight...there is no 24 hour desk clerk to call.  I was on my own. I didn't think this warranted a 911 call.  I was on my own...me and the mice.  This went on for a while and then I realized they would never leave unless I plugged up the hole. Yes, I should have thought of that immediately but I was a tired mom traveling with kids all on my own and not sleeping well even before this.  It took me  a while.  The only thing I could think of was a washcloth.  So I waited for them to go out (just one at this point, I thought) and I ran over, banged on the door to scare them away from the other side, opened it a crack and shoved the washcloth around the area with the hole, and closed the door.  I bunched it up on the inside and it looked like it would keep them out unless they chewed it.  I waited...5 min, 10 min.  No more mice.  I left the lights on and tried to sleep but every single sound startled me awake again.  The plan had been to get up at 5 to go out for our only morning of wildlife watching this trip, because we were only in the park for one night.  I didn't even fall asleep until after 4:30.  I set the alarm for 6:20 and we were up and out of there by 7. I stopped to get coffee at the lodge and we were on our way.  It was a very COOOOLLLLDDDD morning.  We didn't pack up the cabin, we would be back to do that.  We drove to Lamar, of course.  We didn't see anyone at the Slough Creek Road so we kept going through the canyon. It was a beautiful Lamar morning!  At the very first pullout, there were a lot of cars and people looking back north, across the road, into the sage.  We pulled in, getting the last spot parallel parked by the road.  We jumped out and Rosie (as usual) went to ask what people were watching.  Wolf!  Sure enough, there was a lone black wolf in the sage over there. 

We went to get the scope and - tragedy...we had taken it into the cabin for safety the night before and in my mouse-caused sleep deprivation that morning, I had forgotten it.  Too late now.  We got Jack and Logan into position and showed them the wolf, which at that point you could see even without binoculars.  Then...we heard it.  The black wolf would howl, and there were several wolves across the river to the south that would answer.  The look on Jack's face was pure JOY.  He was so thrilled to hear it, and to be able to see the black wolf without a scope or binoculars. We spent some time looking across the river and finally did spot the other wolves.  Two grays and  a black.  They were far off and hard to see without a scope but visible with the binoculars.  In the middle of all this activity, a bunch of bison had begun to approach on all sides.  They were at the end of the rut but bison are ALWAYS dangerous.  We all crowded around the parking barrier.  They went to the sides and some stayed out by the road.  The black wolf moved off to the east and we wanted to go to the next pullout to look for her but there were bison to close to the car. 

When a few of the closest ones moved away, we made a run for it...shoved Jack in the car and everyone else jumped in.  We had made some nice friends wolf-watching and they left too.  We headed east and scouted the area but no wolf.  Turned around and headed back west, passing our friends...we stopped in the road and compared notes.  She had been seen heading west, so we all went that way, all the way to the Slough Creek Road.  There were so many routes she could have taken, it was just impossible to know where she might have gone.  So, back to Lamar. 

Near Buffalo Ranch, we saw all the wolf-watchers.  Our friend from the motel in Silver Gate was there...he remembered Rosie from our previous trip.  She told him our story and he brought us over to someone else and had us tell her. Rick McIntyre was giving an informal "talk" at the time.  They were all watching some sleeping Druids.  Finally, more Druids!  Just sleeping out in the middle of the valley, near the river.  They told us that the black wolf was probably a lone/disperser wolf that they've been seeing.  The others were probably Agates!  We headed further down to the next pullout and saw several more Druids. No pups though. 

We drove farther down to see if the otters were around but they weren't.  That was ok though, we'd had a great wolf morning!  We went back to Roosevelt to take showers and load up. I went to check out and to tell my mouse story. I left out the part about matchbox cars.  They gave me a full refund on my already paid for room.  I appreciated that very much.  We only had one night and one wildlife watching morning in the park and I did NOT appreciate the fact that I got almost no sleep due to mice,due to a faulty door frame.  I don't mind rustic at all...I know those cabins are rustic.  But it is NOT ok to have mice in the rooms, esp. when we had no food in there. I would rather camp than have mice in my cabin.

We then drove back south over Dunraven Pass again, making no stops this time...there didn't appear to be much wildlife watching going on.  We stopped very briefly at the pullout to look for the Canyon Pack but no sign of them either.  So we headed out and back through the East Entrance.  It's amazing how different scenery looks when you drive the opposite direction.  We headed for Cody, griping about the town of Wapiti, where a few years back the townspeople were griping so much on national tv about the bears in town...most of them having moved from far away to be in wildlife country.  What is wrong with this picture? I know it's wrong to generalize and certainly not ALL the people who live there were doing this but still...that's all I think of when I hear or see Wapiti, Wyoming.

We arrived in Cody and went straight to our campground, the Ponderosa.  We usually wouldn't want to stay at a campground in the middle of a town like this but we figured we'd be doing some many things in town, that it would make sense.  So we stopped and got our spot and then headed for the Sierra Trading Post store.  We went to the camping floor to see if they had replacement poles for our destroyed ones.  They didn't, but the guy working there told us to head to a building supply store and exactly how to ask them to fix them for us.  He was extremely helpful.  We followed his directions and finally found the store.  The person who waited on us at first said he couldn't help us...they didn't carry the items the guy at the Sierra store told us they should use.  He could sense my frustration (or maybe I looked desperate?) and said to give him 10 minutes and he would figure something out. He proceeded to walk around the store, looking very pensive.  He pulled some things off shelves, went into a back room, and emerged  a bit later with the poles and some kind of bracket things on them.  It looked a bit "iffy" to me but he assured us it would work...AND, we could even still collapse the poles!  I hadn't thought of that.  We thanked him profusely, paid our $2.47, and headed back to the campground.  We struggled through setting up the tent with the strange poles...they didn't work quite right, the tent was lopsided, but it seemed like it would stay up.  Then we went to put the rain fly on.
Uh-oh.
The rain fly had been shredded during the windstorm.   In our rush to pack up in the dark, no one had noticed.  We had just wasted 2 hours traipsing aroud Cody to fix tent poles for a tent that now did not have a rain fly.  You simply cannot camp in a tent that doesn't have one.  Maybe I'd do it alone in the backcountry, but not with 3 kids and all of our "stuff".  I was now FRUSTRATED.  And remember, I'd gotten hardly any sleep before due to the mice.  I didn't cry though  :)

So, back to the Sierra Trading Post store.  Our friendly tent department salesman showed us the options that they had for 6 to 8 person tents.  Yes, we have 5 in our family but tent sizes are misleading...a 4 person tent really can only comfortably hold 2 to 3 people, etc.  Plus, we have large dogs that sometimes camp with us.  So nothing smaller would work.  And I refused to get another Eureka. Our large tent that had all the problems in the windstorm was a Eureka that Marc had gotten pretty cheap and it was only a few years old.  On the other hand, our 4 person REI dome tent is 17 years old and still is in great shape. You get what you pay for with tents.

Anyway, we had several options but one of them he told us it took an engineering degree to put together.  I was not feeling particularly like being challenged by a tent at the moment.  We went home with a large Kelty 8 man tent.  It's about the size of Jen C's Taj Mahal tent but not nearly as "cool" looking but that's what they had. 

Back to the Ponderosa.  Rosie, Logan and I proceeded to attempt setting up the new tent.  At one point, Jack (being the wise, observant 6 year old that he is) commented "I should really be video-taping this".  Yes, it was probably that funny. I know I got the giggles at one point.  However, we did succeed in getting it up.  Bonus:  there is a room divider...we could now have a "boy side" and "girl side" of the tent.

We then ceremoniously deposited the old tent and poles in the campground dumpster.  I was NOT about to bring any piece of it home, we didn't have room, and what was the point?

We then headed to a miniature museum.  It was full of small displays of various western scenes...a buffalo jump, a fort, etc. 

There was an electric train that ran around the room which the boys could control and they LOVED that.  They also had many displays of historical artificacts, which of course I loved.  I loved this framed quote of Sitting Bull's too.

Then it was 7:00 and time to head to the rodeo!  The nice man at our campground had told us when to get there, where to park in order to exit quickly, and about the food.  So we planned to eat dinner there.  The gates opened at 7, the rodeo started at 8.  We got good seats and then went for food.  Unfortunately, they didn't have burgers like he had told us but we made do with BBQ pork sandwiches and hot dogs.  The kids liked looking at all the bulls, calves, and horses.  Then when the rodeo began it started with the unbroken mustangs.  Some of them were trying desperately to escape the chutes...banging their heads, necks, legs...it was awful to watch and I was afraid we were going to need to leave.  That was the worst part though.  I can't say I actually liked  a lot of it but the kids had fun and it was certainly festive and interesting.  I don't know that I'll ever go to another one though.  One fun thing that they did was have all the kids come out into the arena and they had a contest.  A bunch of calves were released, 3 of which had handkerchiefs tied to their tails.  The first 3 kids to get handkerchiefs got a prize.  Now if you know Logan, you know he seems like an extremely laid back kid.  But lurking beneath that facade is a kid that is EXTREMELY competitive.  He really wanted to win one of those prizes! 
They had the kids spin in circles and then suddenly said "go".  They all tore out there and Logan snagged a handkerchief and was the second one to return it.  He was totally out of breath, he'd run so hard!  His prize was a round of mini-golf in town.  He was very happy, Jack was pretty disappointed.  It really wasn't fair to have the older kids competing with the younger kids but oh well.

When we bought our food we went in two groups....first Jack and I, then Rosie and Logan.  I gave Rosie $14 for her and Logan to use.  When she came back she told me she didn't have enough money.  This turned into a conversation that gave me a headache...about how many dollars she had, what food she bought, etc.  I marched her back to the food stand where the girls insisted she only gave them a certain amount and that she was in fact short of money.  That was impossible based on what I'd given her.  We discussed it and they finally said they would call us at the end of the night if they counted their tills and were "over".  

After the rodeo we were waiting in line for Jack to get autographs from some of the riders and the "rodeo queen" when the concession stand called...they were $4.50 over and would we like to come back and get it?  Yes, thank you.

We got back quite late for our first night in the new tent.  I was thoroughly, utterly exhausted by this point.  What a day...

Tuesday, August 25 Christmas in Yellowstone in August

We slept in today – we needed it! We woke up at 8:15, packed up and ate free breakfast at the hotel. Jack rode his scooter over to breakfast and then rode like crazy while the rest of us were packing/loading. He needed to burn off that energy!


We left Powell and drove to Cody, where we made stops for gas and groceries. Jack talked non-stop for 20 minutes telling us about his dream involving dad being “buff”, aliens, and his friends Hayden and Ben being involved.  It was extremely complicated but made perfect sense to him.  He has quite a vivid imagination.

The drive from Cody to the East entrance of YNP is beautiful –

 it was much prettier than I remembered – I haven’t been on it for probably 16 years. I love Wyoming!

Sylvan Lake, at Sylvan Pass near the East Entrance to Yellowstone

Yellowstone Lake looking SW

Steam Vents at Yellowstone Lake

We stopped at the visitor center at Fishing Bridge and then made several stops in the Hayden Valley. No Canyon Pack today. No bears either. Just bison....and of course bison jams.  We drove over Dunraven and stopped because we thought people were watching a griz but it was just bighorns, so we went on and scoped at ski slope. Nothing there either! Not a good wildlife day so far.  We stopped for coffee and ice cream at Tower. No bears at Roosevelt. We checked into our cabin and unloaded  our stuff very quickly, and then we were off to the Lamar Valley...one of my favorite places on earth. There were no wolf-watchers anywhere and no sign of anything except pronghorn and bison. We headed way out past Pebble Creek and stopped at the picnic area by the Thunderer to make a yummy pasta and sausage and garlic bread dinner.

The kids gobbled up their salads…we’ve been lacking in veggies! They played soccer and skipped rocks and rode the scooter while I cooked.

Then it was back through Lamar. I finally saw something moving that was a little weird and when we went to get the scope we discovered that the tripod wasn’t there…Logan had carried it into the cabin. Not good! W went back for it and drove west of there to the Blacktail Plateau to the pullout where people scope the Blacktail pack’s rendezvous site. There were no people, and no wolves. No bears either although Rosie and I saw a red fox on the way back, but it was too dark to take a picture.

We decided to take books and go sit by the fire in the lodge (it’s dark early these days).  I have always wanted to spend Christmas in Yellowstone and unbeknownst to me, today was "Christmas in August" all over Yellowstone!  How weird that we would happen to be at the lodge on that night! 

There was eggnog and cookies and hot chocolate, and Santa was there, and kids could make ornaments.

Then a wrangler led us in carols, including the “redneck/wrangler 12 Days of Christmas”.  (My pictures with the wrangler were really dark...these were our song leaders before he got there). 

The bug on my beer

It was actually really fun!  There was a very festive, community atmosphere.  It was a little surreal to be singing carols with  people I've never met, in the middle of a Yellowstone night...but it was wonderful and we loved it!