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

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