Friday, 2/21/2020: Trail Cam Excitement

Today was our last day in the park, and since we knew it would take too long to pack up the car to get an early start, we slept in until 6:30. We got out the door by 8:45 and the park seemed empty. We didn't see a single wolf watcher all the way to Nature Trail. That told us something was up on the western side of the park. The radio has limited range due to the terrain, so we weren't able to pick up any chatter.

We were relieved to see Nature Trail empty of people and bison because we needed to snowshoe out to get our trail cam. It is fine to put a trail cam out, but we didn't want people to know of our location so that our camera is not disturbed. Snowshoeing was much easier today, as the snow was more frozen and we hardly sunk into the snow. Plus, we had our original path to follow.

We were anxious to see if our camera would still be there, still attached to the pole, and still upright. We weren't really sure what to expect. As I approached, I could see first that the pole was indeed upright, and then a little closer, that the camera was still attached. At first, I thought the only tracks I saw were ours and the elk tracks that were already there, but to my surprise, there were wolf tracks all around the camera! The prints were large and there were at least five sets. We were both so excited. We would have to wait until evening to see whether the camera's batteries lasted long enough to photograph the wolves in subzero temperatures.

Upon returning to the car, we began our descent to the Blacktail area and picked up radio chatter between Kathy and another watcher. There was a wolf howling by the Blacktail Ponds pullout; it was 1154F, a loner yearling from the 8-Mile. There also seemed to be a gray wolf with her. We stopped at the pullout just east of the ponds and I used the binoculars to look to the northern slopes while John set up the scope. It took a few minutes because we had everything packed away for the drive home. With the binoculars, I didn't find either the black or the gray, but I did find the entire Wapiti pack 17 members strong on the top of the slope rallying en mass. It was amazing to see so many wolves together! John got the scope set up just in time to see the last three make their way over the ridge.

We headed down to the Ponds pullout and found a crowd of wolf watchers, tourists, Rick McIntyre, and three wolf researchers (Jeremy, Maddie, and a young woman we didn't know). Jose and Adrienne were also there, and they got some shots. We learned that the 8-Mile pack had also been seen south of the ponds earlier, too. What a morning! No wonder the east side of the park was dead.

We stayed a while to socialize, and we exchanged email addresses with Kathy. She said we had been helpful this week and that we were mentioned in last night's wolf report. It was gratifying and a huge compliment! What a great closing to our five days in the park.

John and I had plenty to talk about as we began our drive homeward. I cautioned John multiple times not to get his hopes up for anything good on the trail cam. I didn't want him to be disappointed. It was -20 F several nights in a row, and though the camera batteries were rated for -40 F, you never know how long they'll last.

We made it as far as Missoula with such a late start, and after dinner we popped the trail cam card into the computer. To our great happiness, we got pictures of wolves at night! We got a wary coyote the first evening at dusk, 6:09 PM. Then there was nothing until Wednesday night (morning technically) at 1:22 AM. Because of the darkness, we can't tell whether we captured the 8-Mile pack or the Wapiti pack. We are just excited that John's idea of where to put the camera that would be in the path of the wolves was correct. John reads the wolf reports daily and plots them on Google Earth. Noting their tendencies, he had three locations for placement. And yeah for the batteries! They were still going as we retrieved the camera.

The trail cam captures John's approach. If you click on the photo to zoom, you can see wolf prints in the foreground.

A gray wolf approaches the camera's location, followed by a black wolf.

The black wolf is collared. He looks a little anxious, and another approaches to the left rear.

One young black wolf came right up to the camera. It looks like he may have a collar.

A few minutes later, two blacks and a gray approach.

The same wolves, seconds later.

The coyote looks pretty nervous about the camera, with his tail tucked and his head down. Just the scent of humans around the camera must be enough to make him cautious,

The trail cam captures two happy snowshoers!

Thursday, 2/20/20: A Really Cold but Really Great Day in Yellowstone

We started at Y.E.S. pullout at 7:00 AM and found two of the unknowns feeding on their elk carcass. They headed up the hill and we lost them in the trees. Despite heated boots, my feet got cold to the point of pain, so I retreated to the car. Our thermostat said -21 degrees F.

A fog bank begins to form above the Lamar River, eventually obscuring any wolf watching.

When John had also had enough, we drove to Tower Junction to get gas, and then to Nature Trail on the western side of the park. We photographed a coyote and an elk cow along the way. We drank hot chocolate in the car while parked in the sun at Nature Trail, waiting for it to warm up a bit outside.

Nature Trail

We encountered Kathy at West Lamar, so we stopped to scope the Junction Butte pack with her. There, we also met Laurie, the author of the Yellowstone Wolf Reports we follow year-long. All 17 Junctions (one black had been missing for a while) were visible earlier, but we only saw seven next to the Marge Simpson Tree (the tree is shaped like her hairdo). The adults reunited with the pups and yearlings. It is not uncommon for them to separate during breeding season,

We thought it had warmed up to -3 by then, but Kathy said that we were getting heat from our car. That's when we learned that the Forester's thermostat only goes to -22 F, as Kathy drives an older model Forester like ours and knew its limit. It was actually -25 F at the time, which was around noon! Even with the sun out, we're not sure if it ever got above 0 later that afternoon. The car was 34 degrees inside without heat even with sunshine.

Since the Junctions were bedded down for the afternoon, we headed back to Y.E.S. to look for the five unknowns again. We took turns scoping and warming up in the car in 30 to 45-minute bouts. I was ready to go back to West Lamar when John spotted them returning to the carcass to feed at 1:55, one by one. We watched for three hours as they fed, rested, and fed again, mostly taking turns.

All five wolves are visible in this photo. The easiest two to see are the black ones on the left. The gray is at the base of the trees in the middle, and a little to her right and just inside the trees are the other two (one black, one gray) feeding on the carcass.

This is a great vacation. Really! Just think of all the calories I am burning.

Having had her fill for a while, a gray female reposes at the tree line. The other gray female and two blacks are on the carcass on the far left.

The black wolf runs back to chase ravens off the carcass.

When spotting with Kathy earlier, we learned a lot about the five unknowns. There is just one adult wolf, the black with the light muzzle and blaze on its chest. The other four are puppies; the two blacks are male and the two grays female. The black pups have been seen leaning forward while urinating, which males do. There is no adult female. If the adult male doesn't find a mate soon, he won't have one for at least the next year since it is breeding season now. They won't name the group if they don't den, so they will continue to be the unknown five (unless someone figures out where they came from). Kathy also indicated that their chance of survival is bleak, as there are only five of them and they could easily be killed by the nearby 17-member Junction Butte pack or at the very least chased out. We also learned that Jeremy (wolf project researcher) contacted the Wyoming Department of Wildlife who collars and tracks wolves outside of the park, and the five do not match any description of their wolves. We feel lucky to have seen them.

As the last black pup (the one with the white blaze) left the carcass, allowing a pair of foxes, a bald eagle, and a vulture (perhaps...hard to see) to eat, we gave up for the day and got home in the daylight at 6:00 PM. It was almost a 12-hour day.

Tomorrow morning, we'll sleep in a little (as opposed to getting up at 5:15), pack the car, and head out, stopping to do a little wolf watching and retrieving our trail cam along the way. We start our two-day drive home.

Wednesday, 2/19/20: A Day with the Mystery Group

We managed to embark before 6:30 in the dark, -10 degrees F. We followed a snowplow into the park. Our first stop was Midway pullout, which is half way along the Lamar Valley. We wanted to see if we could view the mystery pack of five from yesterday.

At first, it was just Kathy, Rick McIntyre, and us, but soon Jeremy from YNP's Wolf Project arrived and began directing the parking to fit as many as possible in the pullout. When things settled down a little, we were able to get Rick to sign his book, "The Rise of Wolf 8," for us.

The five primarily young wolves had a fairly fresh kill of a bull elk and were feeding when we arrived. We couldn't see the carcass from Midway, but we could see the wolves as they finished eating and bedded down nearby. One brought a little meaty snack with it that it shared with its packmates. Shortly after, they zigzagged up the steep slope to bed down for hours half way up Amethyst Mountain.

The gray to the right of the log snacks on some elk meat. (Click on any photo to enlarge)

Two black wolves (circled) switchback their way up the slope.

Their nap location proved to be just over a hill so we could only see one gray wolf. Around 10:30, we drove to the next pullout, Y.E.S., where we hoped to see more. We couldn't but we had a closer view and we could see the carcass, so we decided to stay there. Around 11:00, I walked about a half mile to the Buffalo Ranch, nicknamed "the barn," to see if they could see more of the wolves. There, I encountered Kathy again. She let me look through her scope and I was able to see a second wolf. However, they were farther from the wolves, so we decided we should stay put at Y.E.S.

The blue cloth on the scope is for wiping the viewfinder, which constantly ices over from our breath. The radio is clipped to my arm pocket.

John takes a nap in the warm car, which was at least 70 degrees without any heat but sunshine!

And stay put we did. We watched while as many as five coyotes fed on the carcass, and as soon as they left, a bald eagle swooped in, only to be usurped by a golden eagle. Meanwhile, the wolves rose, heading farther up the mountain one by one. They eventually came to rest on a sunny slope where they napped until around 3:30.

Four of the five rise from their long, sunny nap a mile and a half away. The ever wary bison watches from the right.

Cropped so you can see the five wolves--a black on the far left; a gray, a black, and a gray to the right; the final black above the three.

The zoomed out version of the same photo. They are circled and in the center of the image. (Again, click to zoom)

Rested and well fueled, they were playful and ran along following the older black male, who was slightly lighter gray (likely due to age) and had a pale blaze on his chest and light muzzle. One of the blacks was a male pup with a bright blaze on his chest. One of the grays I think was a female because she urinated by squatting, but low ranking males will also do that.

The green line runs next to the black wolf's path. The black wolf is at the top; the other four are at the bottom of the green line.

Nearby, an unsuspecting coyote was walking west. The wolves saw him and gave chase. John saw the scuffle and they disappeared behind a hill. The coyote did not reappear, so we assume they killed him. Wolves and coyotes are competitors, as are other wolf packs, not friends.

Four of the five on the ridge line, framed by the late sun after chasing down the coyote.

After a brief rest along a ridge line, silhouetted by the sun, the black male led the way directly down the slope. We watched as they plummeted down, eventually disappearing in the forest. We trained our scope on the carcass a mile away, hoping they would feed before it got too dark to see. At about 6:00, they surprised us by coming to the carcass from west near the cottonwood line near the Lamar River. They ran to the carcass and began tugging off pieces of meat. With the sun gone, it was now 0 degrees, and I was too cold. I watched them for a few minutes, tried running up and down the road to warm up, but finally succumbed to the cold. I sat in the running car while John scoped and took photos and video for another half hour.

The black leading wolf rushes in for an evening meal.

John scopes in 0 degree F.

In all, we spent 12 and a half hours with the mystery pack. We'll go back to Y.E.S. pullout tomorrow to watch them again.

Tuesday, 2/18/20: A Wow Kind of Day

Today was the most prolific wolf watching we've ever had with sightings of four different groups of wolves!

Our day began on time as we made our way out of Cooke City in -8 degree F weather, sandwiched by two other wolf watcher vehicles. As they pulled off at Hitching Post pullout, we continued on to West Aspen pullout since the Junction Butte pack had been seen from there the afternoon before. We heard howling and scoped for a bit until someone spotted an unknown, uncollared gray male with another black wolf coming down the slope. We watched them until they disappeared into the Slough Creek ravine.

A wolf researcher, Maddie, was also there above the pullout listening for wolves with telemetry. She heard 1228 and 1229, pups of the Junction Butte pack, but didn't see them and couldn't find their signals again. She was not sure who these two wolves were. Her theories were that they could be the two chased out of the 8-Mile pack (a gray and a black), Junction yearlings, or the unknown gray that has been sighted lately who perhaps found a mate. The gray was confident with tail up, beautiful, and large.

Kathy (#22), a wolf watcher also there, and I chatted about being yearbook advisers (she was an adviser for 31 years at Los Gatos High School in California). We must have chatted for an hour! It was fun making that connection. We were warm and comfortable in the sunshine by then, a balmy 0 degrees F. A truck slowed as he passed and the driver asked about wolf tours. He was from National Geographic. I gave him some information as to who to talk to and he moved on to parts unknown.

We moved on to Slough Creek, where we heard radio chatter that five Junctions were visible from West Lamar pullout. It was full, so we chose to go back to Slough Creek and climb the Rocky Knob. We had to get high enough to see the carcass the Junctions had above Slough Creek, so we trekked up hill with snowshoes. It was exhausting as elevation is around 6,000 feet and the snow was deep. We were rewarded with three black wolves and two grays, one of them being 1228, a female pup John likes to call ADD for obvious reasons. I was excited to see her, as John saw her in September and has followed her on the wolf  reports. We also saw three coyotes and a fox. We spoke on radio for the first time, confirming our sighting with #77's sighting and showing two ladies from Oregon their first wolves.

We also pointed our cameras south, since radio chatter told us there were adult Junctions visible on Specimen Ridge skyline. We located them but they were very far away (3.3 miles), so we decided to head east to see if we could spot them above the Lamar Valley. On our way to Dorothy's pullout in the the Lamar, we saw a fox napping in a little ball on a hill right next to the road.

At Dorothy, we had a real treat--nine of the Junctions bedded on top of the ridge ("skyline"), including 1109 and 907 (two females who had pups last spring though 907's were killed by 969, the female we saw last April who actually died from a leg injury in September). I got to see 907 pin 1109, who is always getting picked on. John also saw the same assertive behavior, as well as a male mounting a black female, likely the new, young alpha.

After several hours there, sharing our scope view with many first-time wolf viewers and seeing an acquaintance from a previous trip, Jose, we heard of five unknown wolves spotted in the Lamar Valley across from the Institute. We could actually see them from Dorothy's but decided to try for a better view farther east. We had a great view of all five, three blacks and two grays, from Trash Can pullout. Several other viewers were so helpful, directing us so we could find one or the other in our scope. Retired wolf researcher Rick McIntyre stopped to question people on the sightings, and confirmed with us the sighting of the collared wolf at Slough. We again shared our view with newcomers, including the National Geographic guy. He spent his entire day photographing a fox, with which he was quite pleased. But when I offered him a view of the wolves through the scope, he was so excited to see his first wolf. "This is my first wolf! Wow, it's beautiful," he exclaimed. It's really cool showing someone their first wolf.

All five of the unknown wolves (there are actually three on the left but the second from the left is laying just in front of the other).

Unknown black wolf in the Lamar Valley, 1 mile away

Unkown gray wolf in the Lamar Valley

A black and two grays as they cross the valley, circled in blue

Rick McIntyre, who had long since moved on, asked on radio if anyone was still on the five in the Lamar, so we radioed back that they were still visible and moving west at a pretty good pace. He said he was heading our way and thanked us for the info, and we were pleased to be of help.

Since the five unknown wolves were heading west, we decided to as well, but Old Picnic pullout was full. Since it was already 5:30 and dusk was coming on, we chose to head home for the day. Along the way, we saw a moose at the confluence of the Lamar River and Soda Butte Creek who was quite close to the road. The day closed out at 16 degrees F.

It was great to get home and have homemade split pea soup and fresh-baked bread. The 12-hour day gave us five different sightings!

Monday, 2/17/20, Our First Full Day in the Park

The day began with a small snaffu--I didn't set my alarm correctly, so we got out about an hour late. Nevertheless, with a 3 degrees F start, we saw a moose as we headed into the park along Soda Butte Creek, a river otter along the creek as well, and another coyote in the Lamar Valley. No signs of any wolves along the first stretch to Tower Junction, so we headed for Nature Trail to the west.

There, wolf watchers and tourists were in full swing (remember, we got up late). We planted our tripod (which John outfitted with ski pole baskets for snow and screws to grab the ice) and scope and trained our eyes on first two and eventually five of the 8-Mile pack's puppies, born last May. There were four blacks and one gray, and they howled to each other most of the time we were there. The adults of the pack treated the earlier risers to a showing. The best part of viewing them was seeing two black pups play together in what was now 18 degrees F--comfy for them and almost comfy for us if it weren't for the wind. They were too far away for decent pictures, so we were content just to spot.

With two tour vans of people standing next to us, we decided to look for the Junction Butte Pack and headed back east. We heard of a new carcass on radio in the Lamar Valley, and there saw a coyote feeding along with eagles and crows. Shortly after, we came upon the coyote's likely mate, full bellied and napping in the snow beside the road. Coyotes don't fear people or the road likes wolves do, so he was content to put his head down and close his eyes while people snapped away a mere 25 yards from him.

A well-fed and satisfied coyote. Note the blood on his neck from feeding on the bison carcass. John insists I tell you to click on the photo for a closer look.

Nap time.

Sunlight on the hills north of the Lamar Valley.

From there, we headed further east and stopped at Foot Bridge pullout where John photographed some bighorn sheep. Then, it was on to Round Prairie where we had lunch in the car, then headed all the way back to Nature Trail. Along the way, one of the coyotes trotted on the yellow line in front of us.

Bighorn sheep graze on the hills north of the Lamar Valley.

The wolf watchers had the Junctions in view from Boulder pullout, but only one wolf was showing. They were bedded down for the afternoon, so we decided to use the daylight to place our trail cams at the Triangle Forest. We snowshoed out about a mile in deep snow and successfully placed one camera. The other one wouldn't work properly, and the Velcro attachment to the pole we brought to mount it onto came off, so we brought it back with us. We'll try another location tomorrow and place the other two as well.

The drive back to Cooke City finished with seeing three coyotes in the Lamar Valley.

Yellowstone February 2020: Sunday's Arrival

We have arrived in Cooke City, MT, safely today, despite yesterday's drive across the northern road of Yellowstone being reported as the worst road conditions in 20 years. Expecting the worst, we drove it today and caught a glimpse of what that could be like as we rose in elevation from the Lamar Valley, but overall, it was an easy drive.

The only wolves visible today were the 8-Mile pack, but they were at least a mile away, so we didn't stop. We did have a chat with some wolf watchers in the Nature Trail parking lot, and when they told us that there was nothing else going on in the park, we decided to head east to Cooke City to our accommodations.

Along the way, we saw a coyote among a herd of bison in the Lamar Valley, and then a moose crossed the road in front of us at Round Prairie, so we stopped to take a few shots. There were two moose, actually. We always see moose along Soda Butte Creek, so today was no exception.

We are very excited to be "on radio" this trip. Not only will we be able to hear the radio chatter of the wolf watchers as to where wolves are being sighted, but we'll also be able to contribute as we have our own call number! We feel so official as we head down the road with our antenna proclaiming our status as wolf watchers!

Composite image of the moose's path.

April Yellowstone Visit: Day 6

Just when the action was getting started, it was time for us to leave. We started the day at Pebble Creek to check to see if what we thought was the Lamars through the trees was still there. It was. We moved on to Slough Creek, where we patiently hunted the hillside for 969F. To John's excitement, he noticed two elk looking intently to their left. He panned left with the scope and there she was! She charged them, they charged back, and she charged again. The elk cow that had charged her went back to the other one, and she headed toward the dens.

I had a look through the scope and followed her to the sage den. She went inside, came out, shook, and went in again. She didn't come out again, or so I thought. While I was helping John find her with the camera, which doesn't have as much zoom as the scope, I looked through the camera view find for a couple of seconds, and in that time, she popped out and headed up the hill. We didn't discover this until we got home the next day when John viewed the video he was taking the entire time. Unaware of her escape, we sent word to Rick M. and then stayed to watch the sage den for over an hour until Gabriel and Daniel took over.

Video of 969F

Heading out of the park, we stopped where Jim and Bobbie had the Wapitis at Geode on a dying elk. Unfortunately, some tourists chased after them (which is not permitted) and the wolves disappeared out of site. Jim got some great pictures, and we just missed seeing them and their beautiful white alpha female.

We will return to the park for sure in February 2020, but we'd like to come back late summer or early fall, as well as Christmas.