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.