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.
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| 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). |
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| Unknown black wolf in the Lamar Valley, 1 mile away |
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| Unkown gray wolf in the Lamar Valley |
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| 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!
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