Final Morning in Yellowstone

On our final morning in the park, Laurie and I woke early to head for Lamar Valley. I knew this would be a scenic drive and maybe we could look for the wolves again at Slough Creek. As we headed east at about 7am, it was another incredible day - sunny, cool (50s or so) but quite warm for this time of year. It would be 70+ degrees later today.

We spotted many bull elk on this drive with fuzzy new antlers growing in (see below).



Then, we saw an animal flash across the road in front of us. Sure enough, it was a couple of coyotes prancing in the sagebrush. We watched them for several minutes as they casually took a drink in a nearby pond.

Laurie on a short boardwalk hike from the day before

We continued on toward Lamar and stopped at a couple pullouts where we saw people using their spotting scopes. At one stop, we had just missed the sighting of a black wolf. We stayed for a short while but he never re-emerged into view. At another stop, there was a black bear strolling in the field and a kind gentleman let us peer through his scope to get a better view than our binoculars could afford. This was the first black bear we'd seen on the trip.

Then, we finally made it to the Slough Creek pullout where I knew exactly where the wolf den was. I really wanted to show this area to Laurie since she did not make it in time for this field trip on Thursday. This morning, there were an incredibly large number of people set up looking for wolves (>100 maybe?!). Lo and behold, the wolves were here today. Again, we needed a spotting scope to get a good view since this den is probably 1-1.5 miles away. But, as before, we found someone who was more than willing to share their scope and share the thrill of seeing these magnificent creatures in the wild. We managed to see four wolves in the short time we were there. Apparently this pack has 14 wolves but there are also some new pups this spring. So far, only two pups have been seen but they believe that more are in the den.

On the drive back to Mammoth we saw the usual herds of bison. But, at this time of year there were many new additions to the herd. These calves were as cute as you can imagine, some only days old. They typically stayed close to mom but sometimes they would trot and kick and buck alongside her.

A Bison Calf Sticks Close to Mom

We had not visited Yellowstone at this time of year before and it really is a great time to visit. Very few people, Slough Creek notwithstanding, and lots of wildlife still congregating in the valleys due to the snow at higher elevations. We also got very lucky with the weather as it could just as easily have been snowing and in the 20s or 30s.

On the way out of the park, we stopped in Gardiner, MT, for a much-needed hearty breakfast and COFFEE! Then, the drive back north through the Paradise Valley was really nice too. There we would see one of the funniest wildlife sightings you'll ever see. (I wish I had a picture!) We spotted a Canada goose sitting in an osprey nest looking quite proud of herself. As we drove by, she appeared to be working on the nest and getting comfy. What is up with that?!?! I think Laurie laughed for five minutes straight!

We're already looking forward to the next Foundation meeting in the autumn. That meeting will be held at the Old Faithful Inn so that should be a real treat...