Trout Lake

We stopped near Druid Peak where the wolf watchers occasionally camp out watching for the Druid pack pups playing on the hillside above the road. Rick McIntyre was there. Rick works on the wolf project and has the ability to track the wolves with radio collars. He told us that there had not been much activity this morning but he gave Tom the tip that renowned Yellowstone videographer Bob Landis was up at Trout Lake filming river otters.

Knowing what a rare and special situation this might be, Tom hurried us back to the van and we drove several miles further northeast to the trailhead. In the parking lot, this coyote trotted up and over a hill right behind us giving us all a big surprise. Note the collar. Apparently he has been a bad boy for some reason or another and they are monitoring his behavior.

Coyote near Trout Lake Trailhead

We packed up some gear in our backpacks and hiked quickly up the relatively steep trail for a half-mile or so until we reached the lake. (This was the most difficult hike I had done since knee surgery but it was no problem at all and actually felt good to get some more strenuous exercise.)

When we reached the lake, Tom saw that Bob was filming on the far side of the lake so we headed for that area. As we got closer, we could see that he was in fact filming the otters. At this time there were two adults (females), one of which was the mother, and two pups. We snapped a few photos hastily and watched them circle the lake back to their den on the other side of the lake.

Here's a strange shot of one of the adults shaking off water as it emerged onto a log:

Here is the mother, presumably, with her two pups:

On one side of the lake there was a great log with a hole in it that the pups used as a playground. The photo below shows one pup emerging from the hole at the end of the log.

What we were witnessing was truly extraordinary. For all his experiences in the park, Tom has rarely had an opportunity to watch otters for this long. Usually you get a glimpse of an other for 30 or 40 seconds and then they move on in the river. But, since they were in the lake it was much easier to follow them and watch their behavior. Typically, they are quite shy as well but for some reason these otters seemed not to mind the adoring gazes from the shoreline.