| Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 |

We spent our final day looking for wildlife in various places all over the Park.  The Junction Butte wolves did not disappoint us – 13 wolves in the Slough Creek flats, 10 blacks and 3 grays.  playing, rallying, goofing off, exploring and bedding.  At one point I could see wolves howling, but the sound barely reached us over the chatter of visitors.  A few of the wolves seemed interested in digging a hole in the side of an eroded hill; I wondered if it was a potential den site at one time.

Gradually, the wolves moved west, traveling over and behind the hills out of sight.  In Little America a crowd was gathered at Boulder, scopes up, looking toward the rocky hills of Mom’s Ridge.  The wolves moved up the slope toward a bison herd, surrounding a cow and calf.  There was a standoff, but the cow and calf were protected by the rest of the herd.  The wolves finally gave up and disappeared behind the hills again.

Since we had plenty of time, we again drove over Dunraven Pass to Hayden Valley.  Patches of snow from Tuesday’s cold, wet weather still scattered over the mountain and along the road.  A bison carcass was spotted the day before in the Yellowstone River, near Trout Creek and very close to the road.  Rangers had cordoned off the area nearby to keep people away.  No animals had discovered the carcass yet, but people lined the road waiting; waiting for a wolf or coyote to show up.  With a carcass so close to the road, I wondered if the Wapitis would show up.

We broke up the afternoon with a hike on the Wapiti Lake Trail, bringing back memories of past trips.  The trail starts at the Chittendon picnic area and winds over hills and through meadows, past forests of pine trees.  We have seen bison and bears along this trail and crossed streams looking for the Canyon Pack.

Weaving our way through the Park, we passed bison, pronghorn and deer.  It was strange that we hardly saw any elk this week aside from a few high up on Norris and the solitary bull elk in Pelican Valley, though we heard them bugling.  Finally, when we reached Mammoth, a huge bull elk was bedded in front of the Park Superintendent’s residence, guarding his harem of cows.  There were so many cows and calves, they were difficult to count; there must have been more than 25.  Gradually, the cows walked across the road to graze followed by their calves while the bull remained bedded.  As more and more cows drifted away, the bull stood up and began chasing one cow and then another while people watching scattered in every direction trying to stay out of the way.  It was a chaotic scene with rangers yelling “Stay back!” but it was not an unusual occurrence for this time of year when elk are in rut.

It was an unexpected and exciting finish to our time in Yellowstone and we wound our way down the road out of the Park, always sorry to leave, always looking forward to the next trip

Back ->