Wyoming- Yellowstone National Park - Day 5

We were able to secure a campsite in the Mammoth Campground, five miles inside the NW entrance to the park, and one mile from the Mammoth Hot Springs community.  

After Tom picked me up from my morning shoot of the Canary Springs, we headed to Gardiner to pick up the trailer and get settled into our new spot.  Meet the neighbor!  This guy, and his harem of about six cows, were in the next campsite.  He bugled and herded his girls all day long.

We had wanted to be in the north end to have quicker access to the Lamar Valley.  This is where 9 wolves were released in 1998.  They had been spotted over the past couple of days and we were anxious to see if we'd be able to see them as well.

Once again, with hot cups of coffee, tea, and a picnic lunch, we set out at 5:00 am to try our luck at spotting.  When we were in Africa this past summer, we'd jokingly  create our 'wish list' of animals that we wanted to see for that day.
 It seemed to both of us, that we were quite successful with our sightings if we placed this order.  So, keeping the tradition, our goal for the day was bear, wolves and rocky mountain sheep and goats.

Not 10 minutes after conferring with each other on the list, I spotted a little tiny, black dot moving along the tree line.  A BEAR!  Yea!! The bear, about 1000 yards away was only visible with the spotting scope or binoculars.  You'll just have to trust me on this one!

We stayed on the low side of the road, set up our tripods with cameras, spotting scope and binoculars.  We didn't wait long.  Tom and I spotted six wolves on the hillside above us before anyone else did.  We soon made it known that the wolves were up and behind the folks on the hill.  Everyone turned around!

Four of the six wolves.  Two are already on the move to come down the hill. The grey one is hard to spot.  It's just to the right of the two close together.

One of the wolves, howled once, then headed down the hill, crossing the road about 50 yards from us!

Another one, a bit more cautious, or maybe not as hungry and waited until the cars cleared out a bit.

Waiting on the hillside for the right moment to cross.

This one snuck around the backside of all the people!

One wolf was frustrated with the number of cars that had stopped on the road to watch him.  They effectively blocked his path from crossing.  Not to be outdone, he went back up the hill, and soon appeared on the far side.  He'd snuck around the back of all the people and crossed the road about a quarter mile away.

Just a pretty scene - no wolves here

We had heard that there was a buffalo carcass just beyond the berm and out of eyesight.  After a couple of the wolves got across the road, we could hear them calling to each other with their howls.  It's a pretty amazing sound.
The last three wolves that we'd seen had been too skittish or nervous about coming down and crossing.  I don't blame them.  There were a lot of people and vehicles all along both sides of the road for about a half mile.
We kept watching the hill behind us.  Tom's 'spidey sense' told him they were still on the hill watching all of us.  He was right!

Spotting the three remaining wolves was great.  The light colored one, howled and howled.  Then the ones at the carcass  would call back.  The three at the top paced back and forth and finally, the light colored one, climbed to the top of the hill and perched on a rock!

We never did see the three remaining wolves come down off the hill.  We decided not to wait for them and continued onward towards the NE gate.   Along the way we did spot two Rocky Mountain Sheep way up on the hill side - tiny little white specks, but confirmed with the binocs!

Just another scenic, with all the wolves down behind the gold berm!

Another successful wish list day.  Now to find coyotes and Mountain goats, and a marmot, a mink, a beaver..... the list can go on and on! We've got one more day - a driving day out of the park.