June 15, 2014

Today started like yesterday – up at 6:00 am and out to check on the bison carcass in the Lamar valley. On the way, I saw 2 black bears in the Calcite Springs area.

This morning, the grizzly that was there last night was back. It stayed for just a few minutes and then left. Yoshi showed up just after I got there.

Doug McLaughlin stopped by after the bear had left and gave us 2 useful pieces of information: they were seeing wolves from the area of the confluence of the Soda Butte creek and the Lamar river. The other piece was where to go to see the wolves around Blacktail Plateau.

For 2 days now, I've been hearing about a rendezvous site on the south side of Blacktail, but with no more information, I was having trouble visualizing where the viewpoint was. I had an idea and Doug confirmed that I was close.

So, off we went up the valley to the confluence and, sure enough, we saw 2 wolves – the so-called 755M/889F group. They were just laying in the grass a good ways away and then got up and left over a ridge. Soon after, a grizzly came past the same area and Yoshi identified it as Scarface, an old bear he has photographed a lot.

After a bit of adventure with some bison coming down the road and all of us scurrying to get in our vehicles, I left in search of the Blacktail viewing area. It was just where Doug had said – below the self-guided trail. The rendezvous site was a long way from the road. Someone said you needed the Hubble Telescope to see it well. It's not quite that far, but at the limits of my scope's capabilities. While I was there, a single wolf carrying something crossed into the trees.

After a bit, I thought I would go check on the Hayden Valley and then go out to West Yellowstone in search of some screws to fix a blind in the trailer and a new level. The level I've been using to get the trailer level seems to give conflicting information. Turn it one way and it says level, but turn it 180 degrees and it says way off level. Time for a new one.

On the way, I saw Yoshi's car at the Calcite Springs turnout, so stopped to see what he was up to. He was waiting for the black bear with 3 cubs to make an appearance and, in the meantime, was photographing marmots. There was a family of 5 living in the rocks and down timber across the road. I got my camera out and joined him:

We had been told that the bear of interest had left the area, so we were just about to pack things up and move on when she came over the ridge with all 3 cubs in tow:

The mother bear moved down the hill with the cubs just a cloud of activity around her:

Finally they all settled down for a nap and we left.

The rest of the day was driving and coming up empty on places to see bears or wolves. Nobody was seeing anything at any of the places I stopped. The only thing that was any good was this elk near the road south of Canyon:

There was bison close on the other side and the traffic jam was epic. I was able to get into a turnout and out without much trouble.

Along the way, I got the stuff in West Yellowstone, and put a temporary fix on the blind. I'll make a permanent one when I get home. Then, it was a shower, fill the water tank, empty the waste tanks, make dinner and do this blog post.

It's been a long day and I'm tired. Tomorrow is laundry day, so it should be a lot easier.