I have been to Yellowstone several times throughout my life and have fallen in love with it each time. When I was a child, about 10 years old, my parents took me to Yellowstone for the first time. We got caught up in a very dramatic moose encounter one day when a moose calf got separated from its’ mother. I will never forget this day and how overjoyed I was when they finally found each other again. I suspect this event was the beginning of my love affair with wildlife and nature and how it can move me so profoundly in such a spiritual way.
My last trip to Yellowstone was this past May-June (2010). I was somehow hoping for just a glimpse of a wolf in the wild. I knew it was a long shot, but I had hope! It had been a dream of mine for many years to see wolves in the wild. Wolves are such amazing animals to me. I really did not have a clue as to what I was about to experience. Our first day out started lazily. We decided that we would save our wolf-watching/really early morning/Lamar Valley day until the following morning to recoup from our travels. We probably got on the road about 10 AM to head to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone for a little sightseeing. As we turned the corner into Hayden Valley, a fairly large crowd was gathering and watching something up on a hill...there were a lot of crazy zoom camera lenses out, so we figured it had to be something big...it couldn’t possibly be wolves, could it? As we stopped the car, we could hear fairly consistent yips coming from some coyotes. We got out and started talking to people and they explained that there were two wolves from the Mollie Pack on top of the hill trying to find a coyote den. Sure enough we spotted 2 wolves almost immediately...a big black one that was keeping the coyotes at bay while the gray one was digging trying to find the den. The coyotes were none too happy about this. Life and nature...it sure can be cruel sometimes. I don’t think words can adequately explain my feelings at this moment, but I would say that complete awe and amazement would come the closest.
So, this first day began our incredible wildlife luck in Yellowstone. We saw wolves on 2 other days (and we were only in the park for 4 days!). Our second encounter was a couple of wolves in Lamar Valley eating a bison carcass (we believe these wolves were either lone wolves or from the Slough Creek Pack), and the third one was back in Hayden Valley where a wolf (again, from the Mollie Pack) was chasing an elk and it’s baby (the mom elk hid the baby in the tall grass by the river and since the wolf was alone, he finally gave up).
We also encountered a grizzly mom with 2 cubs in Dunraven Pass, and also saw grizzlies in the Lamar Valley. We saw coyotes, bison and lots of playful bison calves, deer, elk, moose, and most importantly to me, my dream to see wolves in the wild was fulfilled. Of course, this has only fueled the wolf fire and I plan on going back to do some serious wolf watching and photography in the not too distant future. If this experience taught me one thing, it taught me that I needed a new camera so I could capture some of these amazing creatures on film.
We did manage to visit almost every corner of Yellowstone over the course of our stay. We lodged at Old Faithful Inn and explored the park from there. Next time I think I would stay more north, closer to Lamar and Hayden for better wildlife watching. Anyway, we did manage to get to Lamar Valley twice, Hayden Valley several times, Mammoth Hot Springs, Norris Geyser Basic, Yellowstone Lake and Hotel, Fishing Bridge, Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, Dunraven Pass, etc. Here are a few photos from our trip.
Yellowstone River
Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone
Norris Geyser Basin
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