I decided to just stay in this area. With snowshoes in hand I made my way down to the River at the bridge, and hiked down river all the way to the confluence with Slough Creek. Once there I hiked up above the creek, and then followed it back towards the East and the beginning of the meadows. As I reached the meadow I came across the tracks of the Druids. I decided to head uphill to a high vantage point to see if I could spot them. I eventually came to a spot high enough to gave me a commanding view in 3 directions.
Looking East towards Cutoff Mountain...
Looking South towards Lamar Valley....
I found a nice spot to rest and ended up staying there for about 3 hours hoping I might get lucky and see the Druids again. No such luck. I did though spot a lone black wolf through my binoculars on the mountainside across Slough Creek road. I followed it for some time as it made its way west across the main road and the Lamar River. I could see my truck from where I was, and the wolf ended up stopping to rest, directly across from my truck in plain view. Of all the luck. Here I am, 4 miles away, and there's a wolf not 20 yards from my truck. I decided to head out, and maybe get back in time for some pictures. I've never gone downhill so FAST. Once I reached the Lamar River, the wolf was gone. I decided to just stay on the frozen river and make my way back to the bridge. As I was hiking back I had pretty much given up on seeing that black wolf. But I was finally rewarded for all my effort. A bunch of ravens hurriedly flew over my head and I looked up to see this...
Needless to say, I was ecstatic. I have no idea what the story is on this wolf. He was very timid and passive, almost to the point like he was kicked out of the pack he was with. I felt sorry for him.
So Friday ended with a bang, and I was looking forward to Saturday with much anticipation.
Saturday dawned with clear skies and the moon still shining brightly. I stopped to take this picture of the sunrise over the Blacktail area.....
I headed back to the site where the carcass was to see if the Druids were there. They were nowhere to be seen, so I moved on to Lamar Valley. I arrived at Soda Butte parking area. There was a Gov't vehicle there with scopes out looking out across Soda Butte Meadows. I glassed out across the meadows and there was a carcass up on a little hill, and there were 8 druids on it. WOW...it was quite a scene. I moved on towards Trout Lake and parked. I put my snowshoes on and headed up, and traversed across the lower face of Druid Peak all the way back to Soda Butte cone. I had a great vantage point to see the Druids as they were now heading uphill to bed down. But all of a sudden they stopped and began to howl. There howls were returned by other Druids that were higher up on the mountain side. I was awestruck. To hear there howls echoing across the meadows is something I'll never forget. No pictures again. Just wasn't worth the effort with the distance between me and them. They eventually disappeared in to the trees, and I headed down to the road and crossed over to the meadows and followed the Creek back towards my truck. I stopped at Soda Butte cone on my drive back and talked to a gentleman about the wolves I had seen these last 2 days, and he did confirm that they were Druids in both instances. He also had no idea about the lone black wolf. He said the Druids are ranging all over the place now that the Sloughs are basically no problem. He told me that the Druids had made 5 kills in the last 7 days. Very impressive.
I packed up and started the drive back to Mammoth and home, and this is where the magic happened. I rounded the corner at the Yellowstone picnic area to a warning of "congested area". I got goose bumps because I know that signs of a bear had been sighted last weekend. There were a few vehicles parked on the side of the road, as well as a Rangers vehicle. I knew then I had hit the mother lode. I grabbed my camera and tripod and proceeded to the bridge, and there he was....
He was magnificent looking. Looks like he survived the winter just fine. I watched him for over 2 hours as he dug up some old bones and chewed on them, then went into the River to bathe himself.....
As you view these pictures, take notice of the claws on this Grizzly Bear. Talk about impressive!!!!!! He put on quite a show for the onlookers.
I couldn't have asked for a better ending to the weekend. Beautiful blue skies and abundant sunshine, and temps that reached into the 40's on Saturday. I am blessed.
You can view more of the pictures at this link. Use the slideshow feature in the upper right hand corner for the best viewing.
http://s101.photobucket.com/albums/m72/ ... 3-14-2009/
Kevin.
Thanks for the great report and photos Kevin!
