I spent Friday snowshoeing up to Trout Lake. I have never been up there. I'm sure it's better in the summer than in the winter, so I'll have to make a trip once the snows melt. And boy was there some snow. I ended up spending about 3 hours exploring the backcountry area and found Shrimp lake as well as Buck Lake too. All 3 are still completely frozen over. This whole area is mostly in the trees, so not any real views to speak of.
After leaving Trout lake, I headed back towards Lamar Valley. The roads are still very deserted. I was able to stop on the road and watch a coyote "mousing" for a good 5 minutes and not one vehicle came upon me. I stopped at Footbridge for a few minutes, but nothing was happening. I proceeded around the corner to Hitching Post and there were a couple of vehicles there, one of those belonged to Bill Kaiser. I stopped and chatted with Bill and Linda for awhile. As we were talking, we noticed a car stop between Hitching Post and Footbridge. And then out of nowhere a black wolf appeared and walked right up to the car. I mean the driver could have reached out and touched the wolf he was so close. The wolf "hung" around the car for maybe 10-15 seconds, and then trotted off. We watched him head off, and Bill snapped off a few pictures as did I, but the light was horrible, so my 2 didn't turn out so well. Seems there is a 2 day old Bison carcass in the area just to the left of Hitching Post down in a depression out of view.. A Coyote ended up appearing right after the wolf thinking he might enjoy a taste of the bounty, but he was ever wary of the wolf. I was able to get some nice shots of him.....
And to my delight, this little fellow flew up to check out all of the commotion......
I never get tired of seeing these beautiful birds. So I bid good-bye to Bill and Linda, and headed for Gardiner to meet up with Julie. I had high hopes for Saturday.
Julie and I struck out early Saturday a.m. Not quite sure what to expect, we headed to Hitching Post to check things out before we decided to go snowshoeing, and it's a good thing we did. Only one vehicle at Hitching Post, and I recognized it, but we continued on to Footbridge. Rounding the corner we saw all the "usual" suspects there, so we stopped. Out across Soda Butte Creek there lay, spread out in all directions, the 13 wolves of the Druid Pack in all their glory. They were very easy to see with the naked eye, but even better with binocs, scopes, and lenses. It was a sight to behold. Julie was overwhelmed. She has seen wolves before, but not like this.
We spent 15-20 minutes watching them. Bill Kaiser eventually showed up too. But I couldn't help thinking about that lone vehicle at Hitching Post, so Julie and I headed back there. We walked about 100 yards down to Soda Butte Creek where this gentleman was set-up, and what a great decision it turned out to be. We were treated to the antics of a lone black wolf that was hilarious. From the "looks" of him, I'd say that he was a "yearling". Correct me if I am wrong on that assumption. We watched him for over an hour probably. Bill Kaiser eventually joined us. Now the pictures....the quality isn't "perfect" what with the light, and the black on white background, but you'll get the "picture"....
It was FANTASTIC....he was amazing to watch. In the one photo, hopefully you can make out that he is howling. He started, and then in domino fashion the rest of the Druids joined in. It was one of the most incredible sounds I've ever heard. Julie was speechless. This went on for quite sometime. Some of the wolves had departed the area earlier, and were bedded down up Dead Puppy Hill, but that didn't stop them from returning the howls of the young black wolf. He was the only wolf left out in this area and eventually got up and wandered away to join the rest of the Pack after the serenade. A truly memorable experience.
We ended up leaving and headed to Cooke City to eat lunch. Obviously snowshoeing was out of the question on this day. We arrived back a couple of hours later and the Druids were out and about up Dead Puppy Hill. They didn't come down again so we decided to call it a day, and head home to Bozeman. One note, a Bison calf was born over in Little America. I "think" I saw it on the drive through, but couldn't make it out for sure.
All in all, another magnificent day in Yellowstone. I'm glad I decided to go, and not listen to the local weather report.
Kevin.
Thanks for the Yellowstone fix!
Great photos and what a fun time watching the yearling! I can almost hear the pack howl now. 
