We’re back to normal cold this morning with 12 degrees (above zero) and a bit of new snow on the car.

It’s snowing lightly as I head off, following fox tracks for a good half mile.

Surprisingly, the snow gets heavier at Round Prairie. By Hitching Post, I find myself in white out, which continues all through the valley until Lamar Canyon.

The view from Lower Hellroaring is pretty murky, so I join the crew at Upper. I can still see the Junctions through a mist of snowfall, still feasting on their bison burger. Sometimes the snow lightens enough to make out more definition. In one of these periods I count 16.

Then the snow curtain thickens and blocks them out. When visibility becomes impossible, we gather around and chit chat. I learn that the weather is much worse on the Blacktail so the Rescue Crew has come here. I have a good time joking around with them, getting to know the new recruits a little better.

Jeremy tells me that the Brave Elk who survived last week is collar #1706. Since her escape, she has been tracked roaming Lamar. He also says she is 19 years old!

Around 10:30 it becomes obvious that the snow is not letting up today, so I head back east.

I find a large bison herd in Lamar flats – the first sizeable herd I’ve seen here for quite a while.

At the Confluence I find a cool-spooky fog rising from the river. The snow clouds are so thick I cannot see Norris at all, nor any part of Specimen Ridge.

But I do see an otter, thanks to Jaime of Wolfracker. Today it’s just one, and it might be a totally different otter, maybe even dad? He is porpoise-diving in the right most up-river channel of the Lamar. I stop for a while right in the road but when other cars come up, I move to the lot.

Unfortunately, I cannot find the otter again, so I head east.

It snows all day long, but we stay snug and warm inside.

Today I saw: bison, 1 otter, 16 Junction wolves and the spirits of Allison, Richard and Jeff.