This morning as I pack the car in the dark, another avalanche roars down. There is fog in Round Prairie and in Lamar this morning. I drive straight to Slough and join regulars Rick and Paul scoping from the side of the road.

Frank is up on Dave’s Hill. For a while, fog obscures the den area but it soon lifts and we begin to see wolves.

907F and another gray appear, as well as a black. 907 howls a bit, then disappears into the sage den.

A grizzly is spotted near the small diagonal forest. He heads east, crossing the middle of the lion meadow.

907 comes out of the sage den several times this morning. Each time she goes to the spring meadow for a drink, beds for a short while near the den and then goes back underground.

Over the course of the morning, I see a total of 5 Junctions: three blacks (1477F, 1479F and an uncollared black) and two grays (907F and an uncollared gray.)

The wolves are not particularly active this morning. They are mostly bedded with slight movements here or there.

The big excitement occurs when 1479F appears from where she had been hidden in the gully. She approaches the other wolves with a high, wagging tail, greeting each one. Then she journeys to the natal den, followed at a distance by the uncollared gray.

1479F goes inside briefly, then comes back out. The gray approaches the entrance, gives it a sniff, then goes back down through the bracken.

Both of these wolves re-bed close to the sage den.

By 10AM the day has warmed up to 46 degrees – which is not very warm!

A report reaches us of five grizzlies in sight from Boulder. I suspect it might mean a carcass is nearby.

Laurie, Dan and I set up on the hill just as a drizzle begins. Krisztina joins us and we have a happy reunion. She now lives in Silver Gate and works at Stop The Car.

Alas, we are too late to see the grizzlies; they already topped out over the skyline to the west. It was a family of three plus two adults fairly close together (perhaps siblings). We content ourselves with a view of bighorns in the rocks, as well as some healthy-looking elk and bison.

Two coyotes trot through the sage close to us, heading east. Then someone spots a black wolf, which turns out to be the Junction alpha male. Hmm, maybe there IS a carcass in the area?

I notice a few elk running from the spot where I saw the alpha male, but I never see him or the elk re-appear.

Around 11 we head back east.

I think we are going back to Silver Gate, but Laurie and Dan stop at Exclosure. As I pull in behind them, they start carrying their scopes up the hill.

I see Rick up higher, so I figure they are joining him. I find out that Rick asked for their help in identifying some “mystery wolves” bedded flat out in the eroded area of the old Druid Rendezvous.

Well, this is interesting!

The wolves are easy to see, even though they are flat-out bedded. There are several grays, looking almost white in the morning light. I see a total of 10; 7 grays and 3 blacks. Three of the grays are especially light.

Before I started counting I figured they were the Shrimp pack but they have 7 not 10. Too many for Junction and too many grays for Rescue.

Laurie says “they have to be Mollies”.

Woo hoo! It’s always a treat to have this beautiful pack in Lamar. I recall that on my last full day in late March, several members of the Mollies were seen near Crystal drainage and then on Jasper Bench. They were seen again in Lamar two days in a row just about a week ago. Many males in the current Mollies Pack are former Junction wolves, so they would be particularly fond of and comfortable in this valley.

But Laurie still seems concerned. The Mollies are supposed to be a pack of 10, with five black and five gray. We are seeing extra grays and not enough blacks. So it’s still a bit of a puzzle.

We can make out a collar on one of the light grays, but the rest laying so flat we just can’t identify any others.

Laurie thinks we should take our usual break in Silver Gate and return later when they are likely to get up from their nap.

Which we do.

We drive into the valley again around 5 and set up on Trash Can Hill. Scott W comes up, too. The Mollies are still flat out, bedded in the same place, in two groups: six on the right, four on the left.

While we wait for them to move, Dan finds a grizzly at treeline.

Around 5:30 a collared black gets up and begins rousing others.

Part of the mystery of “too many grays” is solved when we recognize 1048M and 1090F. Both of these are older wolves who are actually “black going gray”.

It’s great to see both of these oldsters. 1090F was once the Mollie alpha, and of course 1048M is one of our favorites, a beloved former Junction.

From a distance, it’s hard to differentiate between 1048 and 1090, but when they are close together, 1048 has a bit of a golden/brown cast, whereas 1090 seems more silvery.

Judging by his behavior, a very large collared gray is most likely 1339M, also a former Junction, now perhaps the new alpha male.

There is an interesting collared black female, (later ID’d as 1411F) and another black female with a “gold” stripe who seems youngish.

Laurie thinks two other grays with this group are very likely former Junctions, both males. We see six collared wolves in the group; three grays and three blacks.

The wolves start moving and stretching. Soon, the pack sets off to the east. Two black females give chase to some pronghorn in the area, but give up pretty soon.

The Mollies turn their focus to a bison herd. They quickly surround a yearling, making contact but getting some kicks in return. The yearling finds safety with the herd and the pack backs off. They rally 3 separate times!

They seem so happy with each other, with high, wagging tails.

Then they surprise us and turn back west, gathering on the “hump” for a fourth rally. Once they finish, they seem to be investigating a very old carcass in that spot.

A gray begins to stalk two approaching pronghorn, using the cover of thick sage. This wolf gets to within about three two feet of the pair before they spot him and bolt away. The wolf pursues them regardless of his slim chances of success.

A second wolf who was also stalking them parallels the running pronghorn while a third wolf cuts across and very nearly trips one of the speedsters. The pronghorn kick it into the next gear and leave the wolves far behind.

The Mollies continue traveling steadily west, now passing the double foothill.

As nice as this sighting is, the light is fading and my back is complaining, so I call it a night.

Laurie and Dan and Rick stay a while longer.

On the road back, just east of Soda Cone, I stop to allow four bison cows, each with a tiny new baby, cross the road to the north.

The calves are tiny and so cute!

Just east of the Pebble Creek bridge I spot a moose running through the trees to the south. My last sighting is one of the local foxes prowling the road.

When Laurie and Dan return, they tell me that south of Picnic the Mollies suddenly gave chase to a single GPS gray who ran for its life towards the river. The pack eventually gave up and the gray stood and stared at them.

Laurie is pretty sure this GPS gray was Junction 1478F, who was no doubt quite surprised to see this pack in Lamar, much less to be chased by them in her own territory.

Laurie left as the Mollies were heading up Jasper Bench.

Then Laurie gets a text from Krisztina, who stayed even longer. She saw the Mollies change course abruptly and chase a cow and calf bison down towards the river. It was nearly dark, but she puts her phone in video mode on her scope and watches that way. The phone has some sort of night-time setting that allows viewing in really low light. She thinks they got the calf.

Today I saw: 2 grizzly bears, bison, coyotes, elk, a fox, a moose, pronghorn, bighorn sheep, ground squirrels, 16 wolves: 6 Junctions (including 907F, 1477F, 1479F, and three more) plus 10 Mollies (including 1048M, 1090F, 1339M, 1 411F, two more blacks and four more grays) and the spirits of Allison, Richard, Jeff and Chloe.