Before I leave this morning, I check to see how Laurie is. She says she was able to sleep, which is a relief.

Outside I find about two inches of snow on car and it’s still snowing lightly.

The snow is wet, though, and it makes the roads quite icy, so I creep along at about 20mph. When I reach Lamar I find no Mollies in view, despite plenty of eyes looking. There is fog but it’s mostly up high.

For some reason today, the bison herds in Lamar seem obsessed with crossing and re-crossing the road. They might have made a pact to try to teach us to slow down. Their movements make driving extra treacherous today.

I set up at Dorothy’s with others and find the “brown pants” bear feeding on the carcass. However, there is no sign of 1048 nor any other wolf. It is snowing lightly but luckily it does not obscure visibility.

On I go to Slough, where I find a single bedded black (not sure who yet) and a “suspicious black lump”. The “lump” becomes the alpha male. A little later a gray (1478) emerges, along with her younger sister, 1479F.

1479F is very active this morning, bouncing around running from one wolf to another, briefly pinning 1478F and bothering a second as-yet-unidentified black.

A little after 7AM the alpha male and 1479F head off on a hunting adventure to the east, followed by 1478F and the two unidentified blacks. They pass the Crescent Rock and move into the Diagonal Forest. They temporarily disappear, then emerge behind it, continuing east above Horizontal Forest, coming out again near the zig- zag willows.

There are a few elk in the area, which spook and run off as the wolves get close.

Eventually the hunting party enters the yellow grass meadow, flushing a single elk near the top. They follow that elk out of sight but don’t seem to be close enough to it to get it.

The snow finally stops and the day turns sunny.

We hear from those coming from the west that early this morning, a truck jackknifed near Elk Creek due to icy conditions. Rangers had to close the road temporarily in order to get him hauled out, which prevented several guides and their clients from proceeding east for a while.

We hear a report of wolves being seen from Trash Can, so I head that way.

At the east end of Lamar Canyon, a pretty fox crosses the road.

By the time I get to Picnic, I learn that the sighting was of several Mollies on the north side, pursuing a herd of bison.

When I set up, I see bison still in view, but the wolves are gone. The sun is already melting the snow on the road, leaving just a few icy spots.

I head back to Slough, where I see 907 come out of the den for a drink. She still looks pregnant to me, so she’s not whelped yet.

At 10AM I go in for the day. Laurie and Dan never made it out this morning, so I am concerned for her.

She is sore but ok. We talk about Mollies and check our notes, figuring out that the current alpha female, 1410F, has not been among the visiting Mollies. We hope this means she is in Pelican at her den with pups.

We stay in for the rest of the day. Around 4:45PM, Kristina sends a message that 907 may have just given birth! She was seen coming out of the den and looked noticeably slimmer.

She says 907 hurried to the spring meadow for a drink, turned and dashed back underground. Later, the alpha male returned from the east and 907 bolted out to beg a meal from him. He fed her and she dashed back inside the den.

This behavior seems to indicate she has live pups in the den and needs to get back to them quickly. Every other time I’ve seen 907 go in or out of the den, she was casual, not in a hurry.

Oh boy, I hope it’s true. And I hope the pups are healthy!

Today I saw: 1 grizzly bear, bison, coyotes, elk, pronghorn, 6 Junction wolves (including 907F, AM, 1478F, 1479F plus two blacks) and the spirits of Allison, Richard, Jeff and Chloe.