I start my day at the Peregrine carcass, as usual. But we find nothing in view; no bears, no wolves.

I guess the carcass is, indeed, finished. As I drive towards Slough I reflect on the fact that we saw seven separate Junctions yesterday investigating other areas. I should have understood that this was a sign that the bounty has ended.

Paul calls from Dave’s Hill. He has wolves near Marge. I climb up to join him and Rick but get a surprise.

The Junctions are no longer near Marge but on the move to the north, and the pups are with them!

They are moving at a brisk pace towards Junction Pass, which is a route to the west north of the mixed forest. They are traveling in a fairly orderly line. Paul has a count of 14.

Rick kindly calls me to his scope as he knows they will soon be out of sight. I see the tail end of the line of wolves as they approach a distinctive rock outcropping.

I see three blacks disappear behind this rock. Paul offers his scope and I see a fourth do the same thing.

And that’s it. I never even get my own scope up.

Paul and Rick both had a high count of 14, including all five pups. They seem to be short two blacks so perhaps they are still roaming elsewhere, or headed out before the group.

I vainly scope the area around Marge, hoping to find the remaining two. People begin to speculate that the Junctions have finally done what we’ve been dreading for months: moved to a new rendezvous area out of sight.

Rick, who always sees the bright side of things, suggests it may not be a permanent move but a training excursion for the pups. This is the time of year when the pack needs to teach the pups to travel and keep up.

We pack up and head down to our cars. I drive west to Boulder and join 50 people already on the hill, hoping to find the Junctions again.

And Gary does find them briefly, well west of Mom’s Ridge, traveling through deep sage. I manage to see three blacks as they move through a small clearing. Then the thick sage swallows them and I never see any more.

They seem to be on course for the dreaded trough.

The trough is an area we cannot see from any location along the road, nor any nearby hillside that I know of. It’s a wide valley between two ridges that only the plane can see into.

All the wolf packs of the northern range spend time there. It’s popular with elk and many kills have been made there. So it’s actually a perfect place to take the pups.

People start to spread out, hoping they are on their way to Hellroaring, where we might see them again.

People scope from Petrified tree, Elk creek, and Hellroaring, all with no success.

I try Lower Hellroaring myself but still find no wolves. Unfortunately, I see no elk, either. I suspect the Junctions went in search of elk, which is their age-old motivation.

Around 9:30 I reluctantly head back to Silver Gate to pack and clean.

Once that’s done, I once again head west, starting my slow drive back to Bozeman. I stop to say goodbye and thanks to my various wolf buds.

We all agree that we’ve had six days of excellent viewing.

Today I saw: a grizzly bear, bison (and calves), coyotes, elk, pronghorn, at least four Junction wolves (all blacks; likely some were pups) and the spirits of Allison, Richard, Jeff and Chloe.