It looks like another clear day as I depart Silver Gate at 6:40AM.

I listen for howling at Round Prairie, Picnic and Dorothy’s, but hear only birdsong and wind.

At Lamar Canyon West, I join Jeff, Laurie & Dan, looking towards the Marge Simpson tree where Jeff saw a few Junctions last evening. Some may still be here this morning, but they manage to hide from our view.

After a while we hear a guide report a sighting of wolves in view north of the Ranch.

Luckily, there is plenty of parking, and the wolves are still in view. Beth directs me where to look.

My first wolf, an uncollared gray, appears on skyline to the east, on the slope with the rocky cliffs north of Hubbard Hill. The wolf moves downslope to the west. Ahead of it is a black wolf – aha, it’s the Junction alpha male. Two more wolves appear: 907F and 1479F.

1479F is technically a black wolf, but her color right now is more mocha brown than black. She is also a bold, intrepid wolf, often out in front; a very confident explorer.

These four wolves head down through the trees, into the low, rolling hills going in and out of sight. We get a nice, extended view of them as they cross a meadow, where I have seen countless wolf packs over the years.

All too soon they go out of view.

Doug Mac calls from Picnic with another wolf sighting. Laurie and Dan and I join him there. We see two blacks and a gray on the north side, traveling west just below the moose-head tree.

They stop high on a snowy knob, looking intently west. One of the three is 1385F but we are not sure who the other two are, besides other Junctions. They howl several times and then set off with determination to the west, very likely following the alpha group.

We make a game out of speculating where this trio might come back into view. I guess wrong as many times as I guess right!

While we wait for the wolves to reappear, a visitor in the lot tells us an amazing story of a provoked coyote attack that happened March 9. Michael is in this lot, too. He witnessed it as well.

I repeat it here, since I find it instructional to visitors.

* * * *

On that morning, people were out of their cars near the Confluence, watching two coyotes just across the Lamar to the south, squabbling intensely over something small in the willows. Both coyotes displayed the “alligator face” with hunched backs.

The losing coyote swam the river towards the road. Everyone backed off to their cars to give the animal room - except for one lady. She remained where she was, cell phone in hand, hoping for a close-up. Whether intentionally or not, she was blocking the coyote’s path.

The coyote charged at the woman, biting repeatedly at her ankles. Michael and some others ran to assist her, spooking the coyote away. Everyone was surprised that the coyote had behaved this way, although Michael felt the animal was simply defending itself.

The woman rejoined her husband at her car, and found that, despite her heavy winter pants and boots, the coyote bit through them to her skin. She was bleeding.

Michael advised her to get medical help, which she eventually did, in Livingston. When she spoke to Rangers, however, she gave a somewhat dubious story. The Rangers questioned Michael (and other witnesses), who provided some important details.

As a result of this instance, the Park placed numerous signs in the pullouts east and west of Confluence, warning of an “habituated” coyote.

Michael and I agree that it’s good to see the warnings, but don't feel the coyote behaved in a “habituated” manner. We see it as natural, if a bit unusual. It did what wild animals do when they feel cornered.

I’m sorry the lady was hurt, but I also hope she learned her lesson. I relate it here in the hopes that visitors will give wild animals the space they deserve.

* * * *

Around 10AM I find myself back on the little hill just east of the Ranch driveway, where I watched the alpha group cross the low meadow over an hour ago. Sure enough, the Junction trio soon appears in the same spot, each wolf taking its own route to the west, nose to the ground.

And just like before, we lose them all too soon.

Jeff and I relocate to Coyote and quickly find the threesome traversing a high slope, going out of sight all too soon.

Sian goes all the way to Bob’s Knob at Slough and has already spotted a single black near the creek. Jeff and I climb Dave’s Hill, and eventually see several Junctions arrive from the east.

First, I see two blacks and a collared gray, crossing the campground road way down by the gravel lot. They quickly travel through the flats, passing below the lion meadow. Eventually they join another black and gray in the flats in front of us. Jeff and I never figure out how these two snuck by us!

We don’t see the alphas, nor 1479F from our perch on Dave’s Hill. We figure they arrived earlier and are now hidden somewhere in the Marge Simpson area.

All in all, Jeff and I see a total of six wolves cross the flats. Each one disappears in the area behind the Marge Simpson tree; two grays (one collared) and four blacks (two collared). One of the collared blacks behaves in a dominant way towards the collared gray.

We also hear the unique call of a pair of Sandhills at Slough. It’s so nice to have them back.

Around 1PM I head back east to do my stretches.

I end up staying in tonight.

Today I saw: bison, a coyote, elk, 9 Junction wolves including the alphas, 1479F, 1385F, and five others (three blacks and two grays) and the spirits of Allison, Richard, Jeff and Chloe.