I leave Gardiner around 6:15. It’s still quite dark but I see faint beginnings of first light as I wind up the OGR.

At Hellroaring Overlook I join my buds, Jeff, Beth and Sian. They report howling coming from the bend in the creek. Sian finds them first, Junction wolves, on our side of the Creek. They’re bedded on a low sage hill just above a little pond.

Jeff notices numerous birds in some dead trees nearby, including a bald eagle. Hmm, perhaps they got a carcass yesterday?

However, the wandering movements of these wolves suggests there is nothing left to return to. They sniff around, ambling here and there without too much purpose.

It’s sometimes hard to see them since they are closer than usual. The many foreground trees growing on the slope below the pullout block our view of them, so we are quite relieved when they begin to travel east and upslope.

This is a group of five, but with one change from the five we saw yesterday from Boulder heading to the Trough. We see the alpha pair, 1478F and 1479F. But instead of 1385F, we see a dark, uncollared black.

They follow the creek for a while, continuing upslope. There are dozens of small bison herds all over the open slope and as the wolves approach, they test them, looking for weak individuals.

All the herds react in a healthy way; bunching and moving slightly away. Sometimes one or two individuals will step out to confront the wolves with raised tails and brimming attitude.

As the wolves continue up and east, each of them finds its own route. I guess because there is so little snow they don’t really need to stick to the line form of travel. But they all trend in the same direction, passing various drainages. Someday I’ll name all the drainages so I can keep track of the wolves more easily!

Eventually they emerge above a particularly deep drainage with thick trees at the top where they stop to bed a while.

The Rescue crew arrives in the pullout. They have been following their wolves this morning as they travelled from t heir carcass yesterday towards Garnet Hill. Although the Crew does not announce it, it’s clear their arrival here means the Rescues are likely headed this way.

Hmmm. That could mean a confrontation between the packs.

I continue to follow the Junctions as they move higher and higher on the slope. 907 lags behind, as is normal for her. She will be 11 in April and she is pregnant.

I see that Jeremy’s scope is aimed at Garnet, so I scan of that area, too, checking routes I’ve seen wolves taken before.

I find no wolves on Garnet so I swing back to the Junctions. They have moved a bit, now bedded on a small knoll slightly east of the line of trees along the upper part of Hellroaring Creek.

The last time I saw both packs at Hellroaring at the same time, 1382F was still in charge of at least 25 Junctions, while the Rescues numbered maybe 10 or 11. At that time, all the males in the Rescue pack were former Junctions, while the two females were from 8 Mile.

I remember that we saw the Rescues on Garnet where they stopped to assess the strength of the Junction pack. 1382 led her pack swiftly down across the main Hellroaring slope, directly towards the Rescues. The Rescue females fled quickly, followed by the more reluctant males. They escaped a confrontation, but 1382 had been clearly up for one!

This time, the Rescues outnumber the Junctions almost 3 to 1.

I look back at the Junctions and see them all stand at the same time, looking downslope. Have they gotten wind of the Rescues?

It occurs to me to check the “carcass area” for any dawdling Junctions. When I turn my scope in that direction, it lands on several black wolves. “Wolves” I say out loud. “Five, six, seven blacks”. Everyone suddenly wants to know where I’m looking.

The Crew finds them quickly. Turns out I’ve found the Rescues, looking just as robust as they did yesterday. They are well below the Junctions, in the middle of the lower third of the big open slope, still east of Hellroaring Creek.

There is a sudden tension in the pullout, since the Rescues have appeared MUCH closer to the Junction pack than anyone thought they’d be.

Everyone knows that 907F is slow and if the Rescues decide to charge them, she is likely be caught and killed. Everyone loves 907 and no-one wants that to actually happen, much less see it.

Two things are in the Junctions’ favor: they are currently quite far upslope with a lot of forest nearby which might offer protection for them. Also, the Rescues have already travelled quite far this morning in a relatively short length of time.

But my main worry right now is that the Junctions don’t yet seem to know the Rescues are here. They are still on that little knob.

The Rescue leaders stop, looking intently west, rather than upslope where the Junctions are. The rest of the Rescue pack makes their way across the slope, traveling in a line. They are definitely a formidable group.

Suddenly the Rescues take off to the west, towards the creek, right to the spot where we felt there could be a carcass. We see them on the other side of the creek for a brief moment and I realize they are sniffing a spot where 1479 had been before following the alphas upslope an hour ago.

They take off suddenly again, tails high in excitement, running full out back across the creek to the east.

Many of us think the Junctions are doomed. I turn my scope uphill to check how much distance the Junctions have in their favor. They are moving again, following the upper line of Hellroaring Creek, right at treeline. But they move casually, as if unaware of the rival pack.

My heart sinks. I don’t want to watch 907 get killed.

I check the Rescue’s progress and find that instead of rushing upslope to the Junctions, they run straight across the open slope, a nearly all-male army of wolves. As I watch in disbelief, they begin to trend DOWN the slope, not up.

THEY ARE GOING THE WRONG WAY!

The Rescue pack is quite impressive, 14 energized, high-tailed wolves running full out across the snowy slope, passing dozens of small bison herds, taking absolutely no interest in their frequent prey.

The Rescues reach a drainage in the middle of the slope and slow down a bit to sniff around, then they are off again, continuing further east towards the next drainage. They get as far as the outer trees of Little Buffalo, before they stop for another frenzied sniff.

Now they rally, erupting in a long, loud, boisterous howl, announcing their size and power.

I sneak a peek at the Junctions. They have stopped in their tracks, listening. Finally, they are aware of their danger. Three of them quickly enter the trees, which I hope offers a safer place for them.

The Rescue rally is over. They now begin to retrace their steps, back west. They break into a run again, but not quite as full out as before.

They travel quickly over the open slope all the way to Hellroaring Creek once more. They disappear temporarily into the drainage at the same “carcass spot” as before.

Several Rescue wolves emerge on the west side of the creek. Three pups (who perhaps didn’t understand what all the running was about anyway) enter a small pond left of the creek, wading in up to their knees. They begin a rambunctious play session, chasing each other full tilt around the borders of the pond, splashing up a storm. Others run in a circle at the water’s edge.

Gold Stripe is one of these playful wolves, temporarily pursued by two gray pups, until she turns the tables. She and one of the grays chase the other gray back around the pond the opposite way.

Wow, it’s amazing to see how much energy these youngsters have, given they travelled here from Wrecker, ran across the widest part of HR slope three times, and still have energy left for play.

Some of the adults begin to bed down.

I breathe a sigh of relief.

At the moment, it looks like the Rescues have given up on further pursuit. But are the Junctions truly safe? They are no longer in sight. Jeremy checks and says they are moving east, with diminishing signals.

It’s unclear to me why the Rescues went the “wrong” way, but I am very glad they did, for 907’s sake. Wolf behavior is often baffling, of course. But they must have been guided by something.

Perhaps they were smelling the scent trail that the Junctions made when they first arrived at Hellroaring from the east. Or maybe the Rescues were smelling the story of the chase that ended with the carcass.

I recall that when the Junctions travelled upslope, they were not in a line but scattered about. Perhaps this ended up leaving less scent overall, making them harder to track?

I don’t know.

But we are finally able to relax. It appears that 907 and her pack dodged a bullet today, and that is good.

I hear talk among the Crew that this is the second day in a row that the Rescues have been active on the north side of the river. This strengthens the hypothesis that we may be on the cusp of regime change.

I’m just glad that our most-seen pack and its well-loved members were not caught asleep today!

Around 11:30, the Rescues are still in sight, bedded and relaxed. I fold up my scope and head east, hoping the Junction group finds its way to safer areas.

I see Rick’s car parked at Slough when I arrive, so I follow him out to Bob’s, where several others are already set up. We scope all the usual spots, especially concentrating on the areas by the Marge tree, but see no wolves.

I hear a long, low howl from that spot, but never find the howler.

On my way back west, I find the Crew and Jeff at Lower Hellroaring. Jeff tells me the Rescues remained bedded for a while, but have since moved west, past Tornado drainage and up a rocky hill.

We talk a bit and Jill Sholly shows up to deliver a tub of home-made cookies for the Crew. She and I have a bit of conversation, too. She is such a nice person.

I continue west and take a break in Gardiner to do my stretches and enjoy a shower. Later, I meet Jeff and Sian and Sandy and Beth at Wonderland for dinner. We have a nice time and chatter on about the drama we saw today.

I am happily surprised to find light still in the sky at almost 8PM. On the short drive back to the motel, I have another “Chloe sighting” in the form of a sweet brown bunny that hops quickly and safely across the street from the Riverside Cabin area.

Today I saw: bison, coyotes, a bald eagle, a golden eagle, elk, pronghorn, a rabbit (Chloe), 19 wolves (5 Junctions including the alphas, 1478F, 1479F and an uncollared black, plus 14 Rescue Creek wolves – the full pack) and the spirits of Allison, Richard, Jeff and Chloe.