This morning it looks like more bad weather is on the way but I head off into the dark anyway.

I join my usual group at Hellroaring (Jeff, Sian, Beth and Sandy) but this time we have no wolves in sight, nor any howling. Jeff finds a coyote and I find a bull elk, but besides the usual bison herds, that’s it.

Rick radios from Slough that he had a brief sighting of a single black. But then we get another report of wolves being seen from the OGR. Sian, Sandy and Beth go to check that out while Jeff and I go east.

They end up seeing a whole lot of Eight Mile wolves at a distance.

Jeff and I stop at Elk Creek. We see the plane circling near Junction Butte and guess there could be wolves on the Rescue’s carcass from two days ago.

We go further east and park on Wrecker grade, scoping to the north. Suddenly we are startled to hear a very close wolf howl; a single voice, deep and raspy, almost hoarse. We try our best to find the howler but can’t manage it.

Jeff stays here while I drive east. I spot the Rescue Crew in a dirt lot near Junction Butte. I look where their scopes are pointed and see a single black low on the slope, trotting quickly east.

When the wolf disappears, the Crew sets off to the east. I hear Jeremy say “Boulder”.

I radio Jeff to come east. I join a few visitors on the side of the road who tell me they heard howling from the forest to the south and saw one wolf cross from that side to the north.

I catch movement up on the skyline of Junction Butte and briefly see a black up there. I also hear the hoarse voice howling again, now coming from the eastern side of the Butte. I suspect I am hearing the alpha male of Junction but I’m never able to locate him.

Jeff and I meet again at Boulder. He says as he passed Junction Butte he saw the black on skyline. We scope from here a while but the wolves elude us.

A guide radios from Slough that he hears howling, so we go there and climb Dave’s Hill, joining watchers Dan & Cindy. Doug McLaughlin, Ray and Kathy scan from Lamar Canyon West.

Rick joins us and quickly finds a gray in the flat northeast of us, crossing below the lion meadow.

It passes the Steven King tree, aiming for the area near the Marge tree. Perhaps this gray knows other wolves are there?

The gray passes below the Marge tree and is almost below the Southern Round Tree when it stops and howls. Although we don’t hear a response, the wolf seems to. It turns around quickly and heads up the slope that leads straight to the area behind Marge.

As it nears the top, the gray’s tail begin to wag! That is the universal sign that a wolf greeting is about to happen. Aha! There ARE other wolves there; they are just hidden from our sight.

A rain squall arrives pushing us back to the cars. Doug radios from Lamar Canyon West that he sees a black and a gray traveling together towards the Aspen drainage.

As I drive back west, I wonder if this rain squall is the “winter storm” that was predicted? If so, it’s kind of wimpy. At Phantom Lake I enjoy seeing 3 mule deer cross the flats.

Around Nature Trail, the rain becomes snow. I scope for a while anyway, looking for Rescues, but the visibility is too poor. I see pronghorn in the flats just east of the Gate.

After a break at the motel, I head out again around 6PM. The temperature is now 50 and the rain has stopped.

As I wind up the OGR, I find myself driving towards a rainbow.

I see the Rescue Crew and a few other cars parked at the S Curves, scopes pointed northwest. They have 13 of the 14 Rescue Creek wolves in sight, bedded on a low berm to the north.

Johnny Wu says they were found around 2PM, about 2 hours after I passed through.

I enjoy this easy sighting. No foreground trees to avoid, no hill to climb! Then it gets better when the pack begins to stir. One by one, these gorgeous wolves start to stretch and move about. They greet one another with lots of nuzzling and wagging tails.

The pups begin to play.

A dark black wolf (alpha female?) sets off to the east, which from our angle means the animal is coming closer.

One by one the others fall in line. Gold Stripe and a few of the other youngsters continue to play as they travel, but the adults are all business.

A few stragglers remain bedded; most likely pups. This is how they sometimes get left behind!

I count 13 as does Johnny. I suspect the 14th wolf is nearby somewhere.

As I watch these beautiful wolves, I chuckle at all the hours I spent this morning scoping and not finding, whereas tonight, without any effort but driving, I have 13 in relatively close view.

After about a half hour, they disappear behind a berm. I head back to Gardiner with a big smile on my face.

Today I saw: bison, coyotes, 3 mule deer, elk, pronghorn, 16 wolves (including three Junctions (two blacks and a gray) plus 13 Rescue Creek wolves) and the spirits of Allison, Richard, Jeff and Chloe.