Today is my last morning for a while. It’s clear and warm at 43 degrees.

I see the local fox east of Baronette this morning.

At Slough I climb up Dave’s Hill. It’s slow going for the first hour and we suspect the wolves are all hiding in the meadow behind the Flower hill.

Fellow watchers last night saw a hunting party of 5 wolves going west around 8PM. So perhaps those might come back soon?

Around 6:30AM, stalwart 1479F (who may or may not have been one of the hunting party) arrives from the west. She stops at the sage den for a quick sniff, then heads to the eastern trees and disappears.

We have a few brief glimpses of the alpha male at the edge of the eastern trees. A gray adult wanders west behind those same trees, followed by both pups. But they reverse course and disappear again.

1479 chases a pronghorn past the Crescent rock, then wanders around in the rocks for about 10 minutes.

1478 emerges from Hidden Meadow, crosses the den meadow, scent trails into the western trees and then continues over the northern pass. Perhaps 1479 gave her some food information?

907 emerges from Hidden Meadow and comes down to the spring meadow for a nice long drink.

As usual we have a good number of bears in view from our perch up here, including two grizzly families to the south: the sow with two and the sow with three.

We also find a single grizzly up in the high drainage above the Diagonal forest and a single black bear in the meadow above the den cliff.

Despite the lackluster wolf action, it’s a nice morning, spent with dear friends with as gorgeous a natural view as it gets.

Around 9:30 it’s already 65 degrees (and feels warmer) so Laurie and Dan and I head back east. We stop at Dorothy’s to check the coyote den here.

To our delight, 6 of the 8 pups are out cavorting and exploring. There are also two “teenage” yearlings in the area, wrestling each other, playing kind of rough, but appropriately for their age. They do not seem the least interested in the young pups but in besting each other.

A little one comes over to its older siblings, thinking it might be fun to join in their play. But no, these two are too rough for the wee one. The little guy quickly retreats to re-join pups his own size!

There is also a watchful adult bedded nearby.

I think the coyotes are glad the bison have finally gone away!

Lamar valley is filled with a huge bison herd all the way from Dorothy’s to Picnic. The big brown beasts and their ubiquitous red dogs dot the green everywhere you look.

It looks to me that the river has quieted down from its peak a few days ago. The braided channels are beginning to re-appear.

Our drive back includes a black bear sighting south in Round Prairie, and several mule deer by the pothole bridge.

Back in Silver Gate I help Laurie clean and pack up my stuff. I leave around noon for my final drive through the Park on my way to Bozeman.

I stop again at Footbridge, but alas, the small coyote pups are not in view.

At Dorothy’s I find that bison have once again invaded the den area. Some are bedded in the very same spots where I saw the pups playing just a few hours ago.

I have no doubt they are safely underground, anxiously awaiting the departure of the large, noisy ungulates.

In Lamar Canyon, I get stuck temporarily in a black bear jam. Traffic is at a standstill; no cars are proceeding east for 15 minutes. I never see the bear but I do enjoy seeing the swollen river.

I get to Slough around 1PM and join Paul along the roadside to say farewell. We catch a lucky glimpse of 1479 moving down from the Flower Hill to the spring meadow.

She has a drink, then wanders about, eventually bedding right in the meadow. I bet she found a cool spot.

At Junction Butte I see mule deer and join a small crowd watching a pair of sandhills with two colts near Junction Pond.

Arrowleaf balsamroot is finally beginning to bloom on the hills north and south of Elk Creek.

At Phantom Lake, I get stuck in a second bear jam. This one lasts another 15 minutes! I never see this bear either!

As I cross the High Bridge, I hear the beautiful trill of a meadowlark.

It’s smooth sailing the rest of the way home.

Today I saw: 4 black bears, 8 grizzlies (including 5 cubs of the year), bison (with calves), coyotes (including 6 pups), sandhill cranes and two colts, mule deer, elk, a fox, a meadowlark, pronghorn, 6 Junction wolves (including 907, AM, 1478, 1479 and both pups) and the spirits of Allison, Richard, Jeff and Chloe.