This morning, I sleep in a bit. I want to be at Nature Trail at first light.

I am surprised to see a long line of cars waiting to pass through the Main gate in the dark at 6:10AM!

There is a bit of fog along the way but the meadows and hills south of Nature Trail are clear. I scope with a few other early birds for a while but find no wolves.

It’s a chilly 24 degrees at 7AM when I head further east. I stop at Hellroaring but find only elk, bison and a lone hiker.

It’s nearly 8AM when I approach Slough and I worry that I’ll be way too late to see anything. But luck is with me.

Folks up on Dave’s have some Junctions in view and they are still visible when I arrive. It seems that the only activity I missed was following 1385F as she wandered up towards the den area.

I see six wolves in the Marge rendezvous, three blacks and three grays. For a while the only movement is a head coming up for a look around, or a stretch or a quick re-bed.

Two of the six are pups; the gray and one of the blacks. The gray pup gets up and starts to pester her black sibling. The black pup clearly prefers to remain napping, so the gray pup finds ways to amuse herself. Eventually she climbs the low hill towards Marge.

1477F has been bedded on the low, bare hilltop just left of Marge. She gets up and wanders west behind the mixed forest.

A bison herd has been slowly grazing its way from the mixed forest down to the flats where the wolves are. They now begin to arrive, moving closer and closer to the bedded wolves, seemingly intent on displacing them.

1478F gets up first and goes to 907. Next, the black pup gets up, followed by 907 and finally 1479. They all stare at bison like John McEnroe taunting the line ump: “You cannot be serious!” they seem to say.

But the bison ARE serious and the wolves know it. One by one they reluctantly move around the bison and up the gradual slope to Marge.

As 1479 passes them, she gives them a big yawn, so they know she is moving for her own reasons, not theirs!

The wolves soon disappear into the thick sage gullies behind Marge.

It’s now after 10 so I pack up and head down to my car.

As I pass Dorothy’s I see quite a few cars pulled over to the south with many people staring towards the river.

I find a safe spot to pull over and ask the closest person what they are seeing.

“A gray wolf” is the answer. “Down by the river” says another. I look with my binoculars and see a coyote in that area, so I continue east.

Later I see a guide who confirms that he looked, too, and, like me, saw only a coyote.

I have break in Silver Gate and a nice early dinner with Maureen and Rick. We head out around 5:15.

We set up at Lamar Canyon west. We radio Paul who is up on Dave’s. He has had nothing in view since noon.

It’s a gorgeous warm evening, at 71, with a pleasant breeze at our backs. After a while we decide to try scoping from Boulder. We find bison and pronghorn and a few ducks on the pond.

We return to Canyon West for a last look. The light has become harsh due to the setting sun. But as I pan the Marge hill, I suddenly see movement.

Two black wolves!

Aha! One follows the other down the sloping hill to the flats. The first one moves past the bottom of the low, bare hill while the other beds in the shadow of that hill. I lose the first one but c an still see the one in the shadow.

We alert Paul, who is just about to pack up. We watch the wolves for a little while, glad to have found them.

We head back east around 7PM, happy to know some Junctions are still in their current favorite spot.

On the way back, we have some mule deer near the road at the entrance gate

Note: Celia sends a report that I get when we arrive in Silver Gate. She joined Paul for the last half hour of light and saw two additional wolves for a total of four. She says they all played together until the light became too dim to see.

Today I saw: bison, coyotes, mule deer, pronghorn, 6 Junction wolves including 907F, 1477F, 1478F 1479F,1 black pup and the gray pup, and the spirits of Allison, Richard, Jeff and Chloe.