TIME-TEMPERATURE- WEATHER:

Early AM (first light-9AM): 5:30 from SG. Low 30s, clear w/moon

Late AM (9-noon) not recordedn

Evening: 4:30-9PM We stay in tonight

Snow Level (roads/landscape): frost on the car in AM; Lamar valley is starting to melt out. It does so in uneven but noticeable stripes. Wind creates drifts of alternating deeper and thinner snow; thin ones melt first, leaving stripes of remaining snow.

Water/Ice Level (ponds and rivers): rising water levels from melt

CROWD COMMENTS: normal for April

SUMMARY FOR THE DAY: Full Junction pack give us a good, long, active sighting at Slough, but we miss an appearance of the Bliss Pack in Lamar. We do not go out in the evening.

WOLF SIGHTINGS (total; pack; individuals, pullout, time of day): 11 total wolves

11 Junctions 8B/3G (full pack) from Bobs in the morning (including 1385F, 1392M, 1478F, 1479F, 1484M, 1489M, 1545M, two uncollared black adults, one uncollared yearling, one uncollared gray.

NON-WOLF SIGHTINGS (what & where)

Bison: Soda Butte Valley and Little America

Coyote: on SB Carcass early. 6 on or near the Footbridge elk carcass in SB Creek around noon.

Pronghorn: Little America and Lamar

EARLY MORNING HIGHLIGHTS (first light till 9AM) I go straight to Slough roadside and walk out to Bobs. Ginny and others on Daves have Junctions in view already, below the bottom of the lion meadow. There is wind but not quite as bad as yesterday.

I see my first wolf near the White Castle eroded cliff on SB Creek below the Lion Meadow.

Wolves are looking east in creek bottoms at numerous bison herds out there. Uncollared gray is near the creek, sniffing something there.

He joins group on creek bank for a rally. 1385F looks gray/silver with white in her face, white legs. She looks heavy (pregnant) and moves slowly. 1479 looks brown/gold.

Alpha Male 1392M is large and collared with gray in his muzzle/chin. The backs of his front legs are white and he has white front paws (bunny slippers).

1545M has a GPS. He is dark black with a bit of white here and there. (We first mis-identified this wolf as 1489M)

1489M and 1479F look similar, both have bling (gold/brass) collars, both are cocoa collared (brindle). He is big. She has a gap at the top of her tail, like she has a scrunchie on it. She also is the most brown-golden of all of them.

The uncollared yearling is also cocoa (brindle) and smaller.

There are two large, dark black wolves who are both uncollared. One is likely an adult; the other is likely a yearling. This larger one currently limps (front leg) and has a white blaze on his chest.

1384M is light gray. I am still having trouble telling him apart from 1478F when they are not close to each other. When they are together, he is obviously bigger, with a lighter head and face.

1478F has a white box GPS but it is small and hard to see. She also wears a small audio device on upper left of the collar.

Most of the wolves cross the creek and move stealthily towards the bison herd, weaving around the ample deadfall left by the 2022 flood. Some drop to a stalking position.

1385F crosses the creek and stops on the south side. She howls. To our surprise all the other wolves stop their hunt, then return to her. It is impressive. I dont think I’ve ever seen more obvious evidence of who is in charge!

They come back to her and rally, then bed, then howl again. Eventually they stop to explore the flats. Some find smelly spots and start to roll, legs in the air. 1385 does too!

Then she leads them back across the creek and upslope, aiming somewhat for the Horizontal forest.

They bed again, then move once more, passing below the Diagonal forest, continuing east.

After maybe 10 minutes, bison push the Junctions off their beds and they move back down to the flats, explore the creek flats some more. They test a few more bison, then visit the beach. Into the water they go, exploring and trending south towards the Marge Simpson Tree area.

LATE MORNING HIGHLIGHTS (9AM-12 noon) When I lose them from Bobs I move to Lamar Canyon West and see them again near the Southern Round tree. I leave at noon with four blacks bedded in the meadow below Marge.

EVENING HIGHLIGHTS (4:30PM-9PM) We stay in tonight

WHAT I MISSED: Around 9AM from Bobs we hear a radio call from Lamar that wolves are in view north of Picnic. I assume it is Mollies and that they will be long gotn by the time I get there, so I stay with Junctions. Thus I miss seeing a rare appearance of the Bliss Pack! Bill sees them, as do a few lucky others. Five wolves, including 1477F and four grays. They are not in view long and top out on skyline.

TODAY I SAW: bison, coyotes, elk, pronghorn, all 11 Junction wolves (including alpha 1385F, 1478F, 1479F, alpha 1392M, 1484M, 1489M, 1545M, two uncollared black adults, the uncollared gray plus the brindle pup) and the spirits of Allison, Richard, Jeff and Chloe.

ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF ABBREVIATIONS:

DF: Diagonal Forest (a feature east of the Slough den)

DPH: Dead Puppy Hill, the partly treed hill below the crest of Mt. Norris immediately south of Footbridge pullout. Named by coyote researchers before the 1995 wolf reintroduction. The hill has been a popular area with local wolf packs since wolves were reintroduced. It has held several coyote dens over the years, but to my knowledge, this year is the first time a wolf pack has denned on it. The Mollies chose an area on the western slope above the new growth forest, and produced at least two pups, one black and one gray, which were seen infrequently during June.

HF: Horizontal Forest (another feather east of the Slough den

HR: Hellroaring (large overlook pullout on the Blacktail)

LCW: Lamar Canyon West (pullout on the western side of Lamar Canyon)

MST: Marge Simpson Tree (distinctive tree in Slough Flats) In 2024, the Junctions used the meadows below and left of Marge as their August-October rendezvous.

OGR: "The OGR" Old Gardiner Road (current name for the new road hastily constructed after the 2022 flood on top of the former gravel road between Mammoth and Gardiner)

RP: Round Prairie (big meadow south of Pebble Creek campground)

SB: Soda Butte (or SBV Soda Butte Valley) where Soda Butte Creek flows between Round Prairie and its Confluence with the Lamar River)

SG: Silver Gate (small town just outside the northeast Park entrance)

SRT: Southern Round Tree (distinctive tree south of the Marge Simpson Tree)

UCG: Un-collared gray (Junction 2 yr-old bouncy male). Born to the Rescue Creek Pack, he joined the Junction Pack sometime in February 2025.

YGM: Yellow Grass Meadow (a feature east of and upslope of the Horizontal forest at Slough)