It’s been two years since Becky visited the Park in winter. I promised her long ago that I would drive her when she was ready.

Yesterday, she took a bus from Missoula to Bozeman, and stayed over at my place, along with Laurie & Dan, who have just finished their December visit and are heading back to San Diego.

Today they drove to the airport to fly back to San Diego while Becky and I finished our packing and set off for the Park.

It’s just after 12 noon, 26 degrees. Bozeman still has very little snow, despite a bit of a dusting that fell yesterday.

The sky is clearing up as we go.

Our drive is uneventful over the Pass and through beautiful Paradise Valley.

There is much more snow inside the Park and we make a game of counting evidence of slide-offs. We count only those on the south side of the road and are already up to 13 when we pull into Elk Creek.

Our friends Rick and Kara are here with their scopes out.

Earlier this morning they saw some Rescue Creek wolves from here, but alas, they are no longer in view.

Kara says very few people saw them, despite many eyes looking from various angles.

We chat a while longer with Kara and then head back to Gardiner, now counting slide-offs on the north side.

We see a coyote near Floating Island Lake.

As we near the entrance to the six-mile Blacktail Road, we see a large SUV off the road to the south in deep snow.

We stop to make sure everyone is ok (they are) and ask if they want us to call someone. They say yes. We say when we get into cell service at Undine (a mile or two west) we will call 911.

Which we do. The 911 operator says he will relay to the Park Service.

We arrive in Gardiner just before check in time at 4PM. We’re in the annex, down a short flight of stairs. We lug our bags inside and freshen up.

Now we head back to Gardiner, as we have been invited to join Melba in her new apartment for an early New Year’s Eve celebration.

Her apartment is really nice and she surprises us by announcing she’s made chicken noodle soup for us to share. It’s really delicious and hits the spot.

We share some Christmas treats with her. It’s a very pleasant evening with Melba and her sweet Sophie.

As we head back to the Super 8 a light snow is falling.

Today I saw: bison, a coyote, elk, pronghorn and the spirits of Allison, Richard, Jeff and Chloe.