TIME-TEMPERATURE- WEATHER:

Early AM (first light-9AM): pleasantly cool

Late AM (9-noon) not recorded but pleasant

Evening: 4:30-9PM temp not recorded but it felt pleasant

CROWD: Seems normal to me for early June

SUMMARY FOR THE DAY: I manage to see one Mollie wolf (uncollared gray) in the late morning just below skyline, west side of Norris. No wolves in the evening. Reports of Wapiti pup sightings in Hayden.just below skyline, west side of Norris.

WOLF SIGHTINGS (total; pack; individuals, pullout, time of day): 1 wolf, an uncollared gray Mollie's

I see one of 3 Mollie's seen in the early morning from Geriatric It's now bedded just below skyline on the western side of Norris.

No wolves seen in the evening

NON-WOLF SIGHTINGS (what & where)

Grizzly: one grizzly on Penny Lane in the AM seen from Geriatric in the AM. I also see a single grizzly in the Aspen Drainage from Longs with Jeff and Val in the evening. Bison: SBV, Lamar. Big herd crosses the Lamar south of Dorothy’s.

Coyote: a coyote gets chased and survives getting trampled by a pronghorn mom in the flats south of Dorothy’s.

Mule deer: in the high meadows on my way back to SG in the evening

Elk: A few on Mt. Norris and in the Confluence area.

Fox: one of the local vixens on my way back to SG in the evening.

Marmot: evening, west side of Lamar Canyon, crossing south to north

Pronghorn: From Dorothys in the morning. Two pronghorn chase a coyote. One catches up and appears to trample it but the coyote gets up and runs away. Turns out the pronghorn was defending her fawn.

EARLY MORNING HIGHLIGHTS (first light-approx 9AM) I start my day on Geriatric, hope-scoping with Paul for Mollies pups. He describes where he saw the two yesterday.

Fellow watcher Tall Jim is scoping above Confluence east and alerts us to a pair of grizzlies on Penny Lane. By the time I get my scope on it, only one bear remains in view.

A little later, Jim radios wolves on the ridgeline.

Paul and I scour the ridges we always check but it turns out Jim meant skyline. By the time we figure it out, the wolves have gone over the top.

We continue looking a long while but never find them again. The morning is beautiful with pleasantly cool temps.

I drive to Lamar Canyon West and scope the Slough area, but find no wolves. On my way back east, I stop at Dorothys with Laurie, Dan and Krisztina.

They are hoping to see 1478F or other Junctions but had no luck. Instead they enjoy seeing a large herd of bison with dozens of red dogs cross the Lamar safely.

Laurie notes the lead moms chose a spot with two sandbars, giving the little ones a chance to rest.

I hike back up Geriatric and this time I find a single gray Mollies wolf. He is now just below skyline, on the west side of Norris. I am pleased that my extra effort transformed my wolfless morning, so I now head back to Northeast.

EVENING HIGHLIGHTS (approx 4:30PM-9PM) We all go out again around 5:30.

I scope from Lamar Canyon West. Although I see no wolves, I do see a fat marmot scamper across the road from the river side into the rock side. I am surprised I don’t see them more often in this area.

I drive on to Longs to check the north hillsides in hopes of seeing a Junction or two. I meet friends Jeff and Val so we catch up while we are scoping. We find a single grizzly west of the Aspen drainage but no wolves.

I also notice an abundance of yellow flowers in this area, more than I’ve seen in other years.

I head back to Lamar and join my friends on Trash Can Hill, looking for Mollies. Alas, we don’t find them. Several people tell us they saw Wapiti puppies yesterday down in Hayden and it makes me eager to see them myself.

I head back east at 7:30 and see the local fox and several mule deer along the way.

TODAY I SAW: two grizzlies, bison (and calves), coyotes, mule deer, elk, a fox, a marmot, pronghorn, 1 gray Mollie wolf and the spirits of Allison, Richard, Jeff and Chloe.

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS, IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER:

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 hill’s 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) that overlooks a lot of, but not all of, the area wolves use at Slough.

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)