TIME-TEMPERATURE- WEATHER:

Early AM (first light-9AM): I’m out at 4:45, 41 degrees.

Late AM (9-noon) temp not recorded. We went in around noon

Evening: 4:30-9PM back out around 5. Temp not recorded but it was a pleasant evening with a breeze (probably means 70-75)

Snow Level (roads/landscape): fairly normal for June. Still patches of snow high on Specimen and the highest peaks (Baronette, Abiathar, Avalanche)

Water/Ice Level (ponds and rivers): rivers running clear again.

CROWD: normal for early June

SUMMARY FOR THE DAY: A very pleasant day. I go south and see Wapiti pups. Brief sighting of one gray Mollie from Geriatric and several Junctions from Daves Hill by stalwart, Paul. I miss those sightings. New Coyote den with active pups at the Ranch.

WOLF SIGHTINGS (total; pack; individuals, pullout, time of day): 10 wolves total all Wapiti

3 adult Wapitis (including 1267F, an uncollared gray and an uncollared black) plus at least 7 pups (others saw 9)

NON-WOLF SIGHTINGS (what & where)

Grizzly: 6 grizzlies today! Paul finds one in Chalcedony fan early this AM from Geriatric. I see it from Mid-Point. This evening Bill shows us a grizzly sow with 3 coy up on the 3rd finger of Norris looking from Footbridge. Then Rick B finds a single grizzly grazing the inverted triangle below Druid Peak.

Bison: various, usual places plus 2 on Wapiti Slope displacing wolves.

Coyote: New coyote den north and a bit west of the Ranch, under Ranger Rock. Late morning we see 1 adult and 5 darling pups. In the evening we see a coyote near the double foothill chasing, and being chased by a pronghorn

Sandhill crane: a pair of cranes on Wapiti Slope early morning.

Mule deer: in the still-dark morning driving down from SG

Elk: A pair of elk on Wapiti Slope, displacing the 3 Wapiti adults. Also a single elk watching the pronghorn/coyote chase.

Fox: on the road back to SG this evening

Moose: Late morning at Warm Creek we see a mama moose with a newborn calf.

Pronghorn: In the evening we see a pronghorn near the double foothill chasing, and being chased by a coyote

EARLY MORNING HIGHLIGHTS (first light-approx 9AM) I start my day as usual looking for Mollie’s. Paul is on Geriatric but I save myself the hike and set up in my new spot at Lower Exclosure.

After a half hour of no wolves, though, I decide to pull the trigger and go South.

Just as I drive away, Paul calls to say he’s found a grizzly at the Chalcedony fan tree line. I stop at Mid-point and find him. Yay! Now I begin the drive south.

It’s long, yes, but it’s absolutely gorgeous!

Around 6AM I pull into the double Alum Pullout, happily surprised to see Rick here, too. There are several other scopers and they clearly have wolves in view.

I scan the sloping hill where I’ve seen pups before. I find two sandhill cranes at the top, but down a bit I see an adult black.

Then I see several smaller black things left of the black. OMG!

Puppies! Woo hoo! Puppies!

They wiggle and wobble all around the single black, right in the middle of the sloping hill.

Down the left edge of the hill are two small remaining patches of snow. Across one of these patches are two pups, climbing right through the cold, white stuff. They reach sage border of the hill and crawl through it, joining the others with the adult black.

A gray adult appears, crossing the same snow patch the pups came through. When this gray joins the group he rolls on his back, letting the pups crawl on him.

I see a third adult, a collared black-going-gray (people here tell me its mom, 1267F). She lowers her head to the pups and leads up to the top of the slope. This is when I get my count of 7.

The adults are still partially visible, bedded on the top of the sloping hill. Every once in a while I see what I think is a pup moving around. I should probably go to Grizzly Hill for a better angle, but I don’t.

A little later, two bison and two elk separately approach this hill from the south. They succeed in displacing the wolves into deep sage further west. And suddenly I have no more wolves.

Rick and I try two different spots but can’t find them.

Still, I am tickled to have seen them so easily. I head back to Lamar, grinning all the way.

LATE MORNING HIGHLIGHTS (approx 9AM-12 noon) Upon my return I see Laurie and Dan parked at the Ranch so I join them. They are watching pups, too! Turns out, there is a new coyote den visible on the north side, right under Ranger Rock.

There are five little darlings, rambunctious as ever. We have a good time watching them, with their one watchful adult.

Around noon, we head back to SG. At Warm Creek we see a mama moose with a newborn calf.

EVENING HIGHLIGHTS (approx 4:30PM-9PM) After a break in Silver Gate, Maureen and Rick and I head out for our last evening together for a while.

Our first stop is at Footbridge where Bill shows us a grizzly sow with 3 coy up on the 3rd finger of Norris.

Then we set up on Trash Can Hill to look for Mollies. Its yet another lovely evening with a light bit of breeze.

Rick B starts us off with a grizzly grazing the inverted triangle below Druid Peak.

At 7:30 out by the double foothill, an adult pronghorn bursts into the short grass from the sage, being chased by a coyote. The two run really fast, zigging and zagging until the tables are turned and the pronghorn chases the coyote.

An elk emerges from trees to watch the drama along with us. The two animals dash back and forth for over ten minutes, switching roles several times. Then suddenly they seem to call a truce and go their separate ways.

With the evening’s entertainment over, the elk drifts back into the woods.

We scope as hard as we can but never find any wolves. Its still very nice to share the time, though. We head in around 8:15.

WHAT I MISSED: While I was in Hayden this morning, Paul finally found a single gray Mollie from Geriatric. He then moved to Slough and spotted several Junctions east of the lion meadow. They crossed below the den area and disappeared through Aspen Pass.

TODAY I SAW: 6 grizzly bears (including 3 coys), bison (and calves), coyotes (including 5 pups), sandhill cranes, mule deer, elk, a fox, two moose (including a calf), pronghorn, 10 Wapiti wolves (including 1267F, an uncollared gray, an uncollared black plus 7 pups) 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)