TIME-TEMPERATURE- WEATHER:

Early AM (first light-9AM): Its 41 degrees at 5:10 as I leave SG under a clear sky.

Late AM (9-noon) 72 at 9:30AM. I leave for Bozeman around 10AM.

CROWD: Still normal busy

OVERNIGHT NEWS. Laurie got a report last night that a guide witnessed a bull bison death in Lamar yesterday late morning, which means yet another bison carcass in Lamar. Two bulls were fighting on lower Amethyst Bench, a bit left of the waterfall.

One gored the other, which caused it to tumble to its death at the base of the bench, near the line of cottonwoods.

SUMMARY FOR THE DAY: An amazing last day for me, being able to share a great Junction sighting with my dears Laurie & Dan & Krisztina. I’m so glad I stayed!

WOLF SIGHTINGS (total; pack; individuals, pullout, time of day): 16 wolves total – all Junctions

16 Junctions including all adults except 1478F plus the six pups from the hill behind Doug’s old lot at Slough in the AM

COMMENT: 1479 continues to be a really interesting wolf. Not sure I can explain her having a tucked tail twice this morning, though. Will keep thinking on it.

NON-WOLF SIGHTINGS (what & where)

Black bear: 3, a cinnamon sow with two black cubs above the right end of the mixed forest, staring at 1479F. From the little hill behind Dougs lot at Slough in the late morning.

Grizzly: 5 today; 2 from Footbridge in the AM and 3 on the Mid-point carcass. (total of 7 were seen by others)

Bison: all over the place

Coyote: a single coyote in Lamar near the new bison carcass seen from the Ranch.

Mule deer: in the high meadows just west of Warm Creek on the way down in the early AM

Eagle: 4 A family of bald eagles (2 adults and 2 juveniles) near the wolves rendezvous at Slough.

Elk: in Mammoth on my way back

Fox: I see the local fox well east of Baronette.

Geese: Lamar

Pronghorn: Lamar and Slough

EARLY MORNING HIGHLIGHTS (first light till 9AM) My first stop is at Footbridge, where once again I see the same two bears on the Lamar Trail carcass. The darker one moves off first, this time going almost all the way down to the edge of the old riverbank, making it easy for me to show other visitors.

A bit after 6AM I head west to check on the Mid-point carcass.

There are three bears still in view (two other bears already left!). I don’t stay long, though, but continue to the Ranch where Laurie and Dan are looking at the newest carcass.

It’s partially blocked from this spot due to the line of cottonwoods, but you can see it in a gap between two of them. It’s darkly comical, poor thing, because it’s on its already bloated, on its back with all four legs in the air.

Since no bears are on it yet, it seems likely that it won’t be opened up until this evening.

So, we head west to Slough and set up at Dougs lot, hiking up the low hill to the north. Krisztina arrives soon after but has to park elsewhere, so she ends up half way between our spot and Dave’s.

We have several Junction pups, moving about in their current favorite meadow below the Southern Round Tree. Three of them are bedded near a black adult that is sacked out on its side.

Someone sees a black running towards the north below Marge. I find it and follow it. It’s an uncollared black running above the creek. It stops at the base of the lowest rocky knob left of the lion meadow. I now see other wolves there.

One black, 1479F has something edible. A gray and two blacks, including the one who just arrived, are trying to get it from her. Whether she dug up a cache or just caught something small isn’t clear.

She avoids them by running to the left with a tucked tail. The other three bounce around a bit with each other, so I think they were just playing, not really serious about stealing her prize.

The three bouncy wolves return to the rendezvous meadow, while 1479 stays somewhat north of them.

The uncollared gray runs to the pups and engages them in play. They love him so much and he sure seems to feel the same.

It turns out that the sacked out wolf is 1385F. She gets up and re-beds. I see 1392M nearby as well, watching the pups as they move about between mom and dad.

Then we notice 1479 is walking to the creek. She crosses one loop of it and then approaches the a cut bank with still water below it. To the right of the cut bank I see the gentle slope of sandy mud and realize this is the beach.

1479 has come down the cut bank and wades through the still water to a sandbar on which we see.....a carcass!

It’s not fresh, the ribs and antlers of a bull elk show no red or pink remaining. But perhaps this is what has been keeping the Junctions here at Slough instead of dining on the bison carcasses in Lamar. She nibbles on it, finding some tasty morsels.

Her image is reflected in the glassy water. She is doing her 1479 thing, on her own, as usual.

It seems like Krisztina can see more that I can, so I hike up to join her for a while. Laurie’s knee is not recovered yet, so she and Dan stay where they are.

Soon we see more wolves coming towards the beach each taking a different route. These four are handsome wolves, especially the big black with a white mark on his chest. They stop and stare at her while she continues to feed.

Eventually she moves off to the left with an uncharacteristically tucked tail.

One by one, the males enter the water, using various routes, to inspect the carcass. I joke to Krisztina that they were waiting for her to unearth some delicious tidbit for them to plunder. None of them stay long though.

The big black is the last to inspect the carcass. He assigns himself the task of drag the skeleton off the sandbar, closer to the beach. It takes him several tries because the bones keep getting stuck.

Finally, he seizes the shoulder blade and pulls it the rest of the way to the beach. Once it’s touching the sandy mud, he seems to consider his task accomplished, and promptly leaves it there, heading back to the meadow.

LATE MORNING HIGHLIGHTS (9AM-12 noon) Meanwhile, 1479 has reached the meadow, where she greets the two grays and 1385. She then wanders slowly up the hill that leads to their hiding place behind the SRT. The UCG follows her.

She then disappears while he beds in view at the top of the hill.

The adults have now gone to their hiding place in the shade, leaving a few pups still in the meadow, wandering here and there.

1479 comes into view once again, this time traveling northwest. I find her near the aspen grove on the south end of the mixed forest, moving uphill. She keeps going. Then we see shapes up above the conifers at the right (north) end of that forest and assume other wolves have already gone that way.

But they are not wolves, but bears!

A cinnamon black bear with two black coys are up there right at the edge of the shale field.

Mom stands up as 1479 approaches. 1479 stops and stares at them. Mom moves higher towards a Douglas fir, in case she needs to send the cubs up its trunk for safety.

But 1479 is just roaming. She just stares a while longer then turns and goes back downhill. Oh so reluctantly I say my final goodbye to dear Krisztina, wishing her a wonderful and safe journey. I remind her that my great, life-changing adventure began when I was in my 50’s, just as she is now.

We hug and our eyes get a bit moist.

Next I say goodbye to Laurie and Dan, thanking them again for their hospitality.

As I go back to my car, I feel grateful to have spent such a nice morning with my dear friends, doing what we love to do, and being treated to such an interesting morning.

TODAY I SAW: 3 black bears (including two cubs) 5 grizzly bears, bison (including a recently dead one), a coyote, 4 bald eagles, a golden eagle, a fox, geese, pronghorn, 14 wolves (including all adults except 1478F plus the six 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)