It’s 12 degrees as I leave Gardiner in the dark. That’s a tiny bit warmer than yesterday. Maybe it’s a trend!

My first stop is at the Nature Trail (Frog Rock side) where I listen for howling. Alas, no sound comes. I scope both south and north until the day becomes fully light, but see only bison.

Time to head east.

I do enjoy a very nice sunrise as I go. I stop at Hellroaring, and then Elk Creek, seeing only elk and bison.

As I continue east, I spot a moose in the deadfall near the Elk Creek curve.

Nothing new to report through Little America, other than lowering temperatures. When I come out of Lamar Canyon the cold has created some lovely fog above the River. It coats all the vegetation with gorgeous hoar frost.

When I reach the Confluence, my wolf-wish is granted. All 9 Mollies are bedded again today on the west shoulder of Mt. Norris. It’s a slightly different ridge, with a lot more trees. They are harder to see than they were yesterday but I do not complain.

It’s cold viewing for a while, since this pullout is near the water and still in shade. Finally, the sun peeks over the t op of Mt Norris. It paints a bright strip of gold on the ridgeline, outlining each wolf and each tree with a frosty halo. It’s quite a beautiful sight.

The wolves seem quite content to remain napping, with only a bit of movement here and there.

Finally the sun reaches the pullout making our bodies as warm as our hearts as we continue to enjoy having this legendary pack back in Lamar once more.

Then we get a surprise.

At 9:15 the radio crackles with a report from a guide (Eric – Yellowstone Wild) further east. What he says makes us stare at each other, eyes wide and mouths agape.

“I’ve got two lions from Thunderer”

As you might expect, this news causes a mass exodus of cars from various lots. And yes, I join them.

When I arrive at the jam-packed Thunderer pullout I see cars leaving so I know I’m a bit too late.

I stop and hop out anyway, listening to Eric as he tells another visitor where he saw them. He points to a high snowy knob to the east; actually two connected knobs; one bald and snow-covered; the other mostly treed.

He says the pair disappeared a few minutes ago around the north side of the treed knob.

After committing the look of the two knobs to memory, I try driving further east in hopes of picking up the cats from another angle. I do find the two knobs but see no movement up there.

I head back west and pull into the center lot in Round Prairie, to try again. From here I am able to identify the correct two knobs, but just then Eric calls again.

He and his clients have moved to the Pebble Creek Campground lot and he has found the cats again!

I set up next to his happy clients as others pull in. I recognize Dave and Sylvia, two wolf watchers I met in Hayden a few years ago. We grin at each other for a split second, then turn to our scopes.

Eric is kind enough to put mine on the spot and I am forever grateful to him for it!

When I see the cats I nearly shriek with joy. They seems to be similar in size; I think the trailing animal is just a tad larger. I first think male and female, but Eric suggests we are seeing a mom with a sub-adult kitten.

Oh, my goodness, such GORGEOUS animals.

They are far away but my scope brings them close. I watch them casually climb up the spine of a ridge, over rocks that could easily tip a human climber either way to her death.

One follows the other. I marvel at their long, supple bodies and the way their tails provide a subtle but essential balance.

They enter a sparse forest on the left side of the knob (this is the same snow-covered bald knob left of the treed knob where they were first seen from Thunderer).

One cat hops up on a boulder, as if posing for us! Then it hops down and the pair travel around the side of the knob. I think for sure we are going to lose them but they reappear on a ledge to the right.

Both cats sit on this ledge a while, peering down from there. More and more lucky visitors arrive and we all make sure everyone gets a look at them.

The lions turn and re-enter the sparse forest, then delight us further by re-appearing on the right side. These two beautiful animals then treat us to their slow journey through bright white snow, angling up towards skyline.

Their golden coats shimmer in the sun as they calmly and confidently move higher and higher.

They bed down broadside right on skyline as if wanting to make sure all of us get a good look at them. The slightly larger cat begins grooming herself, licking her shoulder a dozen times.

Then she gets up and walks right along the skyline to the left, again on bright snow. The other follows.

Mom sits on skyline a while, while her offspring remains standing. They both look east, then silently top out, disappearing from view.

I think of Carl Sandburg's evocative poem that starts "Fog comes on little cat feet".

These cats rose from their "silent haunches and then moved on”. All that’s left is the trail they made, now lit up golden by the winter sun.

The whole pullout celebrates our amazing sighting. I have had two other cat sightings in my Yellowstone life, but the other two were extremely brief looks. This one lasted a full 20 minutes!

Then someone spots a moose across Round Prairie, and I come back to earth from my lion daze.

Grinning from ear to ear, I drive back west. I learn from others that the Mollies have moved south a bit. Krisztina advises me to try to find them from Trash Can.

I pull in there and follow her instructions. I find the wolves, well, 3 of them, in their new bedding spot. They look relaxed, napping on snow in the sun.

I watch them a while, and show other visitors. Around noon I pack up and head back west.

As I come around a bend I see movement on the south side hill. A mule deer is here, perhaps wanting to cross road.

I stop but the deer changes his mind and heads back up the hill.

There are a few people scoping at Nature Trail but they have no wolves in view. I scope anyway, both south and north, but all I find is some bison and a single coyote.

The day has warmed to 28 welcome degrees and the roads are now streaked with melting snow.

I head in for the day and end up staying in. Today I saw: bison, two coyotes, a mule deer, elk, two moose, TWO MOUNTAIN LIONS, 9 Mollie wolves (including 1090F, 1339M, 1411F, 1483M and 1485M) and the spirits of Allison, Richard, Jeff and Chloe.