There is a light coating of frost on the car this morning but it melts off quickly.

My first stop is at S Curves with two wolf project people; Ruth and Nick. They have Rescue signals to the south but have no visuals yet.

Jeff is up at Nature Trail. We all try to find the wolves.

Instead we see a small herd of elk relaxed elk on the lower slopes of Prospect Peak and several herds of bison scattered here and there.

Ruth updates us that the signal is getting faint, and guesses the wolves are moving further south. Jeff reports faint howling from that direction.

We try several angles but never find them.

I continue east, since I realize Rick is not here. Perhaps he has Mollie’s again?

I pass Rick at Elk Creek so I turn around. We stop at Hellroaring and scope there a while. Then continue west.

I see a single coyote at Phantom Lake on the north side.

The Project is conducting a talk with a school group at Nature Trail. Quinn, Rick and Jeff want to hike south towards South Butte in hopes of finding the Rescues.

Against my better judgement, I prepare to follow them.

For a while I do ok, since there is not much snow, but eventually the snow deepens and becomes unpredictable. I post-hole several times, twice sinking down to a sitting position.

Jeff and I follow Quinn, heading straight south, while Rick takes a different route, heading up high on South Butte.

When he gets to the overlook he radios to us, but the animal he sees turns out to be a coyote. None of us find any wolves.

It’s gorgeous out here, and I find a handy boulder to sit on so I can rest. But we don’t see wolves.

As I slowly make my way back, I congratulate myself on finding a different way to “do my stretches” today.

As I arrive back at my car, Michael drives up and we chat a bit. He asks about my cat sighting yesterday and says he has seen that pair two other times this week in the same general area.

I tell Jeff it’s still early enough for a drive out east and he agrees. We have nothing but bison all the way to Lamar. No Mollie’s in view on Norris today but we do manage to see another coyote heading up 21’s crossing.

We go as far as Pebble and I show Jeff where the cats were. They are elsewhere today, but we do find eight goats on Thunderer and several bighorn on the eastern “fingers” of Mt. Norris.

Jeff lingers in Lamar while I drive back west. At the end of Lamar Canyon I catch movement to my right. A pretty little ermine is scampering up the hillside.

As I pass Phantom Lake this time, I see mule deer grazing on north side. And as I wind down the OGR I see numerous elk.

Today I saw: bison, coyotes, ducks, elk, an ermine, 8 mountain goats, 6 bighorn sheep, and the spirits of Allison, Richard, Jeff and Chloe.