TIME-TEMPERATURE- WEATHER:

Early AM (first light-9AM): Today is another warm one.

Late AM (9-noon) 78 at 11AM!

Evening: 4:30-9PM 80 at 4:30PM

CROWD: Still busy, lots of (avoidable) bison jams and lots of slo-goes. Also HOT!

SUMMARY FOR THE DAY: A nice early sighting of Junctions on Jasper Bench with 1478 flirting with four handsome males. Otherwise, a fairly slow day but pleasant temps

WOLF SIGHTINGS (total; pack; individuals, pullout, time of day): 5 wolves total

5 Junctions (including 1392M, 1478F, 1484M, 1489M and an uncollared black) from Dorothys in the morning

COMMENTS (wolves): Wonderful to see 1478 again but boy am I missing the pups!

NON-WOLF SIGHTINGS (what & where)

Black bear: a small black bear in a meadow north of the road east of Baronette around 11:30AM

Grizzly: a sow with two yearlings frolicking and playing on a high snow slope of Specimen from Dorothys late morning

Bison: Lamar, Little America and Hellroaring late morning

Coyote: hunting in the meadow west of the Ranger station on my way back from HR to Lamar. Late morning

Sandhill crane: Lamar from Exclosure in the evening

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

Elk: Hellroaring late morning

Geese: Lamar from Exclosure in the evening

Pronghorn: Lamar, Little America and Hellroaring late morning

Swans: a pair of swans on the pond to the right of Hellroaring creek AM

EARLY MORNING HIGHLIGHTS (first light till 9AM) This morning I pull over at Geriatric intending to climb up to look for Mollies. But Bill radios that he has bedded wolves on Jasper Bench.

So, I set up at Dorothys, finding the wolves easily. I see three blacks and two grays and recognize the Junction alpha male. They are comfortably bedded in the middle of the bench.

They start to howl and then get up to have a rally. I realize both grays are collared and that one of them is flirting shamelessly with the other four. Oh! It’s 1478! She is quite energized in the presence of these handsome males.

1385 is not around, so she makes good use of her time.

I recognize 1484M and 1489M’s bling collar, but I can’t quite ID the third black other than to say I see no limp. So, he’s probably the non-limping black adult.

After the rally, the group sets off to the west. As they move I note that 1392M's hind leg limp seems better already. He no longer holds it up as he moves but puts weight on it.

They pass the island of trees beyond the west end of the bench and then disappear. This route could take them to the back of the bench or further east towards Crystal.

I drive west to Slough, anticipating that the wolves will re-emerge somewhere south of Slough. We spread out all the way to Longs but no one finds them again.

I guess they stalled out.

I decide to spend some time looking for the new Junction den site. I visit various pullouts in Little America. Then I decide to go all the way to Hellroaring. We only saw five Junctions today so the others have to be somewhere.

But I find no wolves.

Around 10AM I head back east and go in for the day.

EVENING HIGHLIGHTS (4:30PM-9PM) This is Beckys last evening, so we make a plan to look for Mollies.

I suggest the old spot on Exclosure where we used to watch Druids. It offers a very wide view from Mt. Norris to the big fan.

Celia joins us and we have a lovely evening. We don’t find Mollies but enjoy visiting with each other and scanning the well-known landscape. Becky and reminisce about the wolves we have seen from this spot over the years.

Maureen and Rick are scoping from Trash Can with the Tennessee boys. They come up empty on wolves, too, but we do see pronghorn, elk and geese.

TODAY I SAW: 3 grizzly bears (including 2 cubs), a black bear, bison (and calves) a coyote, sandhill cranes, mule deer, elk, geese, pronghorn, 2 swans, 5 Junction wolves (1392M, 1478F, 1484M, 1489M and an uncollared black) 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 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)