TIME-TEMPERATURE- WEATHER:

Early AM (first light-9AM): 51 degrees as I leave Cooke around 5AM

Late AM (9-noon) It gets up into the 70’s around 10 but then rain comes and cools things off.

Evening: 4:30-9PM – very pleasant temps this evening in the low 70s

CROWD: crazy busy but normal

SUMMARY FOR THE DAY: We have a good (if too warm) morning watching Junction wolves on the Amethyst Creek carcass. Two of them (1479F and 1545M) travel across the flats, cross to the north and end up crossing Slough on their way to the new Aspen Drainage den area (still unseen).

A late-morning rain sends us back to Cooke, and makes cooler temps in the evening.

In the evening after failing to spot any Mollies, we enjoy watching the coyote pups from west of the Ranch.

WOLF SIGHTINGS (total; pack; individuals, pullout, time of day): 8 total wolves, all Junctions

8 adult Junctions, including 1385F, 1392M, 1479F, 1484M, 1545M, two uncollared blacks and the uncollared gray on the Amethyst Creek carcass in the morning from the Ranch. 6 of the 8 follow 1385 up to Jasper around 7AM. 1479F chooses a different route, crossing the valley (and the road) to Secret Passage. She is seen again traversing Slough to Aspen Pass going back to the pups.

Later in the morning, 1545M follows 1479s route. We move to Bobs and catch a glimpse of him again on Aspen Pass.

No wolves seen this evening

COMMENTS: I caught sight of a piece of a black wolf in a tiny clearing west of Aspen Drainage, after we lost sight of 1545M. In hindsight I think it might have been a pup!

NON-WOLF SIGHTINGS (what & where)

Grizzly: 3 bears fed on the carcass this morning.

Bison: all over the place, including the roads

Coyote: 6, including 5 pups and one adult near the Ranger Rock den in the evening roadside.

Sandhill crane: in the flats south of the road from the Ranch in the AM

Mule deer: just outside Silver Gate on the way back to Cooke this evening.

Bald eagle; perched on a branch near the Amethyst Creek carcass, in the evening.

Elk: a few bulls up high on Specimen from the Ranch this AM

Fox: we see the local fox by the Montana border sign, completing our Three Dog Day.

Geese: Lamar

Pronghorn: South of the road from the coyote den we saw a group of pronghorn with several fawns

Garter snake; When I was leaving Lower Exclosure, I saw a small garter snake in the grass.

EARLY MORNING HIGHLIGHTS (first light till 9AM) I go straight to the Ranch where I set up next to Paul. There is a grizzly on the carcass plus two more above it on Amethyst bench who have already fed.

Paul says the Junctions are waiting out the bears by taking a jaunt to the east. He points at the line of cottonwoods along the river. I see a black bedded in view. As I scan the gaps in the line of trees I see other wolves moving about.

We hear (and see) them howl, which they follow with a boisterous, celebratory rally. After this they start moving back west, led by 1385F.

Some play behavior erupts among them, which is always a treat to watch. Plus it gives me a chance to count and identify them.

I count a total of 8 with 6 blacks and 2 grays. I quickly identify 1385F, 1392M, 1479F, 1484M, GPS 1545M, two uncollared blacks (one with a white chest mark) and the bouncy uncollared gray.

1385F breaks into a run and the rest follow suit. They often run back to a carcass to intimidate any animals still on it, making them move.

The tactic works and the remaining bear moves side. But he doesn’t leave altogether and looks quite miffed to have been so rudely interrupted.

But the wolves use their numbers to their advantage. They are everywhere, and the bruin really has no choice. He gives up and wanders off to the east.

For the next half hour, I enjoy seeing the wolves feed, or at least the parts of them we can see since they mostly disappear into the channel. Several are not hungry, though, and prefer to play or wander about. Two bed off to the side.

They stay in the area a good half hour. 1385 is the first to start uphill. She stops just atop the old riverbank and beds, looking back at the others.

After a while, other wolves start to emulate her, each taking slightly different routes up the old river bank. We have superb views of these 8 wolves for the next half hour. Missy and Andy arrive, thrilled to have Junctions in view.

As the wolves are climbing, always independent 1479F has a different idea. She goes her own way, wading a relatively shallow channel of the river. She swims the main channel, confidently letting the current sweep her downstream, where she wants to go anyway.

She exits the water, shakes off, trots a few feet and crosses a third channel (also shallow). Now she sets of at a jaunty trot through the flats. She’s on a diagonal, aiming for the gap between Fisherman’s and Coyote.

Crossing the road for her is a snap. She on the north side before anyone can worry about blocking the cars. She’s going over Secret Passage.

It didn’t occur to me to head to Slough in anticipation of her arrival there. Other savvy watchers DID go there. They saw her show up near the campground road, cross the den area and travel through Aspen Pass.

Meanwhile, I stay and watch as the rest of the Junctions follow 1385 across Amethyst Drainage, onto Jasper and disappear at the back of the Bench.

LATE MORNING HIGHLIGHTS (9AM-12 noon) For a while we have no wolves in view so we amuse ourselves trying to find the bears again, or spotting elk or pronghorn. Then suddenly we have a wolf in view again.

1545M is at the carcass. I think he just climbed up from below, where I think he’s been unseen all this time. He follows 1479’s route across the flats, heading northwest.

We know where he’s going so we drive to Slough and walk out on Bob’s Knob. Thanks to other watchers further down the campground road, we see 1545M when he appears in the flats. We follow him west beyond the bottom of the Lion Meadow. Then he starts uphill into the rocks.

He eventually gets high enough to connect with the regular trail to Aspen Pass.

This is where we consistently lose them so I keep scanning west of where I lost 1545m. I notice a small green runway on the west side of Aspen Drainage. There is a distinctive white fallen log about midway on the clearing, and below the log is a vertical trail through high grass. Past the log, the trail curves to the right behind a fat Douglas fir tree trunk.

The trail could be significant, says my wolf-watching brain. Suddenly I catch a flash of a black wolf above the white log, moving right behind the tree trunk. It’s gone quickly and I don’t see it again.

I’m not sure what I saw but I file it away to figure out later.

Someone in Lamar reports that that several Junctions came into view at the western end of Jasper and then disappeared. The implication is that they might be headed to Slough via the Crystal Rock route.

We go back to our cars and look for them from Crystal, then Aspen but we don’t find any wolves. We catch up with Rick at Long Pullout and chat with him a bit. Then a storm arrives, with gusting wind and a heavy downpour of pelting rain.

We decide to call it a day.

The rain ends when we reach Soda Butte Valley but between Pebble and Ice Box Canyon we see evidence that the wind has toppled several trees. Luckily, someone already moved them and the road is passable.

EVENING HIGHLIGHTS (4:30PM-9PM) Missy and Andy and I have an early dinner at the Beartooth Café in Cooke with Brian and Lindsay, then head back to Lamar for the evening session.

The storm has brought cooler weather, which we really appreciate. Temps are in the 70s tonight with a pleasant breeze.

We spend a good half hour searching for Mollies from low on Exclosure but find only bison and pronghorn. I also spot a small garter snake wriggling through the grass near my car.

We go west to the Ranch and find, to our delight, that the coyote pups are out. And they are having a ball.

We spend a solid hour watching them be their adorable selves. They play Ring Around The Sage Brush and Ambush Your Sibling. We also see a bedded adult who turns out to be mom.

The five little rascals romp about almost non-stop. They venture quite far to the west, both upslope and downslope of home base. They also sometimes hide under Ranger Rock, then pop out to ambush one another.

They are just too adorable. Once when mom ventures close and one pup tries to nurse, that pup gets a short holding bite from mom instead. They are too big to keep nursing anyway.

We periodically turn south to check the carcass area but see no wolves. Andy searches in vain for a grizzly.

We do find a bald eagle and a herd of pronghorn with several fawns.

A bit after 8PM we call it a very good day.

On our way back we see the local fox by the Montana border sign, completing our Three Dog Day. We also see several mule deer between Silver Gate and Cooke.

TODAY I SAW: 3 grizzlies, bison (and calves), coyotes (including five pups), sandhill cranes, mule deer, elk, a fox, pronghorn (and fawns), a garter snake, 8 Junction wolves (including the alphas, 1479F, 1484M, 1545M, two uncollared blacks and the uncollared gray) 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)