The White Wolf !

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Geo: 44.7338, -110.49

Adventures with grizzlies and the alpha female from the Canyon pack
Got up and decided to head back toward Canyon and see if possibly there was a space available. Haha. They did not have any but they called over to Bridge Bay and they had a space available and so we had them reserve it for us.

As we were driving down toward Canyon there were ground squirrels everywhere crossing the road. It was so sad at one point to see one squirrel dragging the dead body of another off the road.

Drove down into the Lamar Valley to see if we could find the coyote pups but no luck. Stopped at another pullout and Laura thought there was something on the left but on the right there were two cinammon bears heading up the hill! They were good sized and at one point they reared up at each other. Think it was a mating display.

We then decided to go up to Mt. Washburn and see if there was any bear activity that direction or not. Did not find bear where we had seen one before but there was a black bear that had crossed down from Mt. Washburn and looked like it had crossed paths with some people out hiking. We didn't catch but a glimpse of it before it was lost in the trees.

Went and checked in at Bridge Bay and were given a spot that was nice and level and would be easy to get in after wolf watching. At about 2:15 were driving in Hayden Valley and saw people pulled over looking uphill. There was a grizzly on the hillside just having his own good time. Watched for awhile and then decided to go over the Fishing Bridge and see what we could see.
People were pulled over all around Fishing Bridge so we followed suit to see what was going on. It was a mother otter with three babies. They were so cute. They kept trying to climb up on mom's back and when she would take off swimming, off they would fall!

Decided to go check out the "secret viewing spot" at about 4:30 and were greatly rewarded. The white alpha female of the Canyon pack was heading toward the rendevous spot with something in her mouth. We headed back toward Grizzly Overlook where some of the wolf watchers confirmed that the wolf in the pictures we had was indeed the alpha female! We waited and she did not return so not sure where she went. Some of the suggested that she stopped to cache what she was carrying and went back to get some more.

We stayed and watched a grizzly up on the hill along with some buffalo and then decided to go back to the "secret viewing place" to fix dinner and wait for the sun to go down some and cool off. We had a nice dinner and had gone to the dumpster to toss some garbage when a gentleman drives past me and says, "there is a BIG elk right here". I thank him and start back to the door of the camper and see what he means. There is a huge bull elk right by the back door. Called to Robert to get some pictures and stayed up by the front door for safety. He finally moved on out and into the woods. What a sight.

About 7:30 we were treated to two coyotes coming out hunting. One of them was very healthy looking and the other fairly mangy. The thing was you could tell the difference between them and the wolf. The healthy one managed to catch some small creature in the sage and gobbled it right up.

The bull elk came back out of the woods and a young couple that had just entered the park today had stopped their car to take pictures and the elk comes right over to their front window and sits down and ruminates on life! Finally moves off.

We decided to go back to Grizzly Overlook around 8:30 or so. Got out to the main road heading toward the Overlook and there is a major bear jam. Got to see how "stupid" some people can be. Of course I say this and have been guilty of being out of the car when there was a mother bear and cubs in the area. There was a very large grizzly on the other side of a small creek moving about. People were out of their cars with their children running around, people had left their cars in the road running, and other such behavior. The poor enforcement ranger was having a time trying to get people back to their cars and back away from the hillside where the grizzly could quite easily run up and be amongst them in no time.

Got to the Grizzly Overlook and it was beginning to get dark and some of the watchers told us that the alpha female had come out and taken off again and could possibly be seen by Alum creek or crossing Chittenden bridge. So off we went. Got there and were waiting and suddenly Laura sees her coming down the hill moving fairly fast. There was a buffalo out grazing and the two came face to face but then she moved on into the woods and so we were pretty sure she was going to cross the bridge and we did get to see her cross the bridge and the cross the road safely and head off toward Norris. What a very special treat for us.

We drove on back through all the people still out with the grizzly and Robert caught a glimpse of a black wolf trying to cross the road heading back to the rendevous but we were several cars back so not sure if crossed or not.

Then as we were coming down the hill from Grizzly Overlook, a ranger was escorting a bison down the road to keep it from running to the side and falling off the drop off.

What an evening. Got back to Bridge Bay and there was still plenty of people moving about, campfires going and got to drive through the Avenue of the Slideouts to get to our site. At one point it didn't look like we were going to be able to pass through but made it.

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