Yellowstone Wolf Trip Nature Journal

Lamar Valley in Yellowstone with wolves distantly in the foreground

The Outdoor Blogger Network hosted an essay competition that ended in May about wildlife conservation in Yellowstone.  They invited bloggers to submit their essays about Yellowstone, for a chance to win a multi-day fishing trip to Yellowstone.

I missed the deadline for entering, but am intrigued by the blog prompt nonetheless. I took a trip to Yellowstone in 2001 as a part of my graduate studies in Conservation Biology at Antioch University New England. In truth, I actually co-lead the trip with an Antioch graduate and one of my professors.

I kept a journal during the trip to record both the significant events, and the smaller ones which I knew would go by the wayside over time. And more than 10 years later, I’m so glad that I did. I’ve never published any of this journal, simply because it never crossed my mind to until I found the OBN blog prompt.

So here are some edited excerpts and photos from a 9-day trip to Yellowstone National Park to study wolves (and other large mammals) with notable researchers and biologists in March of 2001.

9:00 pm 3/14/01

We arrived yesterday in Bozeman, MT after a 2-hour delay on our 1^st flight, and ended up only ½ hour late all told – not bad.  Today started with a big push… Out by 5:30 a.m. in the dark with Jim Halfpenny – tracker and author.  Our first introduction to the park was zipping through the entrance under cover of early morning dark, with Jim’s stern warning to be silent at the arrival of wolf-watching sites ringing in our ears. With the dark and unfamiliar landscape surrounding us, it was a strange beginning to the day.

At our first stop we saw wolves! Through binoculars and spotting scopes we watched wolves eat an elk they had just brought down (we witnessed the pack breaking up the elk herd and then target and go after the individual they eventually killed) – unbelievable! Ravens and magpies were all around them at the kill site. I never thought we’d get such a good look at them (especially on our first day); they’re so beautiful. It was the Druid Peak pack – 27 members total but there were only 10 – 12 there today. The alpha female was conspicuously absent (Jim informed us), perhaps ready to den up with pups. The site we saw them at was called the Bend in the western-most part of Lamar valley. Along the way to this site we saw our first – but certainly not last – bison and elk. They are so big and awesome, and to see them so close to the roads was quite a thrill.

The rest of the day was spent driving through the park towards Cook City stopping along the way for conversations with Jim on elk, grizzlies, and tracking, and looking for grizzlies and more wolves.  At one of our stops we checked out an old elk carcass with Jim and saw bones, scat, hair and blood; later we heard a coyote howl as we searched for a grizzly-killed carcass (not found).

Lamar Valley with Wolves

The northern part of the park is dominated by either conifers – Lodgepole Pines and Douglas Firs – or desert scrub – great basin sagebrush. Cottonwood, Aspen, and Birch were the only deciduous trees we saw. We saw part of the areas that burned in the 1988 fire. Due to the low humidity decomposition and re-growth is slower here than in the east, and the dead trees are still standing in many parts. The weather was mid 20’s – 30’s with snow on and off.  This was a very mild winter for Yellowstone, and they are looking towards a hard, dry summer. Open areas like Lamar Valley were quite windy today. This open area Jon [Atwood, former Director of Antioch’s Conservation Biology program] called a cold desert, and that’s exactly what it looked like; many parts reminded me of Joshua Tree and Anza-Borrego in CA.

8:30 pm 3/15/01

Started out the day at 8:30 am with Doug Smith, head of the Yellowstone Wolf Reintroduction Project for the National Park Service. We met Doug at Mammoth Hot Springs – which is inside the park near the north entrance – and he gave us a slide show presentation on the reintroduction project. We went out into the park afterwards and stopped at various points for discussions regarding management of wolves both in and out of the park, and northeast reintroduction efforts [these efforts became defunct later the same year].

Around 2 pm we went to check out an elk carcass not far from Mammoth. It turned out that this elk was killed right by the side of the road between 5:30 and 6 am this morning. Park rangers speculated that it was wolf-kill (as opposed to car). There was a coyote (which we had seen earlier when driving by) a bit away from the carcass, resting. Jon broke out his scope so we could get a close look – how wonderful to see one so close! We managed to find some wolf tracks that were partially melted – huge; there’s no mistaking them for coyote tracks. Exploring the hillside across the road we found elk and magpie tracks.

9:00 pm 3/16/01

Another early morning – we were out at 5 am with Nathan Varley who works as an educator and researcher for the Yellowstone Association Institute (YAI). Initially we drove around the park looking for wolves and found them! On the way I spotted our first red fox off in a field – what a cutie! It was hunting mice and voles, and would walk for a bit, then stare at the ground with its head cocked, listening. At the wolf site we saw the Druid Peak pack again, among elk and bison herds. We eventually drove a little way down the road to get a better view of the wolves.  The Druids were very far off (3 miles) and hard to see, ever with spotting scopes. They chased the elk but didn’t make a kill. While we were there we finally got to hear wolf howls – what an eerie and beautiful sound. We stayed with the wolves for about 1 & ½ hours, and it was cold! I found out later that the temperature was around -2⁰.

We headed to the YAI after wolf watching. On the way we saw two coyotes, one on each side of the road, presumably together. So we had – as Jim Halfpenny would say – a three-dog-day!

After lunch we took a 4 mile round-trip hike to go see the acclimation pen used for the Rose Creek pack, the Druid Peak pack, and several others. There was also a wolf hybrid that stayed there alone for 9 months before moving to Texas (where she now lives in captivity). This was one of five acclimation pens used in the park, and the only one that is currently accessible. Nathan relayed a story of a Houdini wolf that was the only wolf to ever escape out of the pen on his own (they believe he climbed out using his teeth). The second time he escaped he tunneled back in to free the rest of the pack! At that point they just left the pack out in the park. A few months later he somehow managed to slip out of his radio collar (usually wolves chew them off) – clever guy.

The hike was definitely the highlight of the day. No words to describe the beauty that surrounded us as we hiked. What an electric feeling to see, and then enter the acclimation pen. Knowing that wolves had stayed there, and even considered it home for a time gave me the closest connection I have felt with them yet. Although parts of the trip were strenuous – very steep and snowy – I enjoyed getting out and doing some hiking and finally getting into the park a bit, away from the road. What a breathtaking place – I hope my slides come close to doing it justice.

Evening, 3/17/01

After lunch some of us went for a drive through the park and saw a coyote at the carcass we stopped at a few days ago. After watching for a while, we drove towards Elk Creek (which is just before Lamar Valley) to photograph the burned areas. While discussing the 1988 fire, Jon mentioned that the burn actually did more damage than is commonly know. Apparently when looking at the park as a whole, approximately 20-30% of it burned; when considering just the forested areas however, the number jumps to 60-70%. That’s quite a bit of habitat loss…

When we got to Elk Creek, there was a bunch of ravens flying around like crazy. We parked and got out to see what the ravens were all about, and realized that there was a fresh elk carcass (couldn’t have been more than a few hours old) down past the side of the road with a coyote feeding on it! It was so close to us (20-30 yards) but didn’t seem to mind our presence, so we carefully crept a bit closer to watch it through the binoculars. It turned out that there were two coyotes – one was further back from the road – and we got to watch them for a few minutes – absolutely amazing. Jon spotted a golden eagle in a tree above the coyote and set his scope on it. It was so close through the scope that we could see the blood on its talons. I was fascinated watching the coyotes, but the one feeding started getting anxious and left to join the other. As we watched them walk away, they stopped to rub their faces in the snow – this no doubt helps to get the blood and smell off. When they were finished, they were joined by a third coyote, but by this time we were feeling guilty for disturbing their meal and went back to the van and drove away. On our way back past the kill site, we saw two of the coyotes (possibly these were a mated pair and an adult pup?) were back feeding at the carcass, and we were all relieved. What a wonderful few minutes we spent observing these guys – definitely the best part of the day!

Coyote feeding on elk carcass in Lamar Valley, where we did a significant portion of our field research.

3/18/01

Today was our first “free” day to do what we wanted. Most everyone wanted to go into the park early (6 am) to look for wolves, and good thing! Just past the Buffalo Ranch (YAI) there were a bunch of people pulled over on the side of the road, presumably watching wolves. As we approached them, we noticed a wolf off the road to our left – she was so close! Through binoculars I watched her and could see her facial expressions as she lifted her head and howled… what a perfect moment. I don’t think I will ever forget the sight of her face as she called to the Druids (we found out from Jim Halfpenny shortly after, that she was #105 – a female member of the Druid Peak pack who was about a mile away from the rest of the pack and was calling to find them). She wandered off a few moments later and we joined the larger group of wolf-watchers further down the road. Through scopes we watched #105 and the rest of the Druids, who were now farther away. Shortly after we arrived a chorus of coyote howls and yips sounded back and forth across the road in response to #105’s howling. I watched a coyote in the snowy field behind us as it howled. These images and sounds will always be a part of me.

3/19/01

Random thoughts: remarkable how dry the air and soil are; we have great group cohesiveness; are we ever going to see a grizzly? Do I want to see a grizzly?

3/20/01

We stated off today at 9am by meeting Kary Gunther at Mammoth; Kary’s a bear biologist for the park. He gave a slide show presentation, which covered the history of bear management in the park, and the status of bears and management practices today. Grizzlies are still listed as threatened, and he doesn’t think they will be delisted anytime soon. The park is working on ‘hands-off’ management of bears as much as possible. As opposed to previous management policies, bears are currently only removed from the park if they threaten or injure people.

Kary told us a story of a grizzly that had the habit of jumping on people’s dome tents and crushing them – thankfully no one was hurt, although one camper spent a chilly night up a tree in his underwear. It took several months for Kary to catch the bear, and he tried every trick he knew – berries, raw meat, etc., but nothing worked. Finally out of desperation, he gave up on food and set up a tent with a trap. Sure enough, he had the bear the next day. It was shipped off to a zoo (where they don’t have tents), and it was named “Kelty”. Although grizzly population numbers both in and out of the park have recovered to the delisted status, habitat availability is still diminishing which is why Kary doesn’t see delisting happening in the near future.

After meeting with Kary, we enjoyed an outdoor lunch, and then met with Ed Bangs at 1pm. I was really looking forward to hearing Ed speak – he has the reputation for being quite a character. Ed works for USF&W as head of the Rock Mountain wolf recovery project. Decisions on what to do with wolves that have preyed on livestock are made almost completely by him. Ed made it clear that he doesn’t love wolves but believes wolf restoration is the right thing to do. The majority of work he does is with private landowners and the public. He helps ranchers who have lost livestock to wolf predation understand their options for reimbursement and keeping wolves away in the future. I got the impression that conflict doesn’t faze him (a good thing in his line of work) and that he has a great sense of humor – probably very important. I found out that horses occasionally do get preyed on by wolves, but not often. Like elk, they are well equipped to deal with predators.

Bighorn Sheep Skull

3/21/01

Today was our last day to see Yellowstone and I definitely wasn’t ready to say goodbye. Most of us got out by 5:30 am to have our final look at wolves and the park; I’m so glad I got up early although it has been getting increasingly difficult. This was the last time to watch dawn breaking over the mountains, slowly bringing to light the beautiful landscape and all who inhabit it – elk, bison, coyotes, wolves… I will really miss this. The sunrises we witnessed in Yellowstone were different from those in the east. No deep reds, purples, fading to orange and light; here the mountains seem to obscure colors usually seen on the horizon, and instead there’s just this gradual brightening, until the sun makes its way over the mountains, and the shadows slowly shrink away.

Our first objective of the day was to find wolves. The Druids were in a meadow behind the Buffalo Ranch (YAI) and we stopped to watch one wolf for a while. Through the scope I watched it cavort through the field and then stop to defecate. Wolves look pretty much like any other canine when going to the bathroom… Shortly after, it disappeared over a ridge, and the activity died.

We decided to go to Slough Creek, where we looked for the grizzly-killed carcass, in hopes of grizzly activity. As we were getting out of the van, we noticed a coyote hardly 10-20 yards away! It was completely unbothered by our presence and continued to go about its business. We must have stayed there 5-10 minutes watching, occasionally moving around as the coyote moved, walking and mousing. While observing the coyote, we had a few minutes while we listened to other coyotes howling and yipping in the distance. The coyote we were watching listened, but didn’t respond; presumably it was not part of the group we were hearing.

Some final coyote observations: they are less shy of people than wolves – it seems that they are staying much closer to the roads now, due to pressure from the wolves. They have big, black noses for their slender muzzles, especially compared to wolves or dogs. Their coats are the perfect color to blend into sagebrush, and the precaudial gland on their tails is very noticeable – do wolves have these as well? [updated note: wolves do have a precaudial gland on their tails] I know domestic dogs don’t.

Today I found myself trying to come to terms with the end of the trip. Not only is leaving going to be hard, but all the work, effort, hopes, fears, and dreams I put into this trip  are coming to an end. Part of me is glad to know that there is a good chance this trip will continue although it will no doubt change, at least a little.  I can’t help feeling my part here is done, and I don’t know when I’ll have the opportunity to come to Yellowstone again. Growth and change for this project are good, but letting go is hard, and I’m sad.

3/22/01

Although the plane is about to land, ending the first leg of our journey back home, I will take these few minutes to jot down some final thoughts on the trip. Things I will miss: the big sky; all the ravens and magpies that seemed to be constantly around us; dawn in the park; having the opportunity to observe coyotes at such a close distance (perhaps someday I can come out here and really study them); my tripmates; the incredibly huge mountains; hearing coyotes and wolves howl; the smell of sage…

3/23/01…

Misc. add-ons: I saw a total of 11 new birds and 7 new mammals while in Yellowstone and Montana. While we were in the park, it turns out that there were several well-know wolf people in the park as well, some of whom we saw and/or spoke with: Rolph Peterson, a wolf biologist (who took over the Isle Royal study after David Meche) was around; David Meche himself was in the park during the second half of our trip, although we didn’t see him; Rick McIntyre, author of several wolf books, was wolf-watching with us a few times – I had a chance to speak with him once or twice about the wolves we were observing, and he seemed quite nice.

Although I forgot to mention it earlier, the owners of the motel we stayed at are members of the Friends of the Northern Yellowstone Elk Herd – a group usually on the opposite side of the wolves when it comes to the reintroduction debate. I found it interesting that the motel owners seemed to have no problem making money off wolf-watchers, however. They sold a variety of wolf-related items in their gift store (T-shirts, pictures, etc.) that was attached to the café.