Twenty Years in Yellowstone (Descending)

I got up early again this morning to spend time with the wolves down at the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center. There’s one spot where there’s a gap in the fence, and I can just make out their gray shapes in the morning light. I love standing there and listening to them talk to one another in yaps and growls just like regular dogs, but it’s truly amazing when they howl. Their eerie, ghostly voices cut through the darkness each wolf adding their unique sound to the music. I can’t explain it, but it just feels calming and familiar.

As I made my way down the street, drawn to the music of the wolves, a small animal darted across the sidewalk in front of me. I followed it as it made its way toward the hotels across the street, and it stopped when it realized it was being chased. Under the lights in the hotel parking lot, a got a great view of a red fox, staring back at me. When he was sure I wasn’t coming closer, he took off across the parking lot and darted off into the bushes.

I went back to the hotel to rouse the troops, and after food and showers, we finally headed back into the park. We intended to try Old Faithful today, but since it was pretty cold outside, we decided to drive around the “loop” from Mammoth Springs to Tower-Roosevelt down to Canyon Village and back again. The trip with stops along the way took almost the entire day, so we never made it back to the geyser.

Shortly after making the turnoff to Mammoth Springs, I spotted a coyote in a field. Considering it’s golden-gray coloring, which matched the grass in the field perfectly, I’m really not sure how I saw it. I guess because I was looking for it…or something. We pulled over and watched as he tracked a prairie dog or something in the field. Occasionally, he’d jump up in the air and pounced, then start digging in the dirt, trying to get whatever it was out of the ground. But it came away unsuccessfully, and took off running across the grasslands on the other side of the road.

A short while later, my wife exclaimed, “Oh my gosh, a bison!” I expected to see it way off in the distance like pretty much all of the other bison we had seen so far, but as she slowed to a stop, a large bull walked right by the car on the road. Troy got a good view through the open window. He was so excited that we’d already had two close animal encounters within the first twenty minutes of our adventure.

Our next stop was the Mammoth Hot Springs terrace, which was a little disappointing. It was pretty dry, so it just looked like stepped mounds of white chalk. As you can imagine, Troy had zero interest. Besides, my wife’s knee has been bothering her, so the walking on the steps and boardwalk was a chore for her. We decided not to spend much time there and headed into Mammoth Springs, and that’s when we saw our first elk buck, his antlers barely visible in the tall grass, as he lounged in the midday sun. We had found the daddy elk!

Park rangers were set up all over the town, guarding herds of lounging elk and keeping away the tourists too stupid to realize that these were wild animals. After a quick bathroom break, we took off for Tower-Roosevelt. And that’s when we realized that we had forgotten a very important thing at the hotel…lunch. All we had to eat the entire day was snacks from our backpacks, which can only take you so far. We passed a couple of restaurants in the various towns, but they were all closed for the season. Oh well, you live and you learn.

About a half hour outside of Mammoth Springs, we were stopped when a small herd of mule deer does decided to cross the road in front of our car. They meandered across the road and started eating at the sparse vegetation on the hillside. We headed on and found ourselves driving along the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. This deep ravine boasts some amazing rock formations and beautiful views of the river far below. Troy really wanted to get out and hike, but my wife’s knee wouldn’t hold up on the steep inclines of the trail, so we headed on.

A little farther up the road, we saw a pullout with a lot of vehicles parked in it. We’ve learned that this usually means that something big was spotted in the area, like a bear or wolf, but it could also be a large heard of bison or elk. Either way, we pulled off to see what they were looking at. It turned out to be a herd of bison far off in the distance. But that’s not what brought out all of these people to this particular valley. These people were wolf watchers, and they were waiting for the wolves to descend.

Unfortunately, they had no idea if or when they might come. They had set up shop to wait…just in case. We talked to one of them for a little while, and she gave us some pointers about places where several of the packs frequent. She also told us that the lack of animals was because the weather was still too warm, so the animals hadn’t descended from the mountains yet. She said we’d probably see more in November. We found this humorous, sincere temperatures have been in the 30s to 50s range, but I guess when you have a heavy fur coat, colder is better.

I was telling her about some of the animals we’d seen that day, and she said, “If you saw a wolf, coyote, and fox; then you’ve had a three-dog day. Go ahead and throw my dog in there, and you’ve had a four-dog day.” I’d never heard this term before, but it’s a well-known thing in Yellowstone when you’ve seen the big three of the canine community all on the same day.

We found out that she’d been a wolf chaser for a while, and she was a wealth of information about animal behavior (wolves, bison, elk, big horn sheep, mountain goats), proper gear for viewing them (a professional viewing scope or high-powered camera), and the best time of day to spot them (early morning and just after dusk). We reluctantly left the group and Jim, the little black dog that belonged to our guide that Troy was enjoying petting, and headed up the road to Mount Washburn.

The mountain was covered in snow, and there were blankets of white carpeting the ground beneath the trees. The air was even colder and crisper up there, and we rolled the windows down to enjoy it. Then, we promptly rolled them back up when it got cold in the car! We made our way back down the mountain and ended the big loop in Canyon Village. My wife’s headache was at its worst, so we headed back to the hotel so she could sleep it off.

When the naps were through, we decided to stay closer to “home,” so we took Troy to a little playground I’d found during my walks. After being cooped up in a car the last few days, he really enjoyed getting a chance to run around and play. We ended the day with dinner at the Beartooth BBQ. The food wasn’t great, a little too bland for my tastes. They also charged way too much for it. There was only one waitress in the entire place working maybe 15 tables, but she did all right despite that. Overall, I wouldn’t recommend the place. Definitely not worth the price.