Friday, November 16, 2012

Yellowstone Spring through Fall 2012 Part 2

Wolf Encounter........ In prep for the Beartooths and other backcountry trips, we took the opportunity to test-run the light and ultra-light backcountry gear at Yellowstone since it was a 70 degree and blue sky weekend. We were (as always) hoping to spot wolves...and were not disappointed! 
This black male was about 50 feet from our campsite when the photo was snapped at around 5pm. We believe he was originally traveling East to link with his pack when he was disrupted. He ended up loping off to the west.





We believe the white female and the rest of the pack were near the Gardner River Valley to the east. This was amazing! But it got better. He came back around 1130 pm with a faint howl in the distance (west) and then he moved right through our site stopping every 100 yards or so to howl. The peak was the growl right outside the tent!



We believe that the growl was for Jazzy who was in the tent with us...or possibly to another pack mate as they moved. That seems less likely though as he was alone earlier in the day.. Right after the growl, he let out a spine tingling howl that was very loud since it was right on our doorstep! He continued east stopping about every 100 yards to howl until he eventually faded. We didn't get to sleep for quite a while. We are doing some research as to which pack this was. We watched 3 of the 6 members of the Agate pack earlier in the day near the Hellroaring Valley area. It could be Blacktail, Quadrant Mountain, or the Canyon Pack as they nearly overlap.

*All images are "clickable".