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October 1995 Trip Report

Bekah and Joe in front of a snow bank on Mount Washburn
Snow Bank on Mount Washburn
17 June 1995 - By John W. Uhler




I have made three trips to Yellowstone in October. Two of the trips were for business and I had very little time to tour the park. I did make it into the park and took some fall scenery and wildlife pictures. My wife, Carlene, and I, and three of our children - Rebekah, Joseph (pictured in front of the snow bank), and Rachel, probably made our last trip of this year to Yellowstone. We left late Friday afternoon - 20 Oct 1995. We arrived in West Yellowstone about 11:00 pm and stayed in a motel.

We got up fairly early Saturday morning and went into the park. We were headed to Lamar Valley. When I was there earlier in October the elk herd was moving back into Lamar Valley, and it was very likely that the wolves would follow them to their winter range. We stopped along the way, just before Tower and took some pictures of the sun rise, storm coming in, and the mountains.


We arrived in Lamar Valley shortly before 9:00 am. We went to a pullout that we had stopped and viewed grizzly bears earlier this spring. We looked over the valley with our binoculars, but only saw antelope, buffalo and elk. While we were looking for wildlife, a couple stopped and asked how we were doing. They were from Washington state and had been in Yellowstone for about a month. They had seen the wolves and some grizzlies this past week. As we were visiting and trading stories, the wife of this couple noticed something dark moving across the valley. We all trained our binoculars on the area - and five of the Crystal Bench Pack came racing across the bench. We were ecstatic! The alpha male (a gray wolf), and four black wolves ran across a large meadow and over a hill top and disappeared into a small ravine. A few moments later a small herd of buffalo came running out of the bottom of the ravine. Out came the pack. We were taking pictures and filming as the pack headed east down the valley. We jumped into our van and went to the picnic grounds where we thought the pack was headed. They came down and ran right in front of us.


The couple from Washington stated that there was a kill just a little ways down the valley that they had seen two grizzlies feeding on earlier that morning. So, we again jumped into the van and moved down the valley with the pack. The pack chased the coyotes and ravens off the kill and started to feed. The coyotes voiced their displeasure and tried to sneak back in, but the wolves would only let them in so close and then chased them off. The ravens were also very vocal about their opinion of being chased off their morning meal.


The pack fed for about half an hour. Some went and laid down, while others stayed close to the carrion. At this time, four buffalo came ambling down the valley and then slowly started to walk towards the kill. We all watched in awe to see the results of this encounter between the wolves and the buffalo. The wolves moved a short distance from the kill. The buffalo walked directly to the kill, stopped and put their heads down and nosed around the carrion. The wolves seem to allow the buffalo a few moments and then the wolves chased the buffalos off. It was very interesting to see the interaction of wildlife.


Cher (wife of the couple from Washington), walked over to us and we talked of the encounter between the wolves and buffalo. She indicated that she had heard a story that wildlife will allow other wildlife of the same kind to pay their last respects to a dead brother or sister. I do not know if this is true, and I have never heard or seen this before, but it looked exactly like what we had all just witnessed. It was awsome. It definitely made the long trip all worth while. In June when I saw the pack, my wife and children weren't with me and did not get to see the wolves. But this time we all were able to see them and we were all thrilled. I took pictures and my wife video taped them. We watched the pack from 9:00 am to 11:00 am, when they disappeared into the Woods.


From what I was told by the ranger, the pine nuts were not abundant this fall, so the grizzlies are looking for any source of food to fatten up for winter. There are about five grizzlies feeding on carrion in Lamar valley. And as noted the wolves are back in Lamar. It looks like they may be staying there for the winter.


The weather took a turn for the worse, so we headed for West Yellowstone in hopes of exiting the park before the storm stranded us. We made it out okay. West Yellowstone had about four inches of snow Sunday morning when we left. We had a slow slippery trip down out of the mountains from West Yellowstone into Idaho. I can't wait to go back!





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