05 February 2005 - Saturday

I was able to break loose in the afternoon to head home at 2:35 PM, the weather was overcast and cold. At 3:00 PM I ran into Ballpark Frank at Mammoth Campgrounds. We exchanged info and headed out towards the Northeast Entrance to see wildlife and loons. Just in front of the Albright Visitor Center I ran into two friends who reported that the Agate Pack was visible at Junction Butte (Roosevelt area).

The roads were mostly clear except in shady areas they were snowpacked and icy. The temperature was about 26 degrees.

There was a nice group of bull elk at the Wraith Falls area and bison just east of there and west of Blacktail Lakes.

Frank and I stopped at the turnout above Elk Creek sign and scanned the area for any wolf activity. Saw elk and bison but no wolves. We headed down to the large turnout by the Petrified Tree road to check for wildlife activity. We saw elk on the mountainside but not much else. We packed up our scopes and headed to Roosevelt to do some wolf watching.

At 4:00 PM we pulled into the Roosevelt parking lot by the gas station and joined a small group of friends watching the Agate Pack. The alpha female, 472F and the alpha male 113M were lying side by side on the hillside south of gas station at Roosevelt.

The Agate Pack consists of seven wolves. We were watching five gray adult wolves and two black pups. The pups were not seen this day.

While watching these wolves we received a report that the Slough Creek Pack was out and seen on Jasper Bench (just above Fishermens Pullout) in Lamar Valley. There was a total of fourteen or fifteen wolves in view at one time.

I stayed and visited with friends and watched the wolves and enjoyed the stories that were being woven by master weavers. What fun!

The wind had picked up and it was quite cold as we chatted and watched! These wolves were on an elk kill earlier and now were just content to lie on the hillside and rest. They were laying all balled up with their tails wrapped up by or around their heads to stay warm. We stayed and watch these wolves until we got nice and chilled and lost day light. It was fun visiting with friends and watching the wildlife in Yellowstone.

The wolves were just outside the limits of my digital camera, so no pictures this time, but maybe next.

A large bull elk was grazing right on the shoulder of the road and I tried to get some pictures, but light was pretty scarce.

At about 5:30 PM I headed back west to Mammoth and Gardiner to warm up and see how the family was doing. The temp had dropped to about 20 degrees while watching and chatting. It was a great afternoon in the park.