July 15 - Wolf Day, and a little fishing

Determined to take one last run at wildlife drive (the Lamar Valley), we arose early, swigged some coffee, and drove away from camp before breakfast. The first thing we encountered (besides the usual bison, pronghorn, etc.) was a large group of people with large, expensive looking spotting scopes, gathered at a pulloff...this is around 7 in the morning! They looked like they had been there a while. Turns out these were the semi-pro wolf watchers, and we were told they were watching a lone dark wolf. However, it was probably over a mile away, and sitting still in some shrubs. Not a great spot, but once again, it was encouraging to see how much these folks cared about these wolves! Many seemed to know them intimately. The wolf (speck) being watched was probably part of Mollie's pack.


The ranger on the scene (Rick McIntyre) was patiently explaining his tracking device to the onlookers - I was also tremendously impressed by his patience and professionalism; Kevin knew him as one of the principal wolf project rangers at the park.


We elected to drive further out the Lamar Valley and scout for wolves on our own. Nothing, as we drove through the Slough Creek pack's territory. Again, nothing, as we crept through the do-not-stop zone of the Druid pack. At a pullout just beyond, we spied an osprey. I tested my optical (10x) multiplied by digital (4x) = 40x zoom capabilities of the camera. Didn't come out too well I'm afraid.


On our return trip, we were intrigued to see a group of cars parked at a pullout that hadn't been there before. I glanced to the left and saw a dark figure trotting along about 300 yds away in the sagebrush. Kevin saw it too and cried 'Wolf'! But this was not the proverbial boy crying wolf. This was a great sighting of a lone black wolf trotting through the shrubs. We scrambled into action, Kevin pulling out his spotting scope, me grabbing my camera and keeping my eye on the wolf, while Colin pulled out his tripod and camera. Everyone was excited. Once again, I paused just to look at the people in the scene - how animated everyone was, how excited, how alive! Biophilia, again. We watched this graceful, powerful, handsome animal for several minutes. This sighting made the entire trip for me. Now I'm not so sure about my 'totem' animal. Hmmm...maybe it is a wolf. At any rate, this member of the Druid pack was an inspiration.


Can you find the wolf in this picture? It was much bigger in Kevin's Swarovski scope! You'll probably have to click on it to make the picture enlarge. See if you can spot the bison too!

When the wolf was finally so far away that observation was minimal, we kept driving back toward Tower Falls. When we arrived we broke camp quickly, packed up, and headed to the Gardner River, where I was determined to wet a line once more in an attempt to repeat the wonderful morning Bill, Jamie and I had had there last year. Unfortunately the water was much higher and the fast flow made it more difficult to see the deeper holes where the trout were waiting. Despite that, I received about 10 or 12 strikes, 'missing' on every one, but coming very close to catching a couple of big fish. Colin had one on for a while, but he needs to work on his knots, because the fly eventually came off. When we first arrived at the stream, I noticed a 'kill', consisting mostly of bones and fur, only yards away from where we were putting our poles together. Upon closer inspection I decided the kill was well picked over and that a visit from the original predator was very unlikely. But I must say, I was never 100% sure that a large grizzly wouldn't appear out of the streamside shrubs and be rather upset at finding intruders. My feeling of being immersed IN nature, with a very real element of danger, returned.

By 1 PM, we had to call it quits and head back to Big Sky. Colin's friend Garrett was flying in from Vermont to visit, and his plane arrived at 6:30. The camping trip was over, with many memories made.