29 Jan 2005 - Saturday

At 11:40 AM I left home and headed into the Stone. It was a beautiful winter day, mostly sunny with the temp at about 34 degrees. There was a small herd of eight bison in the area called the triangle, this is the large meadow between the Roosevelt Arch and the North Entrance. The roads are clear and dry from the north entrance to Mammoth. The only folks in the Mammoth Campgrounds were elk grazing.

Just after the turnout for Wraith Falls there was a small herd of bison. I took a few pictures and then made my way to the next turnout to turn around and make my way back to the Wraith Falls turnout. I noticed a few cars there and a spotting scope and was curious if the Leopold Pack was out and about.

There were three fellows in the turnout and I noticed telemetery gear so I figured that they were wolf folks. It turns out that two worked for Yellowstone Ecosystem Studies with Bob Crabtree and they were tracking some coyotes. The third guy was a photographer from Canada. No, it was not our own Doug Dance, darn!

We had a nice visit about photography, the park and coyotes, wolves, red wolves and foxes. One of the YES guys said a bison had fallen through the ice in Blacktail and died. The coyotes fed on what they could but most was out of reach until spring. So, it looks like the bison will be a spring meal for coyotes, wolves, ravens, eagles and bears. Should make for an interesting spring around Blacktail.

The photographer said he had watched the Slough Creek Pack feeding on a bison carcus just down towards the Slough Creek Campgrounds. He also reported that two days ago just east of the Soda Butte Cone they had spotted a black bear on the hillside on the south side of the road. I guess the very warm weather we have been having may have encouraged some of the bears to wake and look for some food. It was not a good fall for bear food for winter.

I decided that I would head to Slough Creek and spend the rest of my afternoon looking over the area and wildlife. It had been a while since I had spent some time there and I have never spent a winter day just enjoying the area. At 1:05 PM I pulled into the Slough Creek turnout and headed down the snowy road. I met an old friend and his tour group getting ready to do a little hiking around Slough Creek. We shared info about an elk kill that was pretty well picked clean and the bison and he met with his group as I headed down the road to the point overlooking Slough Creek.

It was a pretty day as I made my way out to the old lookout where I had watched the Rose Creek pack back in 95 and 96 along with bears and other wildlife. There was a small bison herd, about nine, down by the meandering creek. I heard what sounded like a dog barking and that was about the only noice. The barking stopped after a short while and all was quiet and peaceful. I just relaxed and took it all it and enjoyed the spring like beauty of the area.

I took photos of the bison, Slough Creek, Specimen Ridge, tracks and scat. I guess I am going to make a scat page for those who may be interested in wildlife studies. The day was too bright to get some good photos of tracks in snow. There were elk and bison tracks as well as coyote and some much smaller and lighter (they did not go very deep into the snow) tracks that must of been fox tracks.

I was not able to find the bison carcus or wolves. I was told that the Druids had been out first thing this morning, or at least six of them were seen on Amethyst in Lamar Valley.

At about 2:00 PM I had finished taking pictures and headed back to my truck for my nice slow ride home. I ran into an old friend Jen Shoemaker, who used to work at the Mammoth Visitors Center. She is now a grad student doing her thesis on wolf watching and wolf watchers. It was nice to see her again. She was a great worker and a great loss for the park service and public not to have her still working in Mammoth. But, she is having fun in school and almost done and has had many different avenues open for her at school in Bozeman.

I took my time and had a nice drive back. There were folks parked at the road closure gate at Roosevelt. They were out cross country skiing and enjoying the weather and their time in the park. We need winter back. It would be great to have it snow from here on out in the park. Some good old fashioned blizzards are really needed to restore all the dry ponds and lakes.

I arrived back in Gardiner at 3:00 PM and started working on a slideshow of today's photo. It was a great day in the park and I enjoyed meeting with folks, some new, some old but all had the same love and interest in Yellowstone and the great outdoors.