"Wolves! Wolves!"

The next morning, we all woke up at the buttcrack of dawn and drove far North into the park to reach Lamar Valley, the best wildlife viewing area in the park. On the way, just before crossing a bridge, we had to brake hard for a black bear crossing the road. We waited and watched as he lumbered down to the river and out of sight around the bend.

In Lamar Valley, the die hards were already parked up, mono scopes and telescopic zoom lenses mounted and ready, waiting for a glimpse of the parks latest and greatest attraction. Gray Wolves.

"Thanks to a controversial but very successful reintroduction program, wolves are now back in Yellowstone after an absence of almost 70 years. Several dozen wolves were captured in Canada and turned loose in Yellowstone In March 1995. Those animals have done remarkably well, reproducing at a rapid rate. Estimates of wolf numbers at the end of 2002 were 284 wolves in the Central Idaho Recovery Area, 271 in the Greater Yellowstone Recovery Area, and 108 in the Northwest Montana Recovery Area for a total of 663."


Radios crackled and a report came across that "the grays were headed toward the road". The rangers stopped the traffic, and we caught just a glimpse of grey streak across the road and up the hillside. We barely had time to raise the binoculars before the pair disappeared into the mountains. We waited for a few more minutes, but no sign of them. We felt lucky for seeing them at all, knowing how elusive they are.

We put on our hiking boots and backpacks, left the photogs in the parking lot, and hiked in to Lamar Valley. Before even a quarter of a mile, we stopped to survey the bison herd that was lounging in our path. They are the most dangerous things in the park, responsible for the most human injuries, so we wanted to make sure we gave them a wide berth. We cut our own path around them, and in doing so, came across the stark white bones of something big. They were scattered about, but we found a piece of every major skeletal system. Kyle named them all as we picked them up to examine their size and weight: "Lumbar vertebrae, femur, rib, scapula." The scapula was three times the size of Kyle's head. We kept looking for the trophy head and antlers, but couldn't find it.

As we pressed on into the valley, we noticed two antelope, fully alert and staring at us. They were definitely on guard as they ran ahead, before stopping again to check us out. "Are they scared of us?" we wondered. We scanned the valley behind them, but didn't see anything else following them. It must be us. But ten minutes later, as they bolted up the hillside that we were traversing, Laura pointed at the horizon, "Wolves!"

A pair of them, silhouetted against the horizon, trotting along. They paused for a few moments, to check us out, before continuing up the hill. Kyle urged caution, but Nicole wanted to race up the hill to get a better viewpoint to watch their journey. They were long gone by the time we reached the top of the hill. We didn't see them again, but through the binoculars we did spot what could have been their den, dug out at the peak of a hilltop, overlooking the entire valley.

We saw wolves! We were thrilled.

On our way out of the valley, we kept an eye on the wolf den, waiting for any movement. But as we paused to check through the binoculars, a low rumbling made us all stop dead in our tracks. Thunder? The ground under our feet was shaking. An earthquake? "Is it an earthquake," we asked each other with startled glances.

The sound grew louder, the earth shook deeper, as the bison crested the ridge above us and came charging down into the valley. Adults and calves, about 30 of them, in a full run, looking amazingly agile for such large beasts. We stood still, in awe, and glad we weren't in their path. But as they reached closer to the valley floor, we heard the steady sound of more hooves approaching on the ridge above us. There was nothing we could really do. Nowhere really to go. Nothing to hide behind.

The second group of bison crested the ridge, much closer to us than the first. Our hearts were beating hard. The lead bison saw us, though, pulled up short, turned and led that section of the herd around us. More and more bison were racing down the hillside, detouring around us. Maybe two hundred of them. A stampede all around us.

We scanned the hillside, looking for the reason they would stampede. We didn't see any predators. But we did see a few 'guide bison' at strategic points along the route, waiting for lagging sections of the herd. Adults would turn around and wait for little ones and nudge them to encourage them on. Was it just a training exercise for the little calves? Was it simply rendezvous time down in the valley? Whatever it was, it was incredible, and we followed the last stragglers down into the valley, unscathed.

The last section of the trail, leading back to the parking lot was still littered with resting bison. Kyle made us climb up the steep hillside to avoid them. As we slid back down the hill, we found it - the trophy piece from the earlier discovery! The bull elk skull. With giant antlers. It was bleached white by the winter and the sun, but when we flipped it over, there was still red, muscly stuff around the jaw. We all took turns posing with our find, before someone commented how freaking awesome the thing would look mounted on the RV. How fitting, to be able to ride back into Pulaski with such an impressive elk skull guiding the way. . .

Our excitement didn't last long, though, as we were all reasonably sure that the park's policy was "Leave No Trace". Leave nothing. Take nothing. Surely, we weren't allowed to keep it. And surely, if we tried to sneak it out, all the wolf watchers, with their super-powerful lenses, would spot us. "How much is the fine, you reckon?"

We left it, sadly, and trudged out of Lamar Valley. We were still talking about the skull as we pulled onto the main road. We hadn't gone 100 feet when Kyle slammed on the brakes. A gray wolf was standing right on the side of the road. He gave a quick glance in both directions and crossed right in front of us. Right there, in front of us. He trotted down into the marshy valley, and disappeared into the sage brush. But not before we got a few great photos. We could now officially cross the gray wolf off our wildlife list.

We also added 'bison stampede' to our checklist, and then crossed it off.


Click here for photos!