We were planning to do the Upper Terrace Loop today as we wanted to get some winter pictures. We slept in as we would be leaving well after sunrise and wanted to make sure the fog burned off. We knew that today’s weather forecast was for snow but it was supposed to start after 1:00 pm which would give us plenty of time to complete the loop before the snow started. We looked out the window and the clouds were so low you could not see the hills across the Yellowstone River. Then it started to snow. It was a really fine snow at first but got heavier with much larger flakes. In a short time the parking lot was covered with snow. So much for our plans to do the Upper Terrace Loop. We decided to go to the Lamar instead.

By the time we finished breakfast there was over an inch of snow on the parking lot. We loaded the car and headed for the Lamar. The snow had tapered off so we thought we would not have much trouble driving. The roads were white so we put the car in 4-wheel drive. As we approached the Roosevelt Arch we saw a snowplow coming from the opposite direction. He was plowing the road and dropping sand and gravel for traction. We saw four deer as we were going through the Roosevelt Arch.

When we approached the entrance station we saw the car in front of us make a U-turn and leave the park. The ranger checked to see that we had snow tires before allowing us to enter. They were not letting anyone into the park without snow tires or chains. She told us the roads were very slippery and that we should take it easy.

The snow started to pick up again. The roads were covered with snow and the clouds were very low. You could not see the top of Mt. Everts. By the time we reached Mammoth over 2 inches of snow covered the ground. It was hard to tell where the edge of the road was. There was very little traffic and they had not yet plowed the roads in the park. We stopped at the Mammoth Hotel gift shop to get Return of the Wolf 10th Anniversary T-shirts.

We left Mammoth and headed toward the Lamar. We saw a squirrel hopping across the road near Blacktail Ponds, trying to stay out of the snow. The snow had really picked up again. By the time we got to the Hellroaring Overlook there was at least 6 inches of snow on the ground. Visibility was down to about 15 yards and you could not see past the trees on the overlook. We stopped to take some pictures of the snow-covered trees and the “view” from Hellroaring overlook. When we left Hellroaring, the roads were very slick. We had almost whiteout conditions as we approached the Elk Creek drainage. Believe it or not, some nut was driving without his lights on.

We stopped at Roosevelt to clear the ice from the windshield wipers. A number of other people stopped to do the same thing. A lot of traffic was leaving the Lamar. That didn’t faze us and we continued on to Little America. Since visibility was so poor we could not see anything moving, not even a bison! The snow let up a little and visibility was about 50 yards. We saw some snow covered bison herds near the road in the Lamar Valley. We did not stop at the confluence as planned and went down to the Hitching Post. The wind was blowing so hard that there was little snow on the road even though it was snowing very hard. I had to clear the ice off the windshield wipers again. By the time I was finished I was covered with snow. We decided that was enough and turned around go back to Gardiner.

By the time we got to the Buffalo Ranch the snow eased off and visibility was greatly improved. You could see most of the Lamar Valley. We stopped at Dorothy’s Knoll as the Slough Creek pack had been visible there before the snow started. We could not find them as they had either bedded down over the ridge or moved on. A lone uncollared black wolf was sighted near Slough Creek but he quickly disappeared into the trees. We saw a bald eagle soaring over the Lamar River just past the bridge in Little America.

We stopped at Roosevelt as we heard there was a kill in the area. We met Gerry and he showed us where the kill had been made. There were 4 gray wolves from the Agate pack on the kill. We watched them until they left the kill and went back to the Elk Creek drainage. It was snowing on and off while we were watching the wolves. We took some pictures but they are not the best due to the distance and poor conditions.

Since it had pretty much stopped snowing we decided to go back to the Lamar Valley, but paused for a quick lunch before getting back on the road. The NPS had plowed the roads and they were in good shape. Two radio-collared coyotes trotted down the road between Fisherman’s and Coyote pullouts. They looked strange with the little antennas pointing out of the backs of their necks. We stopped at Dorothy’s Knoll and scanned Jasper Bench for the Slough Creek Wolves. We did not see them so we continued on.

The bison had started moving. They would stand up and shake the snow off. They were no longer snow covered lumps. We did not see the otters, beaver or bighorn rams at the confluence so we went to Hitching Post and turned around. Two coyotes traversed the hill just past the confluence. We did not see anything else until we got to Elk Creek. As we headed down into the drainage, we came up on a coyote that expressed an extreme fear of cars. He was attempting to run from the car in front of us and kept slipping on the ice patches. When we got closer we saw that the coyote was walking on three legs and we surmise that it had been hit by a car and that is why it was afraid of cars.

We passed a large group of wolf watchers at the Elk Creek overlook. The four Agates that we saw near Roosevelt were bedded down above the Elk Creek drainage. We did not stay as there was no parking available. By now the roads were, for the most part, clear with the blacktop showing. We stopped at Hellroaring Overlook to get some “after” pictures.

We did not see anything except bison and elk until we reached the Wraith Falls parking lot. The big bull elk had moved into their normal wintering area near the Wraith Falls trail. They were real close to the road so we stopped to take a few pictures. There were a number of people that stopped in the road and did not close their car doors so no one could pass them. Two snow plows came by and had to wait until these people got enough photos. We also had to wait for people that stopped in the road between the Gardner River Bridge and Mammoth to watch the elk.

As we approached the stop sign in Mammoth we saw John Uhler. We stopped in the road and started to chat. Soon another car pulled up behind John. We decided to continue our conversation later in the evening because we did not want to be an inconvenience to the other car. As luck would have it, the driver of the other car was Ballpark Frank. Since Frank was going to join us later we told him about the Agates and continued on. We saw a bald eagle in a tree across the Gardner River past McMinn Bench. We stopped to take some pictures.

We left the park through the Roosevelt Arch and decided to drive up the Old Yellowstone Trail to see whether the pronghorns were still there. We saw 4 mule deer past the new Archive and Research Center. The pronghorns had moved further out but we found them close to the road. The larger groups had spread out so there were pronghorns all over the place. We took some pictures of the pronghorns and then returned to the hotel.

We had dinner at Outlaw’s Pizza with John and Frank. After we closed the place down, we continued our conversation outside. We said we would meet in the park tomorrow. With the cold urging us to keep the conversation short, we said our goodbyes and everyone headed in for the night. Since it was getting late, Deb and I retired for the day.