We got up, got organized, and checked in with the chat page. I then got into the shower and did quite a dance before taking a nasty fall that bruised my chin, knee, and jarred my wrist. The shower did not have any anti-slip material on the bottom and whatever cleaning product they used made it slicker than goose &%#@~! Even though he was aware of the problem, when it was his turn, Lew slipped as well, but didn’t fall. We complained to the management and they installed anti-slip strips during the day.

After all that, it was about 11:30 until we finally got going. When we left our motel, it was about 27 degrees, but water was pouring off the roof. The inch of snow we got overnight was melting in the intense sunlight. We made the traditional entrance through the arch, seeing our first elk of the day, a few young bulls and some cows, just beyond it. We had a pleasant chat with the ranger on duty, who happened to be the one who was so nasty to us over Memorial Day last year. We chalked her attitude then to the stress of the holiday influx and the fact that she was new at the job. She told us the snow conditions in the park were bad and, at times, the only vehicles allowed to travel from Mammoth to Old Faithful were the rubber tracked snow coaches, which can travel over bare roads.

The Gardner River was gorgeous, steaming in the sun, with mallards, kingfishers, and magpies flying around. The parking area for Boiling River was open and several cars were parked there. We drove by, discussing whether we would take a soak later; I’m not sure I’m brave enough. At the parking area across from the Mammoth campground, we paused to watch two coyotes make their way through the sagebrush.

We stopped at the Mammoth Hotel to check on our snow coach tickets for Monday’s trip down to Old Faithful. As we walked in the door, we saw Yellowstone Girl and her mother at the bell captain’s desk. We had a nice chat and tried to convince her to switch schedules so she could drive our snow coach on Monday. We told her we were expecting Doug Dance to be on the coach, too. We got our tickets and decided to stop for lunch at the restaurant. We had jalapeno poppers, onion rings, and fish and chips, figuring that we couldn’t add too much to the sulfur content here.

I forgot to remove my earrings the night before and had lost the back to one of them, so I just HAD to make a stop at the “Hamilton” store to find another pair. I’d recently started wearing earrings again after many years and need to keep some in place. I also wanted to see if there were any changes since the new group took over. The stores are now called Yellowstone General Stores, and so far look the same. I talked to one of the clerks, who worked for Hamilton since 1989. She said that Delaware North bought all the stock, so there won’t be many changes until the stock turns over. We lamented over the change and wondered how long it would take for “Lower Hams” to disappear from the Yellowstone vocabulary.

Back in our trusty SUV (BTW, a tan Chevy Blazer), we headed out toward the Lamar. At Wraith Falls, several of the pretty boys were displaying their finery and posed nicely for some pictures. Between Blacktail Creek trail head and the turn at Frog Rock, we saw our first bison herd. The wolf tracking plane was flying up and down along Blacktail Creek, so we stopped to see if we could spot any wolves, but had no luck.

By the time we got to the Hellroaring overlook, the temperature had dropped to 14 degrees. We saw a small elk herd scattered on the hills overlooking Elk Creek and a few bison across from the Tower Ranger Station. We also saw a new species for Yellowstone – an artic wolf! It was running right in front of a large black rock near the Tower Ranger Station. Well, it really did look like one! In Little America, we saw bison and elk in several locations plus three coyotes headed up the hill by the Crystal Bench trail head. Passing through the Lamar Canyon, the anticipation was really building. There – the first glimpse of the Lamar Valley. Bison and elk were all over the valley floor. Temperature – 9 degrees. The land flowed through our eyes and created a calm, peaceful pool of home.

The road through the Lamar was mostly bare of snow. We saw where several vehicles had been pulled over just below the confluence and speculated that they might have been watching otters. We continued to see small bunches of bison and elk. We decided to go on up to Pebble Creek and then turn around, but as we passed Soda Butte, we could see a bus and several cars pulled over up ahead. We continued on and further up saw Rick McIntyre and others at another pullout. We found a spot to pull over further down the road and found we had just missed some Druids. They had made a kill earlier in the morning down by the Soda Butte. It was surrounded by magpies and ravens, but no wolves or coyotes. We were glassing the hills hoping the Druids would reappear, when Doug Dance drove by, heading back for the Lamar. He stopped and filled us in on the morning happenings and confirmed that they had been watching otters earlier. He had gone snowshoeing and loved it. Doug said they saw an unknown black wolf interacting with two of the Druid females. As we were chatting, we heard the beginnings of a howl. Immediate silence from all of us so we could listen. A lone, long, low voice started, but was soon joined by several others in a wonderful harmony.

After the howl finished, we decided to turn around and see if we could find a spot closer to where Rick had set up. When we got there, we saw 9 Druids bedded down in the pines to the west. As we watched, 6 of them got up and disappeared behind a ridge, followed closely by one more. While we were there, we met Karen B, Ray T, and Ray from Pebble Creek. Bob Landis and Cliffy (in separate vehicles) stopped, but didn’t stay long.

In the meantime, the unknown black wolf appeared on a ridge about a half a mile away. We watched him climb up on a rock and give us a nice profile. A short while later, one of the Druid yearlings came over to check him out. It was quite a display of dominance by the Druid, with tail straight out and hackles raised. The unknown wolf slunk down and hunched over, tailed tucked so far between its legs you could hardly see it. The Druid moved to the rear of the intruder, which prompted a flash of very white teeth, but continued submission. The intruder moved out of sight behind a ridge followed by the Druid. We heard some howling start, but it was just some coyotes attempting to be wolves. The howling soon turned into coyote banshee yipping. A short time later, one of the Druids returned to the two who had remained bedded down and they all got up and disappeared behind a ridge.

We decided it was time to head back to warmth and food. We stopped at the Hitching Post and watched the full moon rise over Mt. Norris, which was bathed in the alpine glow of the setting sun. By the time we got to Hellroaring, we were driving in the soft glow from the full moon. We drove cautiously, seeing many elk at the side of the road. Just as we neared Mammoth, a cow elk jumped across the road right in front of us. Fortunately, Lew was prepared, so we had plenty of time to avoid her.

Back in the room, we got organized for our next day, ate, downloaded pictures, and called it a day.