We got up, finished packing, and checked out of our room in Gardiner. With the temperature again above freezing and rain falling, we thought we had stepped through the transporter back to Pennsylvania until we saw the sagebrush and cactus. Of course, Pennsylvania was still in the deep freeze that had moved in shortly after we left; maybe we had just transported the weather.

We made our last entrance for this trip through the arch and moved slowly up to Mammoth, pulling over to let a couple of speedier folks get around us. We wanted to see as much as we could before we had to leave. The resident elk herd was out in force in Mammoth and toward the Gardner River. They didn’t seem to mind the rain. The pretty boys were also showing off at Wraith Falls. At first we thought the bison had moved out of the Blacktail Lakes area, but found they had just moved further up the mountain to the north.

The road was clear the whole way out to Tower. We saw Doug just as we made the turn at the junction. He was heading back to Gardiner and told us the Druids were visible from Slough Creek, but were pretty far away. We did not stay long there, since the wolves were just black dots. We thought if we didn’t find anything more exciting in the Lamar, we could always come back, but at this point we really didn’t want to watch black dots.

The carcass in the Lamar Canyon had been picked down to the bones, so the scavengers had left. The Druid kill was not quite as far gone; ravens and magpies still hovered about, but all the larger scavengers had left. The elk herd had moved down into the valley floor. The Druids must have been more interested in marking territory than food, since they had moved to the west side of the canyon.

As we moved down to the confluence, the rain picked up, decreasing visibility across the valley. The sheep must have decided it was better to stay bedded down in the rain; they were no where to be found. We scanned the water for otters, but once again we did not find any. We made a stop at the Hitching Post before turning around to say goodbye.

With worsening conditions from the rain, we didn’t expect to see much on our way out. Just past Fisherman’s, we saw a car and a van pulled over to the edge of the road, more on the road than off, since the shoulder was very narrow. We stopped to see if we could spot what they were looking at. A black wolf trotted through the sagebrush at the bottom of the northern hills. As we watched, he sat down and began howling the most mournful howl I’ve ever heard, perfectly matching our mood. He continued for several minutes, but received no answer. He got up, moved further up the hill, and began howling again. This time he was answered by a pack of coyotes on the south side of the valley. The wolf continued in this fashion, moving 20 to 30 yards at a time, pausing for a heart-rending howl, and moving on until he disappeared over the top of the hill.

It was time for final goodbyes. Goodbye to the rocks in Lamar Canyon; goodbye to the Lamar River. Goodbye to the bison in Little America; goodbye to Junction Butte and the sulfur smell at the Yellowstone. Goodbye to the rumble strips before Tower Junction, the Tower ranger station and the coyotes. Goodbye to Elk Creek, Floating Island Lake and Hellroaring. Goodbye to Phantom Lake and the jumble-tumble rocks near Blacktail Plateau Drive, Frog Rock and the bison at Blacktail Lakes. Goodbye to the pretty boys and the Gardner River. So many goodbyes but still looking forward to the next hello.

We stopped in at Mammoth Visitor Center to check on a tree species we saw between Hellroaring and the Gardner. We noticed a lot of orangish-brown winged seeds hanging from bare branches. They looked a lot like maple seeds, and the ranger confirmed what we suspected, that they were Rocky Mountain maple trees. We were surprised that the seeds hang on into winter. Eastern maples lose all their seeds by autumn. While we were at Mammoth, we also had a short visit with Webcam Tom. We never did get a chance to see unknown lurker.

We had to be on our way if we wanted to make it to Bozeman before dark. Lew spied one last bald eagle in a tree over the Gardner as we wound down the road to the entrance. We saw a herd of 5 blacktail deer on the bench east of the river as we stopped to show our pass one last time. We took some pictures of the Leaving Yellowstone National Park sign and the arch before making our final exit.

We decided to use the old Yellowstone Trail instead of going up Highway 89. The Park Service was spreading new gravel and grading the washboards out of the road between Gardiner and the cemetery. The road grader was so wide that, even though we pulled as far to the left as possible, it passed us with inches to spare. I watched as the huge rear wheels barely cleared the mirror on my side. Where it was freshly graded, the road was excellent, but beyond the cemetery, we were back to being bounced all over.

At Corwin Springs, we decided to continue on Yellowstone Trail up to Tom Miner Basin. We saw some more bald eagles along the Yellowstone. We were in the section that passes through CUT land, since we noticed the dire warning signs about leaving the road. We expected to see armed guards any minute. In Yankee Jim Canyon, the Forest Service is building an interpretive handicapped accessible trail and bathroom facilities.

Back on 89, we saw several large deer herds grazing in the pastures along the road. The rain stopped, but the sky continued to be overcast. We got checked in at Bozeman and had just dragged all our gear into the room when it started to snow. We finished packing, rearranging and balancing the load among our bags. We called Ballpark Frank and Cathy Montana to make arrangements for dinner. We decided on Mackenzie River Pizza. Frank and Cathy picked us up, since we aren’t familiar with the Bozeman area, and we found that the restaurant was right down the road from our hotel. Our evening was all too soon over, as it always is when Loons get together. We got to bed around 10:00, knowing we couldn’t stay up much later and expect to get up at 4:00 for our early morning flight.