We typically move on fairly quickly, but I decided to hang out for a while to see if they'd come back. They apparently bedded back in the trees and did not appear. The wolf plane showed up and circled above the area so maybe that kept them away. We did find 4 mountain goats on a high distant peak, but no wolves. After 2 hours we decided to head back since it was now late morning and starting to warm up. Most people were gone by this time, but I joked with another couple that since we were leaving the wolves would show up within 5 minutes
.As we headed back, we had the usual folks scanning the valley and stopping for the bison and pronghorn. As we were nearing the construction, I noticed a few people with different body language looking through their scopes so I pulled in. I asked if they saw anything and they replied, "wolves!"
We quickly spotted 2 wolves, a black and a gray, not too far away heading back east in the valley. Then we spotted 2 more for a total of 4. They were on a steady trot and soon were almost out of range. So we headed back to another pull out and watched them pass by. It was amazing how much ground they were covering. One of the grays had a slight limp but was keeping up. So we packed up and headed where we figured would be past them and climbed a hill for a better view. Turns out by the time we got up the hill they were straight out from us. We had a great look from that vantage point with binoculars and our scope, but could easily see them with the naked eye. We should have grabbed the camera, but it was down in the car.
The lead black kept up his trot with a mottled gray close behind. The limper was falling a bit behind but a companion stayed with her. Again, we went beck to the car to try and get ahead. Apparently the word had gotten out and the pullouts were filling up around the Confluence so we headed up to Hitching Post to see if we could look back and find them. We walked out a ways and set up the scope, looking back towards the Confluence.
Nothing but bison. I happened to look straight out along the trail and caught a glimpse of the mottled gray, then the lead black crossing the trail. We could not believe they covered that much ground so fast. There were people on the trail that appeared to see them as their phones came out. The wolves disappeared in the sage very quickly and we could not pick them up again. Don't know what happened to Limper and companion as we could not see them.
It was a lot of fun to follow these wolves on their quest through the valley. I assume they were Junctions on their way to unite with the others. What amazed us was the miles they covered in such a short amount of time. Who would have thought we would be treated to such a show at midday?! It just goes to show you never know what you will see in the park when you least expect it.
--Bill
