Yellowstone Winter Wolf Trip
Natural Habitat Adventure
Guides: Aaron Bott and Jeremy Covert
February 23, 2018 to March 2, 2018
By Bob Gray, March 2018
I took this Winter Wolf trip with my son, Tyler. During the trip, I kept a log of the activities we did and wildlife we saw. The times in the list below are approximate. Follow the links on the page to view photographs and movies for an activity or wildlife. Return to this page using the back button on your browser of the back button on the page. We saw eleven wolves in all, but they were not close enough for photographs. Therefore, I have included links to National Park Service pages on each pack. These links, like the web itself, may change over time, but they were valid when I posted this page.
Species List provided by Jeremy Covert
Friday, February 23, 2018
6:00 AM ET – Pick up Tyler and head to Dulles Airport
8:15 AM ET – Flight to Bozeman, Montana
1:15 PM MT – Arrive at Bozeman, Montana, check in at Gran Tree Hotel
Took hotel shuttle to downtown area
Ate lunch at local Co-Op, very good food
6:00 PM MT – Welcome dinner
8:30 PM MT – Coats and boots
9:00 PM MT – Bed
Saturday, February 24, 2018
5:30 AM MT – Wake up and get ready for the day’s travel
6:30 AM MT – Breakfast
7:00 AM MT – Bags out
7:30 AM MT – Leave for Cooke City via Pleasant Valley:
Immature Bald Eagle
Rough Legged Hawk
Immature Bald Eagle
Ravens
Western Magpies
Elk
Mule Deer
Big Horn Sheep including a female with a Magpie on her back
Bald Eagles, one in a tree and two flying
Dead Coyote
11:00 AM MT – Continuing on towards entrance to Yellowstone Park
A Conspiracy of Ravens on gut pile just outside Yellowstone Park
Bison, multiple sightings
12:30 PM MT – Gardner Entrance (Roosevelt Arch) and lunch at Mammoth Hot Springs
Hike around Mammoth Terraces, upper level
Townsend’s Solitaire
3:00 PM MT – Lamar Valley
Two Coyotes crossing the Lamar river
Barrow’s Goldeneye
5:00 PM MT – Five male Big Horn Sheep grazing on the side of a hill and climbing the hill
6:00 PM MT – Arrive Cooke City
Check into Super 8 Hotel
Dinner at the Prospector Restaurant
9:00 PM MT - Bed
Sunday, February 25, 2018
7:00 AM MT – Leave for Lamar Valley
Two Moose
grazing just before the entrance to Yellowstone, neither had antlers but at
least one was thought to be a male
Common Goldeneye
Soda Butte Area
Coyote moving across a field and the road
American Dipper
9:00 AM MT – Dorothy Area between road to Slough Creek Campground and Yellowstone Association Institute
Junction Butte Pack consisting of eight wolves. Several were playing and rolling in the snow. The pack walked to the west along Specimen Ridge, eventually disappearing behind the ridge. The pack was hard to spot with binoculars. With a spotting scope, you could make out their feet as they walked along the ridge. Once on top of the ridge, the pack started running. I was surprised at how fast they could run as the snow was fairly deep. A volunteer observer said that the wolves walk on the crusty top of the snow as opposed to sinking in, which is why they were able to run so fast. Our guide, Jeremy, said that this was an average sighting as far as distance and duration but above average in activity, referring to the playing, jumping, and rolling in the snow.
10:00 AM MT – Drove past the 60 minutes film crew
10:30 PM MT – Talked with Rick McIntyre, US Park Service biological technician for the Yellowstone Wolf Project.
Junction Butte Pack consists of eight wolves. Four are male and four are female. There are six blacks and two grays. The two grays are sisters. Rick said that the two sisters don’t get along very well. He also said that the alpha male was injured and walked with a limp.
12:00 PM
MT – Lunch at Bear Claw restaurant in Cooke City
1:30 PM MT – Drive to Dan Hartman’s home/photography studio for talk by Dan
Pine Grosbeak
Clark’s Nutcracker
Gray Jay
Mountain Chickadee
Red Breasted Nuthatch
Harry Woodpecker
Brown Creeper – seen by others
3:30 PM MT – Drive along Lamar Valley while others went snowshoeing
Two
moose grazing
River Otter diving in river, eating a fish, disappearing under the ice
Two moose grazing, one was a male with a large set of antlers
Big Horn Sheep, the males seen the day before
Bison grazing on the same hill with the Big Horn Sheep
Three moose grazing in the same area where only two were seen earlier
Bison in river pushing snow out of the way to expose the plants underneath
6:30 PM MT – Dinner at the Prospector Restaurant
Red Fox outside the restaurant
9:00 PM MT – Bed
Monday, February 26, 2018
7:15 AM MT – Depart for Mammoth Hot Springs to meet Snow Coaches
Two moose as we approached Silver Gate of Yellowstone
Clark’s Nutcracker
Goldeneye
Several Bison lying on the ground covered in snow – cool!
Two coyotes walking up a hill
American Dipper
9:00 AM MT – Passed a young Bison with a bad leg. The Bison was in the road.
Three female Elk and one yearling male Elk with single spike antlers
10:00 AM MT – Two members, a sub group, of the Eight Mile Wolf Pack at the Blacktail area
The wolves were in the snow up a hill and hard to spot as they were very far away. They were laying down initially and then started to walk up the hill, making it easier to see them.
11:00 AM MT – Board the wheeled Snow Coaches for transport to Old Faithful
The ride in the wheeled Snow Coach was bumpy
12:30 AM MT – Trumpeter Swan with Bison nearby
Lesser Scaups, male and female, about six total (On further review, these may have been Barrow’s Goldeneye)
Two Canada Geese on river
Gibbon
Falls, short hike to view
About six Mallards
1:10 PM MT – Arrive at Madison Junction Warming Hut with heated restroom
2:00 PM MT – Leave after eating bag lunch
Many Canada Geese
2:30 PM MT – Arrive Fountain Paint Pot area
Two Ravens in parking lot, called Bonnie and Clyde by the local staff
As we
were leaving the Hot Springs, the Bison were coming the other way up the
boardwalk.
3:30 PM MT – The four Bison left the boardwalk, allowing us to return to the Snow Coaches
Canada Geese
Lesser Scaups (On further review, these may have been Barrow’s Goldeneye)
Ravens
4:00 PM MT – Arrive at Snow Lodge in Old Faithful area
5:10 PM MT – Watch Old Faithful Geyser
Group photo
5:30 PM MT – Hotel Room, get ready for dinner
9:00 PM MT – Bed
10:30 AM MT – Board the tracked Snow Coaches, about 45 minutes late due to snow overnight
10:40 AM MT – Black Sand area where 14 Wolves were sighted on an Elk carcass the day before
The Wolves were the Wapiti Lake Pack. There were about a dozen Ravens flying to and from the carcass. Three Bald Eagles were sitting in a nearby tree. Two of the flew away. Two other Bald Eagles or Hawks were flying to the northeast. The field of view for the carcass was very limited. We were about to leave when a worker from the hotel shouted that he had seen a Wolf on the carcass. One black Wolf was then seen just in front of the area where the Ravens were landing. The Wolf popped its head up multiple times. It eventually ran off.
11:40 AM MT – Board the tracked Snow Coaches and head south
12:40 PM MT – West Thumb of Yellowstone Lake with warming hut
Short hike to Black Pool thermals
2:10 PM MT – Board the tracked Snow Coaches and continue south
2:30 PM MT – Passed Lewis Lake
3:15 PM MT – Arrive Flagg Ranch, switch to regular vans and head for Jackson Hole
Four Trumpeter Swans on the river
Thousands of Elk in the Elk Refuge
4:30 PM MT – Arrive in Jackson Hole and check into Lexington Hotel
Dinner at Gather, very noisy, but good food
9:00 PM MT – Bed
Wednesday, February 28, 2018
7:00 AM MT – Young Moose walking past hotel
7:30 AM MT – Parking lot of Wildlife Art Museum overlooking Elk Refuge
Thousands of Elk including two males sparing
Pair of Bald Eagles sitting in Cottonwood Tree in Elk Refuge
Two Coyotes in refuge walking and sitting
8:00 AM MT – Grand Teton scenic viewing lot
8:15 AM MT – Moose grazing and then laying down
Two Moose grazing on the other side of the road
Ravens
on ground and then flying
Possible Bald Eagle in a tree
Mule Deer
Two or three Moose grazing (different from above)
11:15 AM MT – Three Moose at a distance
11:30 AM MT – Moose eating directly below the van, very close view
12:00 PM MT – Wildlife Art Museum tour
1:00 PM MT – Lunch
2:00 PM MT – Sleigh ride in Elk Refuge
Lots of Elk. Driver told us about various Elk including one without ears and another with a broken antler. Four, maybe five, Eagles flying and sitting in a tree. At least three adult Eagles and one immature Eagle. When the sleigh pulled up by the tree where the Eagles were sitting, there was only one Eagle which repeated called to the others. A second adult Eagle returned with a fish, landed on a limb of the tree near the first Eagle, and ate the fish. As the sleigh proceeded towards the river, two more Eagles, one adult and one immature, were sitting on the far bank of the river.
4:00 PM MT – Return to hotel
6:30 PM MT – Drive to dinner at the Wort Hotel
Two Moose one block from the hotel
9:00 PM MT – Bed
Thursday, March 1, 2018
8:30 AM MT – Picked up by dog sled ride van
Moose
Elk Refuge
Coyote crossing the road
Bison
9:30 AM MT – Arrive at dog sled facility
Clark’s Nutcracker
10:00 AM MT – Begin dog sled ride, Dylan was the musher for our sled
Nancy and Susan’s sled tipped over on a turn, Susan spilled out
Steep downhill run near the end of ride, much like a roller coaster
11:45 AM MT – Return to dog sled facility
Six or seven puppies
12:15 PM MT – Lunch
1:00 PM MT – Return trip to hotel
2:00 PM MT – Arrive at hotel
Walk around town, visit several art galleries and stores
Snake River Brew Pub for drinks and dinner
9:00 PM MT – Bed
Friday, March 2, 2018
11:00 AM MT – Shuttle to airport
10:00 PM ET – Arrive home
Mammals and birds in trip overview not listed above: White Tailed Deer, Antelope, and Brown Creeper.
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