Today we hired a nature guide to show us around the Lamar Valley and to help us find animals in this area that is well-known for wildlife. It was a really cold day and we had to start super early to drive from where we were staying to meet our guide  up at Mammoth Hot Springs, at the north end of Yellowstone, at 6 am. We encountered a bison road jam, but made it in time.

We started out our morning trying to find wolves at Slough Creek. There is a pack living here and apparently there are a number of cubs. They tend to come out early in the morning. Because of all of this, a number of people come out here each morning. You have to stay quite a distance away, but our guide (and everyone around) was set up with strong scopes on tripods, and they are familiar with the activity patterns of the wolves. Unfortunately, we did not have any luck seeing them here. Our guide had a radio where people were discussing where to see wolves, and someone mentioned a location more in the Lamar Valley where some wolves were eating on a carcass, so we headed out over there instead. We did manage to see 2 wolves there. They were at least 400 yards away and they spent most of the time napping, but we did see them. Because of the distance, I hope you will forgive my wolf pictures. My camera is good, but I didn’t bring my converter to make my lens an 800 mm. Oh, well.

After we had spent quite a while looking at the wolves and some nearby bison, we went to look for other critters. We encountered our second bison road jam of the day, this one being cleared by a trucker who didn’t want to wait. Our guide found us mountain goats at Barronette Peak who were not quite as far away as the wolves, but close.

Pronghorn

We encountered a bison jam along the way.

Then, a fascinating thing happened. It started to snow. This was August 31! Legit snowflakes! Our guide was excited to have snow squeak in in August. We were driving, so we stopped to get out and enjoy the snow while it lasted. 

We had a picnic lunch. Our guide showed us an osprey nest with a juvenile osprey. Then we returned to Slough Creek. Still no wolves there, but we managed to see a juvenile golden eagle. 

We ended our time with our guide back at Mammoth Hot Springs where there is a herd of elk. 

We spent some more time in Mammoth looking at the springs themselves. They form huge terraces. Seriously, huge. We walked the lowest level and then drove the loop at the highest level. There are boardwalks all through the middle levels, but neither of us wanted to do all of the stairs. 

After heading “home” and having dinner, we decided to drive along the Hayden Valley along the Yellowstone River in hopes of seeing some wildlife at twilight. We went to the Sulfur Cauldron (aptly named). We did manage to see a coyote, swans, and a herd of elk, so not too bad.

Sulfur Cauldron