Wolves Play in the Distance : Lamar Valley Pack in Yellowstone Natl Park

Click on the photo above and see the Lamar Valley Packs' most powerful hunter, the alpha female, down in the creek below the bluff, seeming to contemplate her own reflection in Slough Creek, while the alpha and beta males wait on the bank above!

Somewhere downstream out of view there was apparently a carcass, because the adults were seen to be bringing bits and pieces back to the pups, who bravely ran down the hill from the Rendezvous area to meet them while we looked on.

Many of the regular watchers said that morning was quite unusual, in that some or other of the wolves or pups were in sight for about three and a half hours. We arrived at around 6 am, some had been there since 5:30. Lamar Valley at that time of day is a wildlife watchers' paradise!
Regular wolf watchers and researchers are joined by park visitors, a number of which were from other countries. All delighted in the possibility of seeing these rare animals and their young

! Caught the newly arrive Seasonal Park Ranger by surprise in this photo. He was so very helpful and invited young and old alike to view the wolves through his scope. He also passed out wolf veiwing etiquitte cards and answered questions about the wolves behavior and status in the Park.


Can you see the wolves in this picture? Click on the photo to enlarge it.

Only a handful of the millions of visitors to Yellowstone National Park ever see a the reintroduced, endangered species: the gray wolf. We count ourselves extremely lucky to have seen them on this trip, and on the previous two trips as well!

The alpha black male in the picture is the easiest to spot. He is in center of photo, facing left. He stands approx 36 inches tall and about 6 feet long. The other adults and the pups are almost invisible. They are about 1\2 mile away from us in this picture, but he is visible with naked eye. To see the pups, one must have powerful binoculars or spotting scope they blend in so well.

Advocates and researchers encourage viewers to stay well away from the packs for the good of the wolves. As a consequence, wolf veiwing often requires a spotting scope. Ranger told us story of a wolf in the Old Faithful area who became used to humans and actually chased a visitor who was riding a bike! Whoa!

We discovered that our tripod that we had taken to Africa last summer was broken so we used electrical ties to hold it together. The spotting scope itself has suffered damage from being dropped off the cheap tripod numerous times. We decided to go back to Jackson to shop for a tripod, and used the internet to order a used professional tripod and stronger camera lens off Ebay.

In early August the Lamar Valley pack was returning mornings daily to the rendezvous area where their pups were parked. In the evening, the adults and pups could often be seen when they arose for the night hunt. Over the course of two days we were able to see both the pups and adults, but it was quite hard and thankfully there were regular researchers, Park Rangers, and others around to help. Very interesting.

Later, the Lamar Valley Pack would leave the area to begin training their pups to hunt.

For more stories and pictures of our budget travels in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks in North America, please visit our pages at TravelJournals.net/rmalone

click on :

http://www.traveljournals.net/travelers/rmalone/journals/3615/