Bison were about the only thing visible on my first morning

After a 2 hour delay, I didn't arrive in Bozeman until after 11 last night. Tack on the drive to Gardiner and settling in, and it meant the 5am wake-up call this morning was extra brutal. I was rolling into the park while it was still dark. Perhaps 5am was a bit too early. The northwest corner has plenty of evidence of snow, but not quite as much as I'd expect for this time of year. It wasn't quite as chilly as I expected either, though things changed once I drove past Blacktail Plateau. More snow and a bit windier to boot.

I arrived in Lamar before sunrise, and the animal encounters were few and far between. This day would pale compared to the experiences Dave's been posting photos of recently. Lots... tons of bison everywhere, but that was really about it in terms of close-up viewing this morning.

I hardly saw any elk in fact. The Lamar was quiet... the wolf watchers were out, but the Druids were not to be seen. Someone said they had made their way up Cache Creek and were out of sight. Onward and eastward... Soda Butte, nothing (grizz sighting here on a carcass in recent days)... Round Prairie, nothing... I drove past Baronette Peak and on to Cooke City, with no luck.

On the way back, a dash of white sliced in front of my car. I figured this was my first ermine sighting in the park, and pulled over at the next turnaround. Sure enough, tiny footprints left in the snow disappeared under the base of a tree. I waited and waited... hoping the critter might get curious enough to come out. Unfortunately, it was either too smart or too lazy and failed to show its wee self.

The best way to describe the park at this point is "quiet." At times, I wouldn't see another car for 20-30 minutes. Making an uneventful journey back through the Lamar, I stopped at the Narrows (the wolf watchers had moved on to track the Sloughs, who were bedded down north of the road), the Yellowstone Picnic Area (other wolf watchers were waiting for the Agates to show themselves, with no luck) and the next dirt lot down the road, where I apparently missed a grizzly sighting by five minutes.

Based on what folks have been telling me, 1-2 grizzlies a day are being spotted, more so than black bears. I'm still waiting for my first on this trip. In Little America, vast numbers of light colored pronghorn were mixing with the numerous dark bison. No little red dogs to be seen just yet! I returned to Gardiner, but not before pulling over to scout out the Rescue Creek trail through binoculars. Lots of pronghorn were visible, and I spotted a bighorn ram in the distance. The wind was gusting powerfully, so I wasn't quite sure I wanted to hike out there after lunch...

...but then I decided that I hadn't really seen anything up close yet (aside from bison), so I'd need to make the most of it. The pronghorn were fairly skittish, which allowed for a few action shots, but the bighorns were my primary target.

I found them on the back side of a berm, protecting themselves from the wind. Seven rams in total, and laid back as usual.

Along with all of the bison and pronghorn (and later elk, which started coming out of the woodwork), the other animal I'm noticing more than usual is the bluebird. There were small groups of these flying all over the northern part of the park.

After Rescue Creek, I headed east again... still no wolves, bears or anything new. The Druids had apparently returned from Cache Creek, but were bedded down. Speaking with one of the watchers, I was told that a vet had been visiting the park last week and was watching 302M in particular... based on observation through a scope, the guess was that the wolf has a broken leg (Note: this theory was dispelled by a local guide who stated that 302's injuries were related more to flesh wounds suffered in the rear quarters and groin area). He's spending a lot of time away from the pack, in theory to protect himself and his injured leg from those rambunctious youngsters.

There was time at the end of the afternoon for a quick exploration of part of the Tower Road. I only wanted to get up to Rainy Lake and maybe luck into a fox sighting. There were recent remains of two different carcasses (one of which Helene tells me was visited by the Hayden Pack), but only ravens to be seen. On the way back to the car, a lone coyote (my first non-flying predator!) ambled up the road toward me, never slowing down as it passed within a couple feet. One look back at me into a setting sun, and it turned tail and disappeared up the road.