I was in for some slightly different weather on my last day

I arrived in the Lamar to find Rick and the wolf posse parked a little ways past the institute. They mentioned a Druid sighting up on the ridge. I didn't see the wolves, but did notice the alert elk up on the crest. One of these was a bull with a large rack, notable simply because of the hundreds of elk I'd seen in the last few days, the only males sported thin, single-pronged stick-like antlers. It appeared that the older independent bulls are already (still?) sporting solid racks at this point.

We all moved further west in the valley, Bob Landis and I setting up our cameras on a berm while the rest of the scopers moved further down the road. The Druids reappeared.

Eleven wolves were spotted, including 302, who seemed to be keeping up with the rest of 'em just fine. The Druids continued moving westward at a brisk pace, running down a slope and disappearing into the trees (the alpha female briefly stopped to mark a tree). After that, neither Bob nor I could see them. After a 15 minute wait, the scopers down the road radioed that they could see the wolves again, "coming right at [them]." We still had no view, so I decided to pack up and head down the road, while Bob stayed behind hoping they'd come over the ridge blocking our view.

As it turned out, the wolves remained pretty far away, but I still made the right choice. As I was in transit, they chased some elk down into a ravine, and folks were theorizing that they'd taken one down. Suddenly, three mature elk bulls appeared out of the trees to the west and broke into a jog. Hot on their heels were the Druids.

The hunt was disorganized, to say the least. The pups were leading the charge, and couldn't decide which elk to chase... they headed off in three different directions. The older members of the pack hung back, probably with bemused looks on their faces.

Suffice to say, the hunt was unsuccessful, though exciting to watch. After giving up, the Druids headed back into the trees. In the meantime, snow had begun to fall on us, not the last time on this day. The Druids kept climbing higher and higher, eventually ending up near the top of Druid Peak, swathed in clouds and falling snow. The conditions proved too difficult for continued tracking, so everyone decided to move on to find the Sloughs.

The Druid wolves (circled) were unsuccessful during this disorganized chase

I headed east first to check Round Prairie, before rejoining the group at Slough Creek. There was discussion about how the Sloughs may have as many as four pregnant females and they'll start denning soon. A "due date" of April 7th was mentioned for one of the wolves, though I think this may have been in reference to the Druid alpha. Regardless, everyone expects to see a lot of pups this year!

The Sloughs weren't around, so everyone took off to find the Agates. I stuck around and headed up to Dave's Hill with my binoculars, in case there happened to be a bear around. And guess what? There was a big fat grizzly lumbering up the slope across the creek. Finally, a bear! The grizz passed within a few feet of a couple bison but kept going. Too great a challenge, especially that early in the morning.

So I got my bear out of the way. It was soon lunchtime, and I went up to Cooke City. On the way, I ran into low fog and endless snow flurries. It was the worst winter weather I've experienced in the park (which really doesn't say much). Visibility was at a 100 yards or less all the way up to the town, which seemed abandoned. Luckily, there were places open for lunch. I soon set out again, and by the time I returned to the Soda Butte area, the sun was starting to peek through.

An immature bald eagle sat patiently as snow started to fall

A pocket of sunlight seemed to hover between Petrified Tree and the Confluence for the rest of the day. Everything outside of that was cloudy, foggy and snowy. I chatted with some folks who had hiked the Tower Road. No bears, but they did spot black bear prints around the Tower Store. I spent the next 45 minutes or so being frustrated by a pair of elusive hawks, who dashed from tree to tree every time I was setting up my tripod.

The bluebirds were slightly more cooperative... and on the way back up toward the Yellowstone Picnic Area, three bighorn rams popped out onto the road in front of me.

A couple more stops in the Lamar and beyond, and with the wolves and bears out of sight, I headed for Gardiner. Just past Roosevelt, I spotted an immature bald eagle, my final subject of the trip. As I was shooting, two more immature eagles were chased from the nearby trees by ravens, but this one stuck it out for a while.

Okay, time to pack!