Now I know why they call the Northern Range and Lamar Valley of Yellowstone National Park, America’s Serengeti. I kept checking my alarm every hour and a half during the night. I packed my day pack and made my lunch before I went to bed. I did not want to miss the important meeting with Wolf Trackers at 6:00 am. It was very dark as I left my hotel room and was greeted by students and Wolf Trackers. Day one in the park was about to begin. A beautiful herd of elk greeted us in Mammoth Hot Springs with the male elk indicating he did not want us messing with his harem. Then the day really took off as the sun rose and shone on the Lamar Valley. First a grizzly bear, then a black wolf, Big horn mountain sheep, antelope, mountain goats, beautiful fox (we almost had a three dog day if we would have seen a coyote), another bear with cubs, bison. Gee, we could almost go home we saw them all by 11:00. This has to be the record breaker for seeing so much wildlife in one morning out of the fourteen trips to Yellowstone. Then word comes out that there might have been a kill which will begin tomorrow’s adventure. The ravens were busy flying over and picking away at something. We do not know what the carcass is or who are the predators. That will begin tomorrow bright and early.

Dr. Ketterling