Our first day exploring the park fulfilled many of our wishes to see elk, wolves, bison, antelope, and other parts of Yellowstone. Mammoth showed promise with elk and deer very close. We stopped in Blacktail Plateau right away to listen for wolves howling and although we did not hear any at that time, we did see antelope, a red fox, white-tailed deer being chased by a coyote, elk bugling, and several different herds of bison. It was an exciting first stop for us all.

We continued up and over the hills, and soon were in “Little America” and the Lamar Valley area. We saw no signs of wolf watchers in the area so we continued on. We were rewarded with several vehicles stopped along the road and spotting scopes were out. We stopped and jumped out to set up scopes. We found wolves up on a hill! Blacks and grays bedded down around a large boulder. We figured it was the Junction pack but after some conversation, it was discovered that the wolves were the yearlings from the Prospect pack. Shauna suspected that they were awaiting the return of their parents from the west somewhere. We were able to hear them howl and that was a great memory and something that I will never forget!

Day 1 was great and I can’t wait to see what tomorrow will bring! Hopefully a grizzly bear!