Today was an exciting first day, we were able to see nine of the Junction Butte Pack this morning. They might have spooked some elk about a mile away up on the hilltop, but the pack looked very relaxed and were bedded down. After seeing the wolves we came back up into Mammoth Hot Springs to hear Travis Wyman talk about the elk herds that inhabit the park, and the processes of grizzly bears getting on and off the endangered species list. I think grizzly bears should be taken off the endangered species list, but shouldn’t be hunted for a few years until there is a substantial numbers in the population then give out hunting permits.

We drove for the majority of the time after lunch, and we went up to Mount Washburn Canyon looking at white bark pines and looking for potential grizzly bears. After looking at the caldera our tour guide brought us to an old dump site where people came from miles around to watch bears eat garbage from humans. The trail we took was otter creek that brought us up over the ridge where the site was, and we saw multiple mammal signs like scat and bison rubs. The group also tested out how to use bear spray while we were out at the dump site, and after that we hiked back to the vehicle headed back to Gardiner where our first day at Yellowstone came to an end.