Elk in Mammoth campground, Bison, Bears in the Pines, Wolves in the distance from Grizzly Overlook!

Elk in Mammoth campground, Bison, Bears in the Pines, Wolves in the distance from Grizzly Overlook!

Got up the next morning and were off on another adventure. As we left the Mammoth campground, we were rewarded with a male elk and females and one young as we drove out. We did some of our chores while Lisa went on another ranger led walk to view some of the thermal features at Mammoth.

We did a walk around some of the old buildings and then stopped at a ranger talk on the ABC's of wildlife viewing. There was a silhoutte of a wolf in the distance, a bison skull, and the imprint of a wolf paw for the visitors to look at during the talk.

The ranger did a great job of explaining why not to get too close to the animals you were viewing. Gave the speed of the fastest runner at the Olympics and then cvompared that speed to that of the buffalo, bear and some of the other animals and how you could not outrun them. Also what to do if you happened upon one of them, how to use that bear spray you bought and so on.

He talked about the Yellowstone Zone which was the proper distance to be from the bear, wolf, buffalo and so on. It was a great talk and ended with why it was so important for future generations as well.

From there we headed down toward Lamar Valley. We drove out toward the places we had seen wolves in the past but there was not activity going on in those places. We did a quick stop at Tower Roosevelt and then headed to Dunraven Pass. As we got to the place where we have seen bears in the past, there were several cars pulled over, binoculars and scopes present so we decided to do the same.

Had to park at the parking lot for people wanting to hike to Mount Washburn but were rewarded for our efforts. There was a mother black bear with two cubs feasting on the white bark pine nuts. Evidently this year they are more plentiful then they were last year. Watched the bears until they went out of sight.

Drove on to Grizzly Overlook to see if there was any wolf action. Before we went to the overlook, we stopped in at Canyon and got a campsite and left the truck there. We got to the overlook and got out to see what we could see. Ran into Sandy, one of the wolf watchers we met last year, looking for the wolves. Took awhile but we were rewarded with sighting of four wolves. With the help of Sandy's scope, Lisa was able to see some of the wolves as well. The place where the wolves are seen is about one and a half miles from the Grizzly overlook so you need either a scope or good set of binoculars to see much of anything.

It was another great day of wildlife sightings. Retired to the Canyon bar for a drink and to talk over what our possible plants for the next day would be.