Tom and I just got back about a week and half ago from a trip out to Montana and Wyoming. We spend most of the time just outside of Glacier National Park for a camp that our church is a part of every year. The camp was good and we had a chance for some great worship and teaching as well as an opportunity to lead worship and be part of the ministry team for the youth meetings. We saw some amazing beauty in Glacier (for the third time in about a year, which is awesome!) From there, we drove down through Bozeman, MT (a favorite place) and then down to Yellowstone National Park and Grand Tetons National Park. The drive down and the beauty rivaled Glacier and we loved the open views and the majesty of it all. We arrived at about 9:00pm at Yellowstone and stayed in a hotel there. We spent the next day there and slept in a cabin in the park that night. We planned to drive out the next morning and make it as far into North Dakota as we could on our journey back.
Early in our drive through the park on our way out of town, we saw a black bear at the side of the road. He walked up to the road and casually crossed and climbed up the embankment on the other side. Keep in mind that I have spent a great deal of time hoping and praying to see wildlife (bears, wolves, mountain lions, elk, mountain goats, bighorn sheep etc.) and at this point in the trip I was feeling a bit disappointed at not seeing some of the big ones. I was so excited to see the bear and my reaction was "It's happening, Tom, we're seeing a bear!" That should have satisfied my desire for seeing animals, but all it did was make me more eager to see all that God has made.
From there we continued to drive, straining at each turn to see what wildlife might be roaming the land. At one turnout in the Lamar Valley, there was a multitude of cars parked horribly and facing every direction. A large group of people stood in a mass together on a surrounding hill overlooking the river. We pulled over and asked someone in the parking lot what everyone was looking at. "An elk is in the river . . ." (exciting enough to stop, I guess, since I love these proud and majestic animals) " . . . And there's a wolf there waiting for her to die, " ended the response. My heart jumped and I took off walking as fast as I could to see this. Of course we walked the wrong direction and were strongly urged (by hand motions) from a park ranger to change our course.
After what seemed like a 10 minute walk, we arrived at the river to see an elk in the river, just like the kind lady said. But the wolf was nowhere in site. After awhile, through the binoculars, Tom spotted the wolf lying down near the river. Eventually, the elk started to trot away slowly and the wolf got up and watched her. He was black, with some grayish fur and he was beautiful (let's just assume it was a boy) He chased her right out of our line of vision. So the adventure ended there, and I was glad to have seen a wolf.
We got in the car and at the next turnout, everyone was stopped again. We drove past, argued about whether it was ok to park with no spots and eventually looped back and parked in the crazy lot and found a place to watch. About 100 feet away, the elk was in the water and the wolf was again lying down waiting for the right moment. We, along with the 40 or so other people standing there, also awaited the right moment. Tom and I went back and forth looking through the binoculars, waiting for something to happen. At some point a kind man offered for us to look through his scope. Tom, for some reason thinking that our binoculars were about the same power as his massive contraption said no on our behalf (Tom is not allowed to speak on my behalf in these matters anymore!)
Eventually, the elk struggled her way out of the water and the wolf got up again in anticipation of the pursuit. He chased her, but not fast enough; as he approached her she started to chase back. They played a game of cat and mouse for awhile, chasing each other and trying to figure out who had the advantage. In the midst of it, a coyote came bolting down a hillside into the valley. The wolf stopped his attack on the elk and put his focus on the coyote, chasing it with full speed up the hill. They stopped behind some trees and we were left with our imaginations and a series of horrific sounding yelps and barks to figure out what the fight was like. The sound stopped and the wolf came trotting back down the hill towards the elk, apparently the winner of the fight.
The wolf and elk continued in the half-chase for quite awhile and I was amazed at the tenacity of the elk and the cowardly moves of the wolf. We discussed how he was alone, likely kicked out of the pack as the lowest one in the ranking. Hunting alone wouldn't be easy, I supposed. We continued to watch the game go on until two coyotes came down the hillside barking and running fast. Apparently the coyote-wolf duel hadn't ended in death, but in "I'll be back with my buddy" retaliation. The coyotes had far more energy than the wolf at this point and they chased him. He ran while they leaped over bushes and were biting at his heels. The chased him through the river, where he struggled to get through the current and then watched as he ran up the embankment towards the road (the one we were standing alongside of, probably about 50 feet away). The wolf stood there looking back at his lost cause and then hung his head sadly and walked across the road. Losing hurts.
The coyotes disappeared and made no effort to chase the elk at that point. She slowly made her way up the hill and was safe for now. She had already been bitten in the hind leg and was likely to have been killed later by something, but not the wolf who tried so hard and spent at least an hour and a half trying to get her down. So the excitement ended for the day and we continued to replay and evaluate the situation all day, in increasing awe that we had just witnessed a thing fairly rare to see, especially so close. I heard one women, who obviously follows the wildlife scene, say that she has only seen something like this at such close range maybe six times in her life. And this is someone who goes in pursuit of seeing wildlife encounters. After overhearing her, I debated whether to change my life path and move out to the mountains and buy a nice camera and search for animals my whole life. For now, I'll be satisfied to have this one encounter to keep me going for awhile.
From there we continued to drive, straining at each turn to see what wildlife might be roaming the land. At one turnout in the Lamar Valley, there was a multitude of cars parked horribly and facing every direction. A large group of people stood in a mass together on a surrounding hill overlooking the river. We pulled over and asked someone in the parking lot what everyone was looking at. "An elk is in the river . . ." (exciting enough to stop, I guess, since I love these proud and majestic animals) " . . . And there's a wolf there waiting for her to die, " ended the response. My heart jumped and I took off walking as fast as I could to see this. Of course we walked the wrong direction and were strongly urged (by hand motions) from a park ranger to change our course.
After what seemed like a 10 minute walk, we arrived at the river to see an elk in the river, just like the kind lady said. But the wolf was nowhere in site. After awhile, through the binoculars, Tom spotted the wolf lying down near the river. Eventually, the elk started to trot away slowly and the wolf got up and watched her. He was black, with some grayish fur and he was beautiful (let's just assume it was a boy) He chased her right out of our line of vision. So the adventure ended there, and I was glad to have seen a wolf.
We got in the car and at the next turnout, everyone was stopped again. We drove past, argued about whether it was ok to park with no spots and eventually looped back and parked in the crazy lot and found a place to watch. About 100 feet away, the elk was in the water and the wolf was again lying down waiting for the right moment. We, along with the 40 or so other people standing there, also awaited the right moment. Tom and I went back and forth looking through the binoculars, waiting for something to happen. At some point a kind man offered for us to look through his scope. Tom, for some reason thinking that our binoculars were about the same power as his massive contraption said no on our behalf (Tom is not allowed to speak on my behalf in these matters anymore!)
Eventually, the elk struggled her way out of the water and the wolf got up again in anticipation of the pursuit. He chased her, but not fast enough; as he approached her she started to chase back. They played a game of cat and mouse for awhile, chasing each other and trying to figure out who had the advantage. In the midst of it, a coyote came bolting down a hillside into the valley. The wolf stopped his attack on the elk and put his focus on the coyote, chasing it with full speed up the hill. They stopped behind some trees and we were left with our imaginations and a series of horrific sounding yelps and barks to figure out what the fight was like. The sound stopped and the wolf came trotting back down the hill towards the elk, apparently the winner of the fight.
The wolf and elk continued in the half-chase for quite awhile and I was amazed at the tenacity of the elk and the cowardly moves of the wolf. We discussed how he was alone, likely kicked out of the pack as the lowest one in the ranking. Hunting alone wouldn't be easy, I supposed. We continued to watch the game go on until two coyotes came down the hillside barking and running fast. Apparently the coyote-wolf duel hadn't ended in death, but in "I'll be back with my buddy" retaliation. The coyotes had far more energy than the wolf at this point and they chased him. He ran while they leaped over bushes and were biting at his heels. The chased him through the river, where he struggled to get through the current and then watched as he ran up the embankment towards the road (the one we were standing alongside of, probably about 50 feet away). The wolf stood there looking back at his lost cause and then hung his head sadly and walked across the road. Losing hurts.
The coyotes disappeared and made no effort to chase the elk at that point. She slowly made her way up the hill and was safe for now. She had already been bitten in the hind leg and was likely to have been killed later by something, but not the wolf who tried so hard and spent at least an hour and a half trying to get her down. So the excitement ended for the day and we continued to replay and evaluate the situation all day, in increasing awe that we had just witnessed a thing fairly rare to see, especially so close. I heard one women, who obviously follows the wildlife scene, say that she has only seen something like this at such close range maybe six times in her life. And this is someone who goes in pursuit of seeing wildlife encounters. After overhearing her, I debated whether to change my life path and move out to the mountains and buy a nice camera and search for animals my whole life. For now, I'll be satisfied to have this one encounter to keep me going for awhile.
2 comments:
Yeah! You saw a bear, an elk, and a wolf. I am glad you had a wonderful time. It sounds like a refreshing trip :)
wow, you are so lucky! I miss the great outdoors
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