Joining Tom Murphy in Yellowstone

Going to Yellowstone Park never gets old. In winter, it is a special treat as the animals retreat to the river valleys and the landscape transforms to white. Yesterday, we were fortunate to be able to join Tom Murphy and some of his friends for a tour of the Lamar Valley side of the park. It required waking up at 4:15 AM unfortunately. I was elected (!) to drive while others snoozed on the 1.5 h trip to Livingston, where Tom lives. Winds gusting to 50 or 60 mph closed part of I-90, but fortunately we were able to get to the Livingstone exit. We drove south thru Paradise Valley to Gardiner, and then on into the park. Within a few minutes of leaving Mammoth Hot Springs, Tom began narrating, and was interrupted by Laurie exclaiming "Wolf! Wolf to the right! Tom, wolf to the right!" Many thought it was the old story of Laurie crying wolf because no one else saw it. But we were in the back of the car line, pulled a u-turn and went back to where she saw it. Sure enough, trotting over the second hill back from the road was a beautiful light-colored wolf, making haste for points west. We watched it for only a few seconds before it disappeared, so unfortunately we have no photo-documentation. But that was a great first wildlife sighting!

We wanted to make haste for the Lamar Valley because wolves are most frequently seen out there that way. We did see lots of wildlife but no more wolves. Here are a few pictures of the menagerie we captured.