Renita's Story, Day Four in Yellowstone, May 30, 2017

Here’s Renita’s story of what she saw, in her own words.

Omg! What a phenomenal day we had today, our last today in Yellowstone! What we saw today was the highlight of our trip, in fact it is the highlight of all our trips to Yellowstone!

We were sitting at Slough Creek, in Lamar Valley, watching the Wolf Den with our binoculars and telescope waiting to see the wolves, (five adults and five pups make up the pack) There were several people there. I was looking through my binoculars when all of a sudden I saw five animals running from the den area.

At first I thought it was the five wolves but then I was realized what I was seeing was a grizzly bear, (big bruin), being chased from the den by four of the wolves from the pack! I screamed, “There they are”!

When I saw there was a grizzly bear, I screamed, “It’s a bear! It’s a grizzly bear! They are chasing a grizzly!” They chased the bear up the hill The grizzly ran into some evergreen trees with the wolves following.

The grizzly came out of the trees and ran for his life! The four wolves sauntered back down toward the den! And then right after, “the chase”, we saw a pup nursing right outside the den! I was way too excited to even think about taking pictures, (and I wanted to be sure I saw the entire thing unfold).

Mark was busy with the telescope… but another person did get a picture of, “the chase”, and is going to email it to us! We will never forget the experience! The best was saved for the last! It was the best day of this trip and the best day of all our trips to Yellowstone! I am still getting goosebumps!

So I was focusing the telescope on the den and missed the chase. I did see three of the wolves returning to the den and I did see the bear running full speed over the mountainside like it was still being chased . No pictures but our three hundred mm lens wouldn’t have gotten anything at that distance.

We waited the entire day and never saw the wolves again. We did see bald eagles, a coyote and a buffalo bison that walked twenty feet away. We never saw it as we were focusing on the den. We also got to see a badger digging out ground squirrels, and a herd of big horn sheep grazing above the den.

Sandhill cranes waded in a closed off oxbow bend and a black tailed doe fed among the grassy banks.

Later in the day another person spotted a black bear peering from the edge of the black forest.

Oh and a research plane decorated with antennas for tracking the wolves flew overhead. What a day, what a day! From now on we will probably spend our time in Yellowstone by taking a den stand. Clear skies