Leaving Cody, we continue our journey west, skirting the Wyoming/Montana state line towards the small town of Gardiner. The final section of this leg takes us into Yellowstone National Park and the road we’re on passes through Mammoth Hot Springs, the headquarters of the military back in the day when they were in charge of the park. We emerge from the park through its original gate and into Gardiner which lies on the Yellowstone River at the northern entrance to the park.

The following morning we’re up at 4:30 (!!) to meet with Quinn, a young naturalist working for a company called Yellowstone Wolf Tracker, who for the next several hours has the pleasure of taking us well.....wolf tracking. It’s cold - barely above freezing - when we set off although it does warm up quite quickly once the sun comes up. On this particular morning, there are quite a few hardy souls out wolf tracking, but our guide (who owns up that his dad was a big Bob Dylan fan, hence his name, “Quinn”) is in walkie-talkie contact with other guides so spotting wolves for us is less hit-and-miss.

To protect livestock and to ensure that there were sufficient elk to be killed by hunters, wolves in Yellowstone were exterminated during the first half of the 20th century. As always when humans interfere with the natural order of things, the elk population grew so large that it became apparent that they were devastating the ecology of Yellowstone. Following passage of the Endangered Species Act in the 1960’s, conservationists were given an opening to reintroduce wolves to Yellowstone. A couple of small packs of black wolves were trapped in Canada and eventually released into the park. Wolves re-established themselves in Yellowstone and flourishing, they have helped to restore the natural balance. Unsurprisingly, this hasn’t happened without opposition from local ranchers and others who see this as another example of government overreach interfering with their rights to kill and destroy whatever they wish!

Wolves are not easy to spot. As much as possible, they stay well away from human contact and without knowledgeable guides with good optical equipment, the casual visitor would be unlikely to see any. Through spotting scopes and powerful binoculars we did watch one large pack, including a few pups. Mostly black wolves, but also a couple of gray wolves. They are actually the same species with different coloration due to small genetic differences (analogous to humans with blue eyes or brown eyes for instance). Our guide discovered one lone wolf who we were able to follow as it made its way back to the main pack, coming somewhat closer to the road

Yellowstone is now home to around 5000 buffalo and large herds are easy to spot, particularly at the northern end of the park. But other than a few prong horn antelope and one lone mountain goat we had no further animal spotting luck that morning until we came across a very large elk buck and his harem sauntering around Mammoth Hot Springs with park rangers anxiously running around trying to keep the picnicking crowds from getting too close. This is rutting season and elk buck don't take too kindly to curious humans getting in the way of business...

Yellowstone and surrounding area is home to both grizzly and black bears. Quinn advised that the best time to spot bears (from a suitable distance of course) was at dusk. He told us exactly where to go (well he pointed it out at least on my Apple map app) and when. For some reason, at the time we set out from Gardiner for the 20 mile drive, the app indicated that the highway out of the town was closed and we were diverted down a back country dirt road that led us nowhere that any self-respecting bear would be seen dead on! By the time we'd worked out that the road wasn't closed and presumably Apple didn't want us to spot bears, it was too dark to spot anything....

So off to bed and sweat dreams about what tomorrow might have in store for us....

Day 14: Cody, Wyoming-Gardiner, Montana (north gate of Yellowstone National Park): 135 miles

Day 15: Yellowstone National Park: 55 miles