June 14, 2007
Today began at 5 a.m. with coffee and tea provided by a kind night watchman who understands that sunrise is the best time to see wildlife in Lamar Valley. We set off with high hopes for seeing wolves. As yet, we have only had a long-distance glimpse of a lone black wolf. After a fairly uneventful drive through the valley (only the usual bison, pronghorn and coyote—are we spoiled or what?!), we headed back toward Roosevelt.
 Before we made it out of the valley, we saw some people with scopes on a ridge above the road. As we watched, a man came running down the hill to get his camera. We asked if they were seeing anything and he said there were maybe three or four wolves out in the valley—this visitor from Germany had just made our day! We parked and jumped out of the vans, grabbed scopes and cameras, and ran up the ridge to get a better view. At first we didn’t see any wolves, only a herd of bison. Then, suddenly, six wolves of the 11-member Druid Peak pack came into view.
The six wolves alternated between circling the herd, moving through the herd, lying down and watching them, and testing them. The wolves tried a few times to separate a calf from the group, but the youngsters were in the center of the herd and were well protected by the adults. Eventually the wolves move on. We’re not sure how long we watched the interaction of predator and prey, but, after the experience, we all felt connected to nature in a primordial way.
Q & A for June 14
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