Yellowstone: September, 2012 Chapter 1

Day 1: Thursday, Sept. 27. 1:30 PM Having arrived at my childhood home in Silver Gate, MT the night before, I found it necessary to sleep in for my first full day of re-discovering my old stomping grounds. The prime directive for my journey to the greater yellowstone area was to capture photographs of wolves, bears, and any other wildlife that I could come across, which typically present themselves in the early morning hours and sometimes in the evening. Of course, in this area, amazing vistas are also part of the package. Our (my mother and I) first outing took place on thursday afternoon a few miles northeast of Cooke City, MT halfway between Daisy and Lulu passes. Both passes are situated above the headwaters of the Stillwater River and nestled in between huge swaths of incredible wilderness to the north and Yellowstone to the southwest. Interestingly, our first animal sighting, besides some mule deer in our back yard, was a large Gray Wolf. It appeared only for a moment as we drove over a small rise, disappearing the moment we slammed on the brakes into the timber above the meadows of Abundance Basin. From here, I exited the car and hiked down 200 yards from the rough dirt road to try and get a better glimpse. This venture did not prove fruitful with regards to the wolf, but did give me an opportunity to test out my gear on another unsuspecting member of the high country community...