We were out in the park with our friends Louis and Candy Brad, and it had already been a pretty great morning watching a grizzly bear at Blacktail Ponds, and then wolves from the Hellroaring Overlook. We had reached the mid-point of the day, when the sun is high in the sky, most animals are hunkered down and more difficult to see, and the after-lunch sleep-ies begin to set in. Although it felt like time to head back to Gardiner, we decided to drive as far as Round Prairie to try to find some mountain goats. We parked along Soda Butte Creek and got out, enjoying the gentle sound of the water and the sunshine as we scanned the hills. We did find a few goats in the high crags, but not much else. As I was turning to put the camera back in the truck, it happened: a cow and calf moose were coming down the hill across the road behind us, towards the creek. “Guys! Guys!” I whispered urgently. “Two moose!”
At one point, the calf kept looking downstream and across the valley towards the woods. By watching the calf’s behavior, we were able to pinpoint a red fox traveling through the snow at the forest’s edge. A bit later, both cow and calf looked intently upstream—clueing us in to a coyote meandering in the gravel bar.
Photos: Jenny Golding