Seen From the Road
Yellowstone wolf watching for a friend
The ask
A close friend from graduate school has had a long year, and she can manage short walks but no trails yet. She lives in Bozeman and follows the Yellowstone wolf packs online. I'd like to give her and her husband a winter weekend in the park. Around $2,800.
The gift
A private day from dawn with Yellowstone Wolf Tracker, founded by Nathan Varley and Linda Thurston, biologists on the park's early wolf restoration; he grew up at Mammoth and wrote his doctorate on wolves and elk. Their guides track the packs daily and set up scopes at roadside pullouts in the Lamar Valley. Two nights follow in a hot tub cabin at Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel. The card is closed with a blind-embossed seal.
Why it's extraordinary
In winter the one road in Yellowstone open to cars crosses the Lamar Valley, where wolves are watched from roadside pullouts. Through a guide's scope, the backcountry comes to her a few steps from the car.
The moment
She stands in the snow at a pullout at first light, watching the far side of the valley through the scope, with the car a few steps behind her.
A curator replies within one business day.
