A Great Wolf Sighting

I know it's been awhile, but I had a few work emergencies to catch up on. Now I resume with some Yellowstone pics from our spring trip. We were hoping to see wolves, as we did during our visit in 2008. However, we had previously seen them only very far away, through a scope or binoculars. This trip we were fortunate enough to see several wolves fairly close to the road, easily seen with the naked eye and close enough for photos.

The above photo is from our very best sighting. The wolf was in Hayden Valley just north of Nymph Lake. He was patrolling his territory and marking it, so he was moving quickly. We were probably only 20 feet from him. However, there was not enough time to zoom in with the camera - he was moving fast and I could not zoom and focus so I got three photos but one has the car window in it, one he has his head behind a bush, and then there is this one. I would have loved to have a second longer to zoom in, but as you can see in this non-zoomed photo, the grey wolf is clearly visable. Callie was in the car with us and I wondered if she would smell the wolf or bark. The wolf looked at her but kept going - but he did stop and look. It was a very cool experience over all and one we won't soon forget. The best part - in addition to the proximity - was we were alone. There was no other car or tourist there so we had a lovely private viewing.