'Ghost wolf' encounter a 'quintessential Yellowstone moment'

A guide in Yellowstone National Park on Monday shared stunning footage showing a black wolf partially obscured by mist as other wolves remained mostly hidden in the background.

“This was the most quintessential Yellowstone moment I’ve ever experienced,” Bo Welden stated via Instagram. “A black wolf walking on a geothermal boardwalk while steam from a nearby hot spring shrouds the rest of the pack behind. I could not believe what I was seeing!”

Welden titled his post “Ghost wolf.”

If viewers look closely, as Welden pans to his right, they’ll see a light-colored wolf gazing through steam toward the camera, and a third wolf closer to the boardwalk.

The mystical footage provides a captivating glimpse into the lives of Yellowstone’s iconic wolves during the winter, when thermal areas provide warm refuge.

Welden told FTW Outdoors that the wolves are part of the wide-ranging Wapiti Lake Pack, presently the largest wolf pack in the park.

The same pack was observed recently on a bison kill in a predation event that caused a bison stampede that “thundered” through a crowd of panicked onlookers, according to photographer Jeff Vanuga.