It happened this past Saturday, while driving leisurely along Highway 1A East. We were heading home after a day of skiing and exploring (hubby was skiing; I went exploring LOL), and since the afternoon light was promising some major alpenglow opportunities, we decided to go for a drive along the 1A, which is always awesome for great mountain shots.

Well, we'd just reached Baker Creek, when all of a sudden, something really large caught my attention.  At first, I couldn't believe what I was seeing; there, laying on the bank beside the road, was the largest gray wolf I've ever seen in my life! I was thinking I'd imagined it, but I slowed down, just the same.  Opportunities like this just don't come along, and I wasn't about to let it slip away.

I pulled to the side and stopped the van.  The wolf howled lowly.  In the late afternoon light, I could see the gray, silver, and black hairs of his fur as clearly as if they'd been spotlighted and magnified; we were that close to him.  But, I knew something was wrong.  A lone wolf, out in the open - and right across the road from people?  That is not natural wolf behavior...

I howled softly and low, trying to let the wolf know I meant him no harm. He looked me right in the eye, and answered me back.  Hoping he would sense that I meant him no harm, I slowly began to get out of the van, dropping my voice to a low, soothing sound.  I knew he wouldn't let me get too near him, but I didn't expect him to move so slowly when he did get up. It was very distressing to see that; he shouldn't have been there in the first place, but when I got out of the van, he should have taken off running into the bush, and he didn't.

The wolf moved back only a couple of feet.  Then, he started marking every third or fourth bush, and about every minute, he would howl.   The whole time, he remained parallel to us.  I couldn't help but wonder who was pacing whom...

I was very worried about him. There were five young bull elk further down the road, and I wondered if maybe he'd tangled with one of them and been kicked.  Or, perhaps he'd been clipped by a speeding vehicle.  Or maybe, he'd been in a fight with his pack, and he'd lost. He also might have been very sick. I wasn't sure what was wrong, but I knew that something was wrong.

I didn't want to leave him, but it was getting dark fast, and the 1A has a travel restriction in place which asks travelers to use the main highway in the evenings (to protect the wildlife, of course).  All we could do was hope and pray that he'd be okay, and that he would make it through the night...

We've been worried about the wolf ever since.  And if it's at all possible, I'm going to be going back there as soon as possible to check on him, if he's still around. Personally, I can't help feeling that his incredible proximity to humans might have been his way of saying, "I'm hurt; please help me."

That wolf and I made eye contact.  He looked at me, I looked right back at him, and in that moment, all I knew was pain.  I wanted so badly to reach out to him, but there were other people around; had he allowed that kind of contact, other people would get the idea that they could do it, too, and that would not be a good thing. But I believe - as does my hubby - that if there hadn't been anyone else around, things might have been very different...

When I get the film developed, I'll show you the pictures.  I'm going to try to finish up the roll this week so that I can get it in for processing.  If the pictures turn out (which I really hope they will), you're going to be blown away.  Because, that kind of experience doesn't happen every day - with wolves, it's actually more of a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

If you ever see an animal behaving completely out of character like that, and if you're able to, try to get in touch with a forest ranger or wildlife officer. Let them know where you were, what time it was, and what the animal was doing. You don't know if that animal is sick or injured; if it's sick, it could be contagious, so you need to let your local wildlife officials know as soon as possible. We were very fortunate, because other people saw the wolf, too, and they reported it; with any luck, he'll be captured and taken to a wildlife vet for help.

Stay tuned - I hope to have an update (and pictures!) for you within the next few days.  In the meantime, have a great day and a great week, and thanks for visiting.