Snowshoeing, winter, the Boreal forest, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Lookin’ for the Wolf – Image of the Month, Feb 2010.

Winter travel through the boreal forest, in Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve. A man hikes on snowshoes through the snow-covered taiga, white spruce forest in winter.

Snowshoeing through the forest in search of the wolf, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park, Alaska.

Hey Folks,

A week or 2 through the winter boreal forest hoping to find wolves is always a treat – whether the wolves show themselves or not. So far, no luck – they remain the mystery.

But what a treat it is to hear their howls, or find their soft tracks in the snow, and to know they too sift through the boreal forest. To enter the winter boreal forest is to enter the realm of the wolf – the home of Canis lupus. Few creatures can quite so vividly engage our mind and spirit like the wolf – so rarely even seen, yet so enmeshed in our cultural histories and stories.

I’ve walked I don’t know how many miles and waited hours, days, hoping for a glimpse, and yet the pack remain unseen. The reward though, is the detail this adventure forces me to see, hear and smell. One can’t help but become more in tune with the depths of the forest in the presence of the wolf. The white spruce, Picea glauca, cracks in the cold, the willow bend under their heavy snowload, and the cold seeps into the landscape.

I’ve yet to see or photograph a wolf in Wrangell – St. Elias National Park, though I’ve had some amazing experiences: listening to the calls of the pack under the aurora borealis, or stumbling onto their tracks in the mud, or finding the remains of their recent kills. Maybe one day the pack will grant me their witness. Or not. Either way they remain, and the forest resonates with their wild being.

Cheers

Carl

Michael Says:
January 31st, 2010 at 10:25 am
“Awesome” seems so overused that I’m afraid it might not work here.

What a great pursuit and what a wonderful place to pursue it.

I’m awestruck by the photo.

Thanks for sharing.
Carl Says:
February 2nd, 2010 at 2:47 am
Hey Michael

Thanks so much for the kind words, I appreciate it. You’re totally right – a wonderfully place to be able to work on a project that I love.

Thanks

Cheers

Carl

I'd love to hear from you - please leave a reply;

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