Wilderness adventure

When people say you don't have to go far to be in the wild here in Alaska, they are not kidding. We decided to go for a walk last night, but Connor had different ideas. He wanted to go get ice cream at the BX, so we tacked on a drive out around the Bear Lake and Chena Lake road so we could see the Fam Camp and have a scenic drive. As we munched on ice cream cones, we rapidly found ourselves in quite the wilderness.

The drive we took borders the live fire range, but really all you see are these scrubby pines, boggy grasses and white birch, dense, stretching as far as the eye can see. We were grateful for four wheel drive at that point because the road was not the best with the thaw and recent rain.

Almost immediately we saw two moose enjoying all the melted rain and revived grasses. They both stood close to eight feet tall. That sure is an impressive animal...I'm not sure when the fascination is going to wear off with them. We pulled over and watched one closely (from maybe 20 feet away) while he/she went unconcernedly about munching a fair swath of new growth foliage. We decided to drive on, and after circling the Fam Camp -- it's not open yet, but the campsites looked very nice with some amenities like bathrooms -- we drove on to the Chena Lake campsites. Chena Lake stands about 12.5 miles from where we were...it's actually very close to North Pole, but the side closest to the base is still a controlled access area because of the range and base borders, so we drove with abandon. We got about six miles down the road when Charlie slowed and pointed out something largish trotting on the road.

It was an honest-to-goodness black wolf! It stood probably a little under three feet at the shoulder, so definitely large -- apparently Alaska gray wolves are some of the largest in the world because of the size of the prey they hunt, reaching an average of 140 lbs. The biggest one ever caught was in the Interior in 1939, and weighed a whopping 175 lbs! We pulled over to look at him and he slunk into the bushes and watched us as well from only about fifteen feet away. He was black with a goldish undercoat, and dull yellow lantern eyes. Both Charlie and I were just silenced by the wonder of it all -- how many people have seen wild wolves from that close? You could sense the power and immense wildness of the animal even from that far away.

I then of course said one of the dumbest things I have said in a long while, and asked Charlie if we shouldn't lock the doors. After he stopped writhing in uncontrollable laughter, he did indeed punch the lock buttons -- if that wolf had opposable thumbs, Charlie would have been very sorry for laughing at me! And yes, I realize just how stupid a question that was, but I justify it by thinking that any woman heavy with one gestating child and a chocolate-coated Connor bon bon in the back seat would have done the same thing surreptitiously.

We drove on, sighting Canadian geese, mallards, loons, an Arctic hare and some grouse along the way. We pulled up to a wide fishing ground on the Chena River, which was frothing and foaming energetically with all the snow melt and admired the view of the surrounding mountains and roiling river. There were warnings about salmon fishing from the spot -- apparently by the time the salmon reach this point they are tired and only have a few more hours/days to spawn and die, so they are distinctly untasty by that point. But rainbow grayling and trout are still tasty and very popular there, so Charlie made a mental note of a good fishing spot and vowed to return. We were going to get out and walk around a bit, but the large and importunate mosquitoes bumping aggressively against the windows were desiring that same thing and we hadn't brought repellent. Connor was still coated in ice cream detritus, so we decided not to serve him up for voracious insects as dessert.

On the way back we spotted another moose and more ducks, and kept an eye out for our wolfish friend, finally encountering him a couple miles from where we had previously seen him. He was trotting along the road, but hid in the nearby brush when we got close. Apparently the road was nice and pleasant to travel on, and he used the surrounding foliage for camo when necessary -- though really not trying that hard to hide. He was definitely not all that afraid of us. We sat for perhaps ten minutes til he got bold enough to venture out again and he came out on the road to investigate the car more closely, coming within ten feet or so, sniffing experimentally. He then slunk away, and loped gracefully along the verge and into the woods. How we wished for a camera! But since it was originally intended to be an ice cream outing, we hadn't thought to bring it. Damn and double damn.

Charlie pointed out that we were only four miles from Fam Camp at that point...it gave me shivers to realize there were predators of that power and size within six miles of our house. I know, I'm just sheltered...and probably far safer than I was in Las Vegas from human predators...but still, the fact that we could venture down a dirt side road and come face to face with a wild wolf was a bit startling and disconcerting all the same.

Humbling, awe-inspiring and exciting all in one...without ever getting farther than ten miles down the road from home. Alaska sure is incredible!