FINALLY!!!!! I can finally cross this off my list!!! Wait, I'm getting ahead of myself. Perhaps I should start from the beginning...
After another long 6-day work week, I came home completely exhausted Saturday afternoon & began packing my camping gear. After a short nap, my friend Lydia, and her two friends arrived at my door and as the sun was starting to set, we heading towards Seeley with the intentions of throwing down our ground pads and sleeping out under the stars. However, our late start prevented us from finding a site at any of the campgrounds among the numerous lakes north of Seeley. Not one to be easily discouraged, I suggested a campsite a little off the beaten path I had remembered seeing on a hike last year. So the girls put their trust in me and we turned the truck off the highway and down a forest service road for a 7 mile drive.
It was perfect. When we arrived the site at the trailhead was free and we positioned the truck to light our little nook. While Lydia, Linds and I set up tents, Abby set to making a fire. Before long, it was time to call it a night and we all crawled into our designated tents and into dreamland.
The next morning, after a short hike to the shore of Clearwater Lake, we all returned to camp for breakfast. I was standing on the road, munching on a delicious cinnamon roll when something down the road caught my eye. It wasn't moving, but the black motionless shape just seemed out of place, even in the distance to my failing eyes.
We stood staring at each other for about 2 minutes before it decided to let me know my eyes weren't playing tricks on me. The second it moved, it revealed a second grey wolf behind it. Even at that distance we locked eyes as they padded slowly towards me for a short distance.
Once their curiosities had been satisfied, they dropped back into the forest and quickly out of sight. A few minutes later their howls could be heard bouncing off the canyon walls for the next 15-20 minutes. Wolves were the last animal I had yet to see in the wild. I am a happy girl.
We finished breakfast in silence, listening to the chatter of the two wolves, before heading down to hike the short trail that encircles Clearwater Lake.
Finding ourselves w/ plenty of time left in the day, we then ventured to Holland Falls for Lydia's first trip up the trail to the falls.
I'll most certainly fall asleep w/ a smile on my face. Thank you Nature. You never disappoint.
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