[pct-l] Wolves in the Sierra?

[Georgi Heitman]

It would be lovely to hear that howl again, and I like to think that if I
trekked into the 1000 Lakes Wilderness, I might. That dun-colored critter
was definitely headed that direction, Badger Mt. being to the south of us,
and assuming it was doing the howling that closed the dogs and coyotes
down.  But from mid June to October these days, or more specifically,
nights, we have between two or three to as many as 30+ hiker-type folks
sitting on our deck or around one of our fire circles, and the noise level
doesn't make for hearing something as low and deep as that howl.  Nor do the
coyotes or dogs suddenly go quiet.  In fact, as the various breeds of those
neighbor's animals has changed, their yappy voices have only gotten higher
pitched, a good wolf howl is just what's needed to enable our hikers,
camping just across the creek from their pen, to get a good night's sleep.

On Sat, May 23, 2009 at 5:52 AM, Josh <559josh at gmail.com> wrote:

> Great & exciting story!  I just wish more of the dates U mentioned were
> more
> recent. :(  But if there were a few around 12yrs ago, there should be a
> significant population by now. YAY!
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net [mailto:pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net]
> On Behalf Of Georgi Heitman
> Sent: Friday, May 22, 2009 10:07 PM
> To: christopher.kopp at gmail.com; pct-l at backcountry.net
> Subject: [pct-l] Wolves in the Sierra?
>
> I don't know...
> Wolves in the southern Cascades?  I think yes...at least there were in 1993
> or 4, because FireWalker and I saw an article(very small, maybe two lines
> total, down at the bottom of a page) in our weekly Inter Mt. News stating
> that seven mated pair had be released on and/or around Badger Mt....think
> Badger Flats at the northern edge of  Lassen Natl Pk. here, folks.
> A year or two later a neighbor told us that he'd read that three more pair
> had also been released in the same area.
> Around that time, FireWalker and I saw a very large, dun-colored critter
> grazing (or something) in the field next to the driveway coming into the
> Hideaway (our home).
> We stopped in the driveway, debated what it might be, it was too early in
> the spring to be a returning deer, too big to be one of our local coyotes
> or
> a neighbors dog but with it's head down, it was impossible to tell, so I
> opened my car door and slammed it hard.  Its head flew up... it was the
> biggest canine either of us had ever seen, please note, I didn't say 'dog'.
> It took off, didn't run like a coyote, with front legs that are/seem
> shorter
> than it's hind ones...it ran more dog-like, but it wasn't any of our
> neighbors dogs.
> Later, during the summer, as I was coming home after dark on a bright
> moon-lit night, as I started to slow down  to enter our driveway, I glanced
> in my rear-view mirror in time to see a very large canine, very light
> colored in the  moon light, run across the road behind me.  I got
> goose-bumps, and it takes a lot for that to happen to me,  but I think I
> knew what I saw was out of the ordinary.
> A neighbor saw a similar colored creature run in front of his pickup as he
> drove home after dark a few nights later.
> He said it was NO dog!!  That was prior to 1997, because I was coming home
> from work at the little store by the Old Station P.O. and 1997 was the last
> year I worked there.
>
> FireWalker and I got our hot tub in 1996 or so.  Almost immediately after
> that, as we'd sit in it at night, F.W. began asking me if I could hear the
> very low howl that something was making.  I'm hard of hearing and didn't
> get
> hearing aids til '98, so at that point, I had to say 'no'.  But what I did
> hear after he'd ask me that question was total silence.
> Very unusual, because coyotes were usually singing and we had a neighbor
> with many loud dogs that barked in tune with the coyotes.  Once I got my
> hearing aids I could hear what F.W. was talking about, a very deep howl,
> off
> toward the 1000 Lake Wilderness to our north.  From the moment that howl
> was
> heard, every coyote and every dog shut up, crawled back into it's den, dog
> house, whatever, and was not heard from again that night.  Since the dogs
> were close enough that even w/o hearing aids, they could keep me awake at
> night, I wished whatever critter was responsible for shutting them up would
> make itself known more often than just once or twice a week.  We'd have
> gotten a lot more sleep.  It was as if our local coyotes and dogs knew that
> whatever made that sound was bigger than they were, and maybe deadly.
> Unfortunately, we haven't heard that howl in years....tho in 2007, a hiker
> well-known on the trail said that while hiking thru Lassen N.P. the hiker
> looked up a side trail and saw a huge canine, black, if I recall and sort
> of
> scruffy looking, but definitely huge and definitely not a dog!
> There was no doubt in that hiker's mind...that critter was a wolf.
> They stared at each other and went their separate ways.
>  Wolves in the southern Cascades?  I think so!
> FireFly
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