Great BWCA & Quetico Stories

     Some of my favorite stories to hear about the canoe country involve animal encounters.  We’ve heard some good ones recently including a lynx sighting yesterday on the Seagull River and another lynx sighting at the mouth of the Granite River the other day.  Two of the best  stories I’ve heard involve timberwolves.

     Tessa, Voyageur Crew extraordinaire, went on a solo trip to Little Saganaga her last week here.  This is quite the trek for someone with just one day off but of course she made it there and back in record time.  While camped on an island one night she was serenaded by a pack of wolves.  They surrounded her tent and even frolicked in the water in front of her campsite.  They yipped, howled and played for what seemed like all night long as she listened to them from the "safety" of her tent.  She was a bit frightened but excited to retell the story to us. 

     A group of four came out of the Quetico Park yesterday with another amazing wolf tale.  They were camped in Cache Bay preparing their dinner when they heard a wolf.  They looked up and saw one on a rock nearby.  It departed and a few minutes later they heard two wolves howling and looked up to see two wolves on the rock checking them out.  They could hear more wolves behind them and it made them so uncomfortable they decided to finish their dinner quickly and pack up their stuff and leave their campsite.  The wolves watched them intently as they finished their Lousiana Red Beans and Rice and took down their tent.  The four were quite shaken by the experience but were excited to retell the story when they were back in the safety of our store.

     We’ve never heard of a wolf story like that before.  We think there must have been a fresh kill somewhere in the vicinity that the wolf pack was keeping an eye on.  We can’t imagine any other reason for them to be so interested in the group of campers.  The only other thing we can think of is they really liked the smell of the Red Beas and Rice.  I wonder what Tessa had for dinner the night she saw the wolves?