The Track of The Wolf

December 24, 2011, Solo Walk Blackfoot Rec. Area.

I arrived at the Blackfoot Staging Area after 10 AM. There were a couple of vehicles parked there and I heard two people talking. Then one of the vehicles left and a lady walked over to me to ask if I was going skiing. I had not brought my skis as I thought there would be not enough snow for skiing. It turns out I had met this lady and her husband after a walk in the same area several months earlier. I did not recognize her but she remembered me. Apparently it was her neighbor that she had just been talking to, and her neighbor had just walked up on the Springs and North trails and she/he had seen some large tracks. She thought they were cougar tracks. So this lady, Irene, was concerned about the possibility of a cougar being in the area and she wanted someone to ski with her. I assured her that there is a greater chance of her dieing in her own bathtub than being attacked by a cougar. I speculated that the tracks might be of a wolf rather than a cougar. That gave her little comfort, nevertheless, she decided to do a short ski on the Gas Line Trail and I finished making preparations for my hike. I decided to visit the heron colony but then I wanted to check out the “cougar” tracks too so I started out on Whitetail Trail. I was on the Springs trail when I noticed large ungulate tracks going into the bush. They looked like Bison tracks and all the Bison are supposed to be in the National Park so I decided to follow the tracks. I lost the tracks I was following and so I made my way through the bush back onto the Springs Trail. I was going north on the Springs Trail when I saw the large tracks. These were, no doubt, the tracks causing the concern. I was certain that they were tracks of a wolf and I later confirmed that.

An advantage of hiking in winter is that when watercourses and water bodies are frozen then I can walk them. I noticed human tracks on the trail and then they went into the bush so I was compelled to follow them and see where the person might be going. I wound up on the watercourse that drains into Norris Lakes. When the human tracks doubled back I continued along the water course and that is where I found more wolf tracks. There were tracks of two wolves and the tracks did not meander as most dogs would so if I had doubts about the origins of these tracks before I was now certain that they were wolf tracks.

I walked to the north edge of Norris Lake and made a hot drink and had a snack. This was a beautiful day. It was warm and the sun shone. I then started back south on the lake until I ended up on the Norris Ridge Trail but the Norris Ridge Trail drifts to the east and I decided to go more west toward the park boundary and the heron colony. More bush walking. I found a 'game trail' to to follow that had the tracks of a large cloven hoofed animal. While I was in the bush following the 'game trail' I came across a recent bedding area and a pile of moose poop which confirmed I was finding and following the tracks of a moose and not a bison.

I made my way to the junction of Heron Hollow trail and the park boundary. I hiked the park boundary to Blackfoot Lake and then proceeded across the lake to the heron colony. I had traversed the north side of the island last winter so this time I went around the south side of the island. I then wandered to the south east end of the lake. There I picked up on the Blackfoot trail near the same place where an aggressive grouse pecked me on a previous hike. I then hiked on to the Buck Run Trail. There is a shelter there so I made a hot drink and had a snack and then started up the Buck run Trail to Gas Line Tail and took that trail back to the staging area.

This was pretty much a perfect day and a perfect hike!

Distance 12 km (rounded)
Moving time 4 hours 9 min., Stopped time 1 hr. 10 min.
Total ascent 894 ft. Max elev. 2366.