A Fun-Loving Guide to the Natural World for Kids and Adults

International Wolf Center

Guess what?  We now have a literary agent for our upcoming book!  You can learn more about Kenton’s turkey-chasing adventures and his writing here.

To celebrate, we went up to northern Minnesota and spent a quiet weekend with Rebecca’s mother and her boyfriend.  It was all loons, silent waters, and sparkling, starry nights.  We also met a very cool spider, which we’ve always called a ‘Dock Spider’, and were able to pet it.  It was very friendly.

On our way back, we had the pleasure of visiting the International Wolf Center.

For Rebecca and I, wolves have always played a powerful part in our lives.  They’ve featured in haunting childhood dreams, have roused us from early-morning sleep while camping in the Chequamegon National Forest, and have been the impetus that encouraged us to do volunteer tracking for the DNR.  We’ve yet to see one in the wild, but when that moment comes, one of our greatest wishes will be fulfilled.  Many times, we have placed our hands gently on a wolf-track and been amazed to realize that only a few hours earlier, a wolf’s paw touched the same ground that our fingertips now rested upon.

For Kenton, there is also the chilling excitement of knowing that the first person to have been documented as killed by wolves in North America was also named Kenton.  It’s quite possible a bear actually killed the unfortunate college student, but the current official result says that he was killed by healthy wolves (though they were likely de-sensitized to human contact).

Over the years, we’ve been watching the wolves slowly expand in their range, and have been cheering them on all the while.  They’ve even ventured down to an area near Sweetwater Vale, and we have a feeling that our first encounter with one of these incredible predators will be sooner than we think.

If you are ever in the area of Ely, Minnesota, pay the International Wolf Center a visit.  They’re doing a great job of educating people about the important role these apex predators play in our ecosystem, and it’s thrilling to see the wolves in person.  You can also see what the wolves are up to right now by checking out their wolf cams.

10 Responses to “International Wolf Center”

  1. Congratulations on finding a literary agent for your book! Having followed your writing over several years, I’m surprised this didn’t happen sooner! I’m looking forward, as are some of my friends, to seeing you in print. Thanks for mentioning the International Wolf Center. Ted and I have been members for years and love their wolf cam. They do important work for our wolves. We have been lucky enough to see a wolf in the wild - from a distance - up near Grand Marais, but it was unmistakeably a wolf. Thanks for this website - we love it!
    Cat

  2. Hello Cat!

    The wolf cams really are amazing, aren’t they? And you and Ted are so lucky to have seen one in the wild — we’re eagerly waiting for that to happen for us! Thanks as well for your comments about the book. We’ll let you know when it’s due to come out!

  3. Congrats on the agent! And the Wolf Cams sound really awesome I’m going to go check it out right now.

  4. Thanks Albert!

    We hope you see some cool stuff on the wolf cams — not sure what they’ll see during your ‘daytime’ since you’re checking in from Australia, but one person who works there said that there was ‘tension’ in the pack recently — meaning fighting over food, probably. Saturday evening US time is when they feed the wolves — we’re not sure if that’s on the cams, but we’re sure going to watch this Saturday, since it would be pretty cool to watch them sit down to eat. We have a feeling it might be more exciting than a typical human dinner party =)

  5. A book deal - wow, you’re my hero! Maybe someday I’ll manage one.

    That spider appears to be one of the Dolomedes fishing spiders - perhaps D. tenebrosus.

    Even more impressive than the fact that the first wolf fatality happened to someone named Kenton is that you found this out

    regards-ted

  6. Those white wolves look exactly like sheep if you have weak eyes like me. I immediately thought those must be sheep in wolves’ clothing. I go by the maxim, “If it looks like a duck, it must be a duck!” So, are you sure you were at the Wolf Center? Surely sheep have Centers, too. What better way to have dinner? Dress up like a sheep. It worked in the Little Red Riding Hood saga. Only her Grandma wasn’t named “Kenton”. Great adventure! Thanks.

  7. Hey Wilderness J! Thanks for the fun comment =) Actually, it was extremely surprising when we saw our first white wolf. It was Maya, I think, and she didn’t look wolf-like at all. Since we didn’t post any white wolf pics, you must have gone to the cams — pretty fun, aren’t they?

  8. Hello Ted!

    Thanks for the ID on the spider. We’ve been familiar with these all our lives (some get considerably larger than this one), but have never taken the time to figure out what they were. They were just these magical giant spiders from childhood, which seemed very un-Wisconsin-ish, and more like something that you’d find in the tropics. But they’re certainly beautiful arachnids!

  9. Aaaaahhh! Doh, I feel like an idiot now. I was wondering why everything was all black on the cameras, and I thought it was poorly set up or something, or something was broken somewhere. Now I realise it’s night time for you guys

  10. Hey Albert — We’re laughing with you! =) It’s definitely worth a check if you’re up late one night (or up early one morning, we still get confused trying to translate Australia/US time) — there are two pure white wolves which are really an amazing site. Good luck viewing!

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