I’ve been helping out on some field work collecting salmon fry still in the gravel. We are working on Fish Creek, a local stream on North Douglas Island that runs under the road and then out a half mile further to the ocean. There’s a parking lot down a short driveway from the road for parking for people who walk themselves and their pets. A foot bridge crosses the stream and there are trails going either direction – up stream and out to the ocean channel.
I was there yesterday, facing the creek while the rest of the team was with their backs to the stream, getting ready for the morning field work. I saw behind them a large dog that crossed the creek from our side, loped across a gravel bar in the middle, then up the bank on the other side, without a sound and it never looked our way. It all took an instant to process before I realized I’d just seen a wolf. Of course it was gone before I said anything and we never glimpsed it again. It was a large black and grey wolf. First live wolf I’ve ever seen. And right from the parking lot in the Capital City.