Chapter 6
Back to Bear Lodge
On arriving at Bear Lodge Mountain, William drove past the parking area where they’d hike in from and turned down the ranger road. It was clear that whatever happened meant that there wasn’t any time to waste.
The ranger road was more like an off-road trail. It was maintained enough to allow for trucks to travel if need be, but it was a bumpy ride. Amelia found herself reaching up to hold onto the grab bar as William sped down the dirt trail, doing his best to avoid the ruts and rocks.
Once they arrived at the spot, William stopped and put the car in park. From the driver’s seat, he looked around, surveying the woods in front and on either side. Satisfied with this initial assessment, he shut off the engine and turned towards his daughter.
“Okay, Amelia, listen. The office received an anonymous call that hunters came out here looking for the pack. I’m going to get closer to the den to see what I can. This is a very dangerous situation. I should’ve dropped you off before coming but I needed to get here fast. An injured wolf is dangerous. But nowhere near as dangerous as an angry, drunk hunter with a rifle. I need you to stay here. As in do not leave the truck. Do you understand me? Do not leave the truck no matter what. I need you to acknowledge that you understand what I am saying.”
“I will stay in the truck.” Amelia eked out. She wasn’t sure she could get out of the truck even if she wanted to. Her legs were shaking and she felt like she was going to be sick.
“Backup is on the way. In the meantime, stay here. I’ll be back.”
William opened the door and hopped out. He made his way to the rear of the truck. Reaching over from the side he unlocked the chest that laid across the width of the truck bed, right under the rear window of the cab. He grabbed the shotgun he traveled with for emergencies. Sundance is also grizzly country. And you don’t want to come face to face with a grizzly – especially if you are unprotected.
He loaded the weapon, grabbed some more ammo, stuffed the rounds in his jacket pocket, scanned the area again, and set off in the direction of the wolf den.
William had no idea what to expect. The call that came into the station was anonymous. The caller reported that he had been in town, getting lunch at the bar when a couple of local ranchers came barreling boisterously through the front door. The caller said he could tell they were already drunk – he could smell the booze on them as soon as the door opened.
The ranchers proceeded directly to the bar, ordered whiskey, and continued their conversation. Everyone in the place could overhear them. They were so loud, laughing about how they “...got the bastards, one by one.” One of the ranchers acted as if he were looking through the scope of a rifle, pulling an air trigger. The others laughed every time he shouted “bang.”
“Those crazy wolf lovers can kiss my ass. Protecting those savage beasts while not caring about our families and what we lose every time the wolves take a calf? Well they won’t be loving on no wolves for a long time.”
After that, the caller got up and immediately called the local ranger office, reporting what he heard.
The office dispatcher didn’t share all of this information with William. She just told him a call came in detailing the possible shooting incident involving the wolves at Bear Lodge Mountain. She didn’t know the extent or the accuracy of the information, but she confirmed that it sounded credible.
William crouched, scanning the area with his binoculars. He moved slowly from the truck, not making a sound. Years of being in the woods had trained him to move silently, as if he were from the woods himself. He was methodical, moving ten yards at a time, getting himself into position, scanning with his binoculars, and then pressing forward. Once he was seventy-five yards out, he saw them.
The first ones to come into view were the adult males. They sprawled out on the ground in various directions. They looked so unnatural. Even at this distance, he could see through his binoculars that they were not breathing. Trails of blood followed each wolf to their final resting place in the dirt.
William continued scanning, looking for any sign of life before moving forward. Not seeing any movement, he pressed on. Once he reached his checkpoint he was able to see the other side of what Amelia liked to call “Pride Rock.” And that’s where he saw the Grey Lady. William knew immediately that he was too late.
As he approached her, he saw that she was flanked by her pups. It looked to William that she went out to fetch each of her pups in the hopes of protecting them. The final courageous act of a mother. Her willingness to fight – and die – for her children on full display.
Nature is cruel. Every day is a fight for survival. But this had nothing to do with Nature’s cruelty. This was the cruelty of man.
William sat down on a rock, filled with a familiar sadness he’d once prayed – some years ago, now – that he’d never have to experience again.
***
If she stayed inside the truck any longer she might suffocate. She simultaneously felt like she was going to throw up. So even though she promised to stay in the truck, Amelia had no choice but to open the door and get out. As she went to take the step down, she discovered her legs were like jelly. Her foot slipped clean off of the running board, landing Amelia face down in the dirt.
Amelia rolled herself on to her back, bringing her knees up. With a big effort she got herself upright. Now hugging her knees with her head between them, Amelia tried to calm herself. She focused on her breathing with everything she had. Eventually the forest stopped spinning and her stomach stopped flip-flopping.
“Okay. Now let’s slowly stand up,” Amelia coached herself.
Once she was on her two feet, and no longer needing to brace herself against the cab of the truck, Amelia looked around the forest. It was as if she were seeing it for the very first time. In an instant her feelings about this place had been turned upside down. She felt exposed to something she couldn’t explain. It was like the meanness in the world dropped on her head out of nowhere.
“I can’t just stand here,” Amelia thought to herself. “I need to see them.” And with that she started down the trail towards the den.
Even though she did not have her father’s decades of formal ranger experience, Amelia still moved swiftly and silently. Her years spent trying to sneak up on animals with the hopes of getting as close as possible honed a gift of stealthiness. There was a naturalness to her movement, as if she synced up with the woods in some ancient way. Of course she was not aware of this – at least not consciously. For her it was just the way she moved.
Although her father hadn’t told her what happened, she knew there was the possibility of real danger. So she followed the trail into the woods just far enough to get going in the right direction. Then she hopped off it, walking in parallel just in case trouble was still out there. She figured that if she stayed near the trail, but not directly on it, she could duck behind a tree or lie below the sight line at the first sign of someone coming in the other direction. And if she saw her dad, she might get in a little less trouble for breaking her promise of staying in the truck by at least trying to stay hidden and off to the side.
Amelia’s racing thoughts contradicted her smooth movement. Visions of the Grey Lady flashed through her mind. The previous years condensed into flash of memory – from a playful pup into the matriarch of the pack in an instant. And now the Grey Lady’s pups. Those poor babies. How could anyone want to hurt them? They were so sweet and so funny and would grow up to be such majestic animals. This was their home. No one had the right to come in and hurt them.
This internal conversation continued until the point that Amelia realized that she’d not only gotten lost in her own thoughts, she had literally gotten lost herself. She could no longer make out the trail she was trying to stalk from alongside.
“Shoot,” Amelia said aloud. “I must have lost the trail back there.” Having grown up a ranger’s daughter, she knew the worst thing one can do in situations like this is to keep going forward with the optimistic idea that you will then find what you’re looking for. Amelia was raised on her father’s stories of hikers getting lost and confused while out hiking, only to end up dead, with a backpack full of food and supplies and less than fifty yards off the trail. So she took a breath, collected herself, and started to retrace her steps.
Even though her father had been bringing Amelia to Bear Lodge Mountain for as long as she could remember, Amelia was not sure exactly where she was in relation to the den and Pride Rock. And coming in from the ranger road instead of the usual hiking trail only added to her disorientation. Her father always exercised caution on their visits. He never let them get too close to the den, or the pack itself, for obvious reasons. They always stayed on the trail and used their binoculars. So being off trail and not having binoculars made Amelia less sure about her surroundings.
Amelia came to a fork in the game trail. “Did I come from there?” she asked herself as she looked to the left. “Or from that way?” scanning back to the right. It really wasn’t clear, and since she walked so lightly there were no obvious tell-tale signs of which direction she came from.
“Right. Okay. I’ll start this way, and if nothing looks familiar, I’ll turn around and try the other way,” she told herself. There was something about talking out loud – even though it was only to herself – that gave Amelia a boost of confidence. She snapped a limb on a small tree to serve as a marker in the event that she had to double back.
With her plan in place, she took a step towards the path on the left. Her second step hadn’t even hit the ground when she felt a WHOOOSH rush right past her head.
“HEY!” she yelled. And then remembering the dangerous scenario that brought her to the woods she immediately dropped to a knee, scanning the area.
Once she was confident that she was in the clear, Amelia stood up and started moving again. WHOOOOSH. This time it was so close, it actually touched her cheek. Again, Amelia dropped down and looked around, trying to identify the projectile that was strafing her head.
Everything was silent and still. Amelia couldn’t make out the culprit. So she picked herself up, brushed off her pants, and began again down the path. She didn’t make it very far before she felt a THWAP against the back of her head. Amelia swung around ready to take a swing at her attacker.
This time she saw the crow, sitting on a branch at eye-level. It was perched in a tree along the path she did not choose. “Hey, what’s your deal?” Amelia said to the crow. The crow stared directly at Amelia. “Caw-caw” was its response.
Amelia stared hard at the crow. The crow stared just as hard back at Amelia before flying a little farther down the path. It turned in the air, and landed facing Amelia. The crow cawed once again.
It was as if he wanted Amelia to follow. Amelia felt silly even thinking that. But there was an intensity in the way the bird stared at her. It felt . . . purposeful. So, ignoring the craziness in her decision, Amelia changed directions and began walking down the other path.
A pattern quickly emerged. Every time Amelia got close to the crow, the crow let out a “caw,” flew on ahead, and then landed facing Amelia. It was like the bird wanted to make sure Amelia kept following him. This went on for a while.
Amelia finally caught up to the crow. It sat five feet above her head, looking down at her. As Amelia looked from the crow down the game trail she’d been following, she realized the trail came to a dead end.
“Now what?” she asked the bird, half expecting an answer of some kind.
But the bird just sat there.
Amelia looked around. “There is no more trail. I thought we were heading back towards the truck? Now I really have no idea where I am. What was I thinking? That a bird was going to lead me home? Amelia, you ding-a-ling. A bird. You followed a bird. Geez.”
In between her rounds of self-chastisement, Amelia noticed that the bushes up ahead started to move. At first the branches swayed back and forth, ever so slightly. But then more so, as the swaying ramped up into a ferocious rustling.
With the intensity of the bush’s movement increasing, the crow gave one last caw and took off. Amelia snapped her body around, trying to decide whether it was better to face the attack straight on or if she should make a run for it. She knew this was grizzly country. And she was completely unprepared. The promise to stay in the truck ran through her head.
“Okay, Amelia. It’s now or never,” she told herself. She was ready to make a break for it. “If I can get behind those trees over there, I should be good.” But just as she turned to make a dash for it, the beast burst from the bushes.
***
Amelia couldn’t believe it.
It wasn’t a big, angry grizzly bear tearing out of the bushes. But instead a gangly, uncoordinated wolf pup came tumbling forward, landing with a thud.
“Artemis!” Amelia exclaimed. Amelia immediately recognized the pale white fur coat of the runt of the litter. “It’s you!”
Artemis cocked his head to the side and looked at Amelia. It seemed to Amelia that he was making the same calculations she had been just seconds before: run and hide or face the potential foe head on. He decided on option three, awkwardly trotting over to Amelia, tripping over himself on the way.
Amelia instinctively squatted down and opened her arms to receive the wolf like it were her puppy. For a second it looked to Amelia that Artemis was going to make the running start and lunge into her open arms. But as he got closer to her, he tripped over himself, and ended up in a ball of legs and tail before crashing into Amelia’s feet, belly up in the air. Amelia laughed before scooping him up into her arms.
Maybe the crow really did mean to lead her to this very spot.
***
By the time Amelia made her way back to the ranger road, with Artemis in tow, she saw the backup had indeed arrived. Even from a distance she could see the makings of an emergency response.
A young ranger stood in the back of his truck scanning the area with a pair of binoculars. Upon seeing Amelia he immediately raised his walkie-talkie. “Sir, I have eyes on your daughter. She is arriving back here, safe and sound.”
“I’ll be right there,” crackled the response.
As Amelia approached the area where all the trucks were parked, she scooped Artemis up into her arms. She kept her eyes down as she weaved her way back to her dad’s truck. She could feel their eyes on her. Once there, she stood on her tiptoes to put the pup into the bed of the truck before climbing up herself. She took a seat on the tailgate, her feet resting on the truck’s bumper, head in her hands.
“She’s over at your truck, sir,” Amelia heard someone say from somewhere behind her.
He didn’t have to announce his arrival. And Amelia didn’t have to lift her head up to know he was there. She felt his energy wash over her as she sat on the back of the truck.
Finally, her father spoke. “What part of “stay in the truck” did you not understand?”
Amelia didn’t answer.
“Do you have any idea how scared I’ve been? We have dan- gerous people with guns running around these woods. Actual killers. And then when the rangers arrive, they tell me that you are not in the truck. They tell me that you are missing. You cannot comprehend what that feels like.”
William did not raise his voice. But his delivery was ice cold. And although he didn’t elaborate, Amelia understood that someone had come out here and shot the wolves.
“I’m sorry, dad. I just couldn’t sit in the truck any longer. I thought I was going to suffocate. So I opened the door to get some air and the next thing I know, I’m out in the woods. I’m really sorry,” Amelia sobbed.
William knew she was sorry. Even though he was mad, all that really mattered was that Amelia was okay. He walked over to the truck and hugged her, closing his eyes as he pulled her in tight. “I’m just glad you’re safe.”
With Amelia in his embrace, he opened his eyes to see a wolf pup staring back at him from the bed of the truck. “What in the hell...” William said, extricating himself from Amelia’s hug and walking to the side of the truck.
“Oh! I forgot!” Amelia said, raising her legs over the liftgate and swinging them around inside the bed of the truck. Artemis scrambled up underneath her, peeking out at William from behind Amelia’s legs. “You remember Artemis? The pup that was always getting picked on? Well, it’s a long story, but I found him scared and all alone. I thought maybe we could bring him home and I can look after him until we find somewhere to send him?”
William looked at Artemis, then Amelia, then back to Artemis. “Amelia, this is a wolf. It’s not some pet you can just bring
home. What were you thinking?”
“I was thinking that he just lost his mom. And his brothers and sisters. And that he must be terrified. I thought it was something you would do.”
William closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. It’d been a long day. “Okay. We’ll figure it out. Let me check in with the team and then I’ll get you home. Stay here.” He took a couple of steps and turned around. “I mean it. Don’t go anywhere.”
By the time William got back, Amelia was already in the truck. Her seat was reclined, eyes closed. And curled up on her lap, sound asleep, was the wolf pup.