Friday, November 2, 2007
   We see the Mollies today, or at least some of them. As usual, we arrive just in time to miss the Mollies cross the road at Canyon and chase the Haydens into the woods, then cross the road again and disappear into the trees. The Mollies are described as "impressive" - big wolves with a powerful presence. One man said it was interesting to watch the Mollies "hunt" the Haydens and that the Hayden pups had done a remarkable job of avoiding the Mollies. I am disturbed by this. I am still trying to wrap my mind around all this, trying to explain to myself in some way how and why the Hayden alphas are gone. I wake in the middle of the night and the Haydens are the first thing I think of.
   We drive back and forth all day, from Canyon to Hayden and Hayden to Canyon. Nothing. Lots of wolf tracks fan out over the hills of Artists Point. Then driving north a large, gray wolf crosses the road in front of us at a rather leisurely pace. It has thick legs and fur streaked with brown. We immediately think this is a Mollie because of its size, but realize we rarely see wolves walk in front of and alongside our vehicle so any wolf would appear huge. We follow it down the road, up a hill and watch it disappear into the trees.
   A van pulls up and a woman with a German accent tells us they saw three grays and a black up the road. We race to Cascade Meadows. Calvin, one of the wolf watchers, is parked on a service road where two grays and a black crossed the road. He thought they were Haydens. We catch a smaller black cross the road and move east - the Hayden black pup? Then farther down the road two grays and three blacks cross back and forth across the road. And then they howl. It is spectacular and eerie, so close and loud, it echoes. The wolves cross the road again to the north side where we follow them into the woods and down a service road where they disappear. The blacks have long, strong looking legs, giving wary glances with amber eyes that show no fear. I have a weird feeling about them.

Author - Christine Baleshta
Photography - Tim Springer