Wolf Quest: Part II (the revenge)

It is surprisingly difficult to convince friends that amazingly epic camping trips to beautiful wilderness paradises with the promise of shenanigans are fun and worthwhile things to do.

Such was the case once again, until I mustered 4 companions at the last minute for this epic quest. Aziza and Faustine (my charming French friends) and Erin and John (two of my best colleagues).

Mom and Mark graciously lent me the Mazda in the name of revenge. I had to find another wolf to photograph.

Here is one girl who would not miss out on a quest

It only took 5 minutes for the first shenanigans to take place. I was instructing my passengers to place their beverages in the appropriate vessels to avoid spillage, when we were flagged down by a ride-check at 3 pm on a Thursday. Alright, nothing to worry about. "Afternoon. Have you been drinking today?" "No sir." "Then why do I smell liquor in the vehicle?" "S**t," I thought. "Putin," thought Aziza. Just before being pulled over, it turns out that John had spilled his juice in the back seat like a little baby, permeating the cabin with a fruity odour that could have been mistaken for alcohol.

My cool tone evaporated more quickly than the juice as the officer grilled me harder and harder with questions, interrupting me so I couldn't even finish a sentence, as they do. "Actually, we just came from a barbeque..." was the best I came up with. "Can I get you to step out of the vehicle sir."

Suffice it to say, I think I maintained my composure pretty well overall. He gave me a quick Breathalyzer and we were on our way.

Hey remember that time...

Next we were forestalled by the forces of nature itself. A forest fire had resulted in a roadblock on the only highway to Tofino. The prospects of our quest looked grim, but we remembered the wise words of Aragorn: "there is always hope." We stopped at a local tavern for information and we found out about a detour. Quest resumed!

We drove into the dark. Having found clandestine camping, it was then that my companions realized two things about me:

1) That the trips I "organize" are not the most structured, and
2) That they are consequently full of unforseen cool stuff, like that cool beach we camped on

Two western screech owls called in the forest but I was too tired to go hunting for this BC lifer with my headlamp that night.

On Vargas, our first order was to gather some drinking water. Armed with my new SteriPen Ultra (which is awesome!), John and I ventured into the drought-stricken woods to find whatever enclave still sheltered water. We found a dark-watered slough - it would have to do. According to the SteriPen website, you can treat nasty water around the world, even in a Nepalese ditch or Amazon jungle water, so I fully trusted in its UV capabilities. But could it filter even the dark spells of Mirkwood forest? Even as we discussed this possibility we noticed my water bottle was full of swimming copepods. I reassured John and Erin that the brownish tinge of the water was simply tannins from the decaying sphagnum, little different than those present in fine wines. As for the copepods, we filtered them through my t-shirt before the girls were the wiser.

"Don't worry, it's just the tannins."

The modern gentleman bushranger

You can keep your fancy ales,

You can drink them by the flagon,

But the only brew for the brave and true...

..Comes from the Green Dragon!!"

- Merry and Pipin

We lived like savages, sustaining ourselves on local herbs and a mysterious green dragon drink, sipped ceremoniously from a sacred clam shell. We played barbaric beach games and released our primal rage in uncontrolled howls to the gods.

One time, we took a wander down a mysterious trail that led to a secret cove. I ventured ahead, and beheld this beautiful scene all to myself...or so I thought. Two beautiful naked maidens appeared, warming their bodies by a fire. I was fully taken by surprise. They spotted me, and I did not know what I should do. With my large camera lens I had a strong instinct to not look like a pervert, so I simply kept on walking, pretending I didn't see them, although I probably should have just waived.





Our final morning was my last chance to look for the wolf, of which we had only seen tracks thus far. Amazingly, as I peeped out my tent door at 4:45 am, I could already see a wolf about 100 m away, trotting down the beach! I roused my companions and made sure they all had a look at it, at least to say they saw it. John poked his head out of his tent. "It looks like a little dog." I followed it down the beach, waiting for enough light for my camera to be able to capture it from a distance. For a while, it laid down and I sat and watched it. I was glad to be joined by Faustine an Aziza. We shared binocular views for quite a while. Then, from a distance, we watched our friend saunter right through our camp! Good thing we stored our food properly.

Deserted by Legolas and Gimli, I tracked this beast alone. Its tracks led me to the same cove where we had first met 2 months before. I took a picture. It heard the shutter and was spooked. I followed it to the next beach and then it was gone.