Aunt Peggy actually brought it to the attention of Keith and Christine. She had seen a promotion on Facebook for a sleep over/camping experience at Wolf Mountain. She thought it could be something that Victoria might enjoy and Christine and Keith agreed wholeheartedly. Keith asked Christine if she would mind if she took Victoria and Christine (not being a fan of camping) thought that made the idea even better, so tickets were purchased in the late winter in anticipation of the rain/shine event. Victoria had been to Wolf Mountain in a few other occasions and has always enjoyed the experience, so this was an opportunity that offered some promise, even if it would require both Keith and Victoria to step outside of their comfort zones and hang-out with a group of strangers for the better part of 24 hours.
When they arrived to the grounds, they selected a site and set up their campsite before joining the other participants for introductions. Victoria had never been camping before and learned how to setup the tent, inflate the air mattresses, and prepare her space for sleep later that night. When the tent was set, there was still some time for Victoria to explore the grounds before the group had to meet together.
At 3pm, the most of the group got together at the teepees/fire ring to introduce themselves. Of course, as is always the case, there was one group that arrived late and everyone was forced to wait for them to get settled. But, after that family was in place, everyone introduced themselves and we learned that Victoria was he youngest participant, although it could be argued that everyone there loved wolves just as much as she did. There was one couple that was there for curiosity sake alone, but almost everyone else had visited the mountain previously and were near-fanatics.
After the introductions were out of the way, the camp participants were given the opportunity to feed the wolves. Victoria was initially apprehensive and declined to feed the wolves until she watched others try first. Once she was able to see what was expected of her (hurling raw food over a 10-foot high fence and into the cage of very eager wolves) she was willing to give it a go. And even though she was stoic throughout, she would later say that she had a lot of fun and it was satisfying to give the wolves their food.
After the wolves ate, food was served to the humans. There were veggie burgers, hamburgers, and hot dogs with chips and pasta salad … nothing special, but it didn’t need to be.
After dinner, the group that was staying overnight joined a new group that was arriving for an educational/howl experience. There was a guided tour from one of the volunteers who was able to share a little more about the wolves as we walked; to prevent the wolves from being stressed/anxious during feeding, there had been limited/little talk to allow delivery of their food as efficient as possible. After the guided tour, the group united and some folks tried (with varying success) to elicit a cacophony of wolf howls.
As the day grew dark, the patrons of the howl experience left the preserve and the overnight campers were treated to smores and music beside the campfire before retreating to their camps for the night.
Although the stars were out during the campfire, the forecast had foretold of different conditions throughout the evening hours, so Keith and Victoria made certain that the rain fly was in up and in place before getting into the tent for the evening, and it is a good thing that they did, because heavy rains would begin at at 4:00 and persist until 7:30.
The rest of the morning was very low key. The campers met in the small educational room for muffins, fruit salad, coffee, and juice. After food/drink, campers were welcome to accompany one of the volunteers on a walk through the forest to hear some of the stories about the property. Victoria elected to accompany the group on the walk. It was a nice experience and she heard about how the property was obtained, a tree had survived despite being struck by lightning, and the squirrels love to each the pine cones of certain trees.
The rest of the morning was very low key. The campers met in the small educational room for muffins, fruit salad, coffee, and juice. After food/drink, campers were welcome to accompany one of the volunteers on a walk through the forest to hear some of the stories about the property. Victoria elected to accompany the group on the walk. It was a nice experience and she heard about how the property was obtained, a tree had survived despite being struck by lightning, and the squirrels love to each the pine cones of certain trees.
After the walk, the formal activities came to a close and Keith/Victoria packed up for the return home.
Throughout the experience, Keith was sure how much Victoria was getting out of the experience as the youngest participant hanging out in a space with (mostly) adults who were heavily involved in conservation, not just wolves. Before they were off the mountain, Victoria said, “That was fun. Can we do this again next year?”
We don’t see why not.
