Saturday, February 2, 2008- Day 13

Toklat temperatures since midnight:
Max, -3 degrees F
Min, -15 degrees F
Denali Education Center temperature at 8:30 pm:
-9 F

Sunrise: 9:35 am
Sunset: 4:37 pm
Total daylight: 7 hours, 2 minutes (we are up to 7 hours now!)
Gain: 6 minutes, 43 seconds

I spoke to Willie and he gave me an update on the past few days out there.

Wednesday, January 30, Willie was hauling wood from the Toklat river to the cabin. He noticed wolf tracks that went from the wood pile to the cabin and then down to the outhouse trail. The tracks made a full circle from the Toklat wood pile to his cabin. Obviously they seem to be curious about Willie's presence at both places.

Thursday, January 31, Willie went for a ski. He left his skis outside and walked up the trail to the cabin. He got busy with errands. A few hours later he went back to grab his skis. It seems that the wolves were checking out his skis. Willie could distinguish 8 different sets of tracks, and one set in particular were "HUGE"! The wolves also left their "mark" by urinating all over the area, but not directly on the skis. Willie says, "How exciting to be right in the heart of wolf activity like this". This shows how truly special Denali is. That it is supporting these amazing animals. Willie says he feels safe sharing the space with the wolves. They are keeping away from him, yet checking him out at the same time. Ultimately this is a great story about the wolves, and a great educational tool to get people interested in Denali in the winter time. "This is a very powerful spot to be in".

Friday, February 1- "A beautiful day, clear, not a cloud in the sky". -5 below zero and dropping. He has a new buddy hanging around, a Gray Jay that watches him every morning outside the cabin. Ravens have been flying about too. He is getting into the groove. The sun is coming up higher. It is lighting up the Alaska Range.

I am able to get updates from Willie on the satellite phone. I love that I can hear his voice & know that he is fine, but the satellite phone is not easy to communicate on. There are these long pauses, and a delay. We sometimes end up talking over each other. There are also dead spots & you can't hear what he is saying. So, that is why I'm not exactly sure when this next thing happened. But I think it was Friday. He said, "This morning there was fresh snow. The whole place, by the cabin, was full of snowshoe hare tracks. When the wolves were around here the past few days there was not a single snowshoe hare track to be seen. Today, no wolf tracks but snowshoe hare tracks are everywhere. So everyday it is a little bit different out here".

Today, Saturday, February 2- Willie said that he is going to start to explore the area now that all his daily living systems are in place. He will head out with his snowshoes today. He will go up the drainage area toward Highway Pass. (see the map link from day 6 below to see where Highway Pass is)