People often comment on the unusually large size of our sled dog Lichen's feet.

So, as we made our way down the Mahigan River today and saw wolf prints over twice as large as Lichen's prints, we were really impressed.

Now that's a big timberwolf.

We followed the wolf tracks for 8 miles, even though it made our dogs a bit jittery. Occasionally, Saylix and Lichen, our resident Head Honchos, would stop for a sniff where the wolf had marked his (we are fairly sure it was not a her) territory.

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Wolves are one of the most misunderstood animals in the forest. Many people fear wolf and think they are a threat to humans. Nursery rhymes and fairy tales depict wolf as "big and bad." In reality, wolves are shy and much more afraid of us than we are of them.

A few thousand years ago, people took the wolf and tamed them or domesticated them. These domesticated wolves are now what we call dogs. While Saylix and Lichen look very similar to wolves in many ways, they are no more closely related to a wolf than a golden retriever or a poodle.

Wolves look like large dogs and weigh between 80-160 pounds. The males are larger than females. Wolves range in color from white to black but are most commonly gray with a black-tipped tail.

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At one time wolves were found throughout most of the US:
wherever there was an adequate food supply. Up until recently, they were killed off almost to the point of extinction. The government paid hunters to kill wolves, because they feared that the wolf would try to take livestock. Today wolves are found in Alaska, Canada, and the northern parts of Minnesota, Idaho, Washington, Montana, and Wisconsin. Since wolf populations are so small, they are listed as endangered in most states. The wolf in Minnesota is only threatened, meaning they are not in immediate danger of becoming extinct.