I have no reliable sense of how long it lasts. Long enough to notice his hesitation. Long enough to feel my own surprise settle into wonder.

Before this trip, I hadn’t known how I would feel in the presence of a wild coastal wolf. There is something familiar in their shape, but being beside one, on their shoreline, carries an entirely different feeling.

I am a visitor here. That is suddenly very clear.

Afterwards, I want to see him again. I want another chance to sit quietly in his presence, to watch what he chooses to do.

I think about all the hours that brought us to that evening. The aching muscles, the damp layers, the bites. The stretches of shoreline we watched while nothing seemed to happen.

Then George appeared beside us, and for those few moments, there was nowhere else my mind wanted to go.

— Field Notes, A secret location in northern BC