Dear Journal,


Today is our last night sleeping at Mission:Wolf and it really has been inspiring. Before we went into the wolf cages for the first time, Kent explained all about how to behave around wolves. I found it so true and that is will help with any animal, especially the pets I have at home! With this information, I expect to go home and treat my own pet like that, with respect. You have to show your love, passion, respect, and loyalty to the dog. It shows the animals how to act towards you as well. It makes all the difference.


Also, the environment is so different. You can’t really see anybody for a long way out. There is a very scarce amount of electricity, wifi, and clean water, so NO showers for us! Yay -.- This experience has also taught me to appreciate my surroundings and to not take things for granted. Your surroundings might be all you have to past times, so you have to make the best you can with it and not just ignore it. (Although it might be a little too quiet for my liking, it is a great place to just think to yourself).


Kent has told us, “create your own adventure.” What I took from that was to create my own adventure by not expecting what’s to come. If you expect your future, there is a big possibility that you could get disappointed. When you are not expecting anything in return, everything just flows to you at your own pace. With creating your own adventure, you do whatever pleases you and it makes the experience so much more fun.


With all of these people that work for nothing just to help out with these wolves is really flabbergasting. They love their job so much and it shows as they do their job. They have patience for even the most stubborn campers or campers that just can’t seem to get things right. As much as I loved this tripm I would never be able to do what they do and enjoy it as much as they do also.


I would like to thank Mission:Wolf for letting us stay on their grounds and trusting us to help with their daily tasks and projects. I would like to thank Mr. Guile and Ms. Chapin for believing in us when we came up to them with this ridiculous idea of a field trip. They believed that we could do it and that we could make it all the way to Colorado. I would also like to thank Grace, Meera, Chelsea, Amber, and Dempsey for making this trip worth it. I have had so much fun with them and they have made it a hilarious and wild journey.


Goodbye Mission:Wolf,

Meggan DeSousa
 

Today was incredibly amazing. I'm not sure about the order of things, but today we did the big feed, went to Bishop's castle, visited the lake, moved some shingles from a roof at Mission: Wolf’s site, and chilled at a campfire. 

The castle was great! It was a funny idea in general, and it was poorly built, so it pumped our adrenaline. At the lake, Chelsea and Meggan jumped in the freezing water, making some funny footage. The big feed was huge and a little gross! We chucked horse meat over the fences to feed some wolves a large meal. Everything I've done so far here has been incredible.

At the near end of the day, Kent delivered a speech to us that probably changed my life. The atmosphere up here, while being literally more sparse, is very different than the city. It's very independent up here, and you are just a part of nature. You are treated no differently than the wolves.

That is something I'd love to bring back to the city, because it makes me and us feel appropriately small. It's so honest here, just sitting around the campfire, talking. I've learned so much about social connections and how poorly we as humans communicate, especially as overly-dramatic middle schoolers. I will never have a trip like this in my life. As the last night sleeping here, I seriously question our society, and like a wolf caretaker, will ignore others until everyone treats others with the proper respect.


Carpe Noctem,

Meera

 
My experience here at mission wolf has just been amazing. I have learned so many lessons that I can use in my everyday life. I think the best part about Mission:Wolf is the freedom. You truly do make your own adventure. The connection with nature here is just absolutely stunning. The people just coexist in a way that you would never get in Fall River. I feel like people back home could be more open and honest. Here in Mission:Wolf the people are just genuinely honest hardworking people. If I could take one major lesson away from this entire experience, it is to not try to change myself so that someone will like me. Just be who I am and if that person truly wants to be my friend then they should stay the same way they are and our personalities could coexist instead of clashing and trying to be the same person. We are all unique just like the wolves and we shouldn’t be afraid to express that.

 
6-4-13 9:06 pm

Dear Journal,

Today is our second day at Mission:Wolf. This morning I got to help one of the volunteers gather the daily pills for the wolves. First I took out each bottle of pills that went to the dogs (all things they need to stay healthy), then I placed them into the small boxes labeled with there names. After that we brought the medicine to the kitchen where they were preparing the meat. You had to cut a certain amount of meat for each dog. We had some of us crushing the pills (some dogs were picky), slit some pills, and popping holes in some to squirt the juice out in to the bowls. Also there was someone in charge of putting a ladle of meat juice in each bowl. Then they were done and we packed them into a big container and watched their techniques of putting the food in different places. We helped clean up.

The next part of our fun-filled day was A hiking trip up to Hota Hill. It took us about 50 minutes to get to the top and about 40 to come down. I'm going to tell you a little bit about this tough hike. First off, let me say it was only our second day at about 9:00 am and we still weren't fully adjusted to the altitude and we were just about to climb 2,000 more feet! We started off by making sure we had all the things we needed just in case anything happened. We each had a backpack. In my backpack I had sunscreen, bug spray (even thought there was none because there was no moisture), a first aid kit, extra pair of socks and 2 litters of Water. We needed lots and lots of water. It took us about 50 minutes to get to the top of Hota Hill. As we were walking we started at our camp and walked down to the valley into the alpines. once we passed the alpines we got to this area before the road were we found some kind of animal bones. We could almost put it together and figure out what it was. Once we passed that we came to a small steep hill that led us to the road that led to Westcliffe CO. Once we got to the top of that we sat on the side of the road and drank, and drank, and drank. While we were drinking, Ms.Chapin went down the road a little to look for a trail we chose a trail not one that most people walked on, but one that we could make a path on. We were now at about 9,000 ft, we have about 1,000 feet to go. We went up but this time it was a lot steeper, so this time we took about two more stops. We got to our next stop and we were now in an open field, all you could see was trees, grass, one tiny tiny tiny house in the distance and steep drop back down. By this point we couldn't see our camp site anymore. The next time we stopped we were finally at the top! The view was so ridiculously beautiful! This was a once in a lifetime site, so we sat at the top for about 10 minutes and just enjoyed the view.  When we were done soaking in the view we each added a rock to the rock pile that was at the top of Hota Hill. On our way down we stumbled upon an ant hill where little ants with red heads and black bodies were scrambling in and out in several different places! Walking down got a little hard because of the steepness so I grabbed a stick and used it as a walking stick, then I was a true hiker. It only took us about 30 minutes to walk back to the valley were then it took me 10 minutes just to climb up the large hill to our camp site, but I didn't give up. But when I got to the top, guess what... I sat on a small cactus which isn't that a great reward for pushing myself to get to the top and back to the campsite. Still we finally got to the campsite. We were all ready to sit down and eat lunch so we did. 

After the hike and lunch Kent asked us, "If we could do anything at Mission:Wolf, what would it be?". Most of us just wanted to see the wolves. Cool thing is we didn't just see the wolves but we got to see the baby wolf pups they were extremely adorable.

When we got in the baby wolf pups they were being mothered basically by a dog that they had at the reservation. It was the most interesting thing. The wolf pups were very excitable and jumped and sat on your lap, but when we went in with the ambassador wolves they were calm and came over smelled us and walked away and hopefully came back. The wolves and the wolf pups had a lot of fun chewing on Ms. Chapin's ear! I got along very well with Abe, which is the wolf that is half wolf and half dog.

Also after supper we spent a nice hour or two by the fire roasting marshmallows, and just enjoying the conversation about how much fun our day was. Then we came back to our tents were we are writing the journal you are reading at this moment.  So far this is the longest one I've written but maybe its the best. I like to be detailed and I think this is a good showing of exactly how much fun I had!
 
Dear Journal,


This morning, we had to wake up extremely early to prepare the food for the wolves and dogs, (along with some Mission:Wolf staff members). I am not a very good morning person, so I, (along with Grace), were the last people to wake up.


With the feeding, I smashed up pills. When it came time to pour the crushed pills into the food bowls, it got really confusing. There were so many bowls on the table and benches. Some of the paint was scraped off, so it was hard to tell what food bowl belonged to which dog/wolf.


Then Peitro, (I think that’s how you would spell his name), gave us a tour around the camp. It was pretty cool to see all of the wolf pens. When we were introduced to the pair of wolves in each pen, he gave us a back story behind them. This back story included where they came from, why they were here, what happened to them in the past that got them to be rescued by their camp, and how well they are doing now.


The funny thing is, when I take about 10 steps up a short little slant of stairs, I’m winded! This elevation makes it so hard to breathe because of the thin air! Or maybe it’s the altitude, (and inside joke of ours)! It should be fun climbing up that mountain or hill that is in front of our campsite. I might just die climbing that thing! Wish me luck!


Sincerely,

               Meggan DeSousa



 
Today feeding the wolves was spectacular. It is the most unique thing you could experience. It really showed me how the life of the meat being put into the bowls represents the death of the horse but that death brings life to the wolves. I also experienced the closely related traits of the humans and the wolves. Each wolf had a personality and then humans respected that with how they would prepare their food and pills. Overall it was just a truly unique experience and something I will never forget.
 
Today we woke up at the crack of dawn. Not very well-rested, but not tired either. When we drove to Kuss at this hour, it was pouring rain, but we were still ready to go. As we got to the airport at about 5:30 AM, we were nervous and anxious to get through security. After that crazy scene, including luggage and such, some of us purchased some Starbucks drinks as a bittersweet (but mostly sweet) souvenir. 


We boarded our first flight, and we landed in Chicago about 2 hours later, still in one piece. This was where we parted ways with Grace and Mr. Guile to take a parallel flight to Denver, but there was no time to grasp this, as we dashed an impromptu run to our next flight. About 3 hours later, we all found ourselves in Denver Airport, and what a sight! Easily the best airport I’ve ever been to. Friendly. Hilarious.

We got our luggage and took a bus to Alamo van rentals, where we rented the van we would all get a little bit too close to within the next four days. That was when we drove for who knows long into who-knows-where territory. No civilization. For miles, it looked like the beginning of the Breaking Bad Pilot.

Our first priority was to set up tents, and, to our great luck, the wind was almost strong enough to send the cows down the road in our direction. Luckily, we got it done, and that’s when we got to know our two neighbors, Izaiah and Conlan. They took us to pet horses a little bit from the site. To end our busy day, we ate dinner, had s’mores, recorded video diaries, and went to bed exhausted.


Until Tomorrow

Meera



 
I honestly still can't believe it is real. I never thought that I would step foot in Colorado let alone this wonderful sanctuary called Mission:Wolf. Way up here the views were just spectacular. It didn’t even hit me tat oh my god this is actually happening until I saw the little wooden sign pointing in the direction of the sanctuary. So far it has just been truly all that I hoped for and then some.

 
Dear Diary,                                                                               June 3rd, 2013

          Today was a good day. After 12 hours of traveling across the country we’ve really come to place deep into the unknown. Literally, Mission:Wolf is in the middle of nowhere. We drove miles and miles into what I call “barren wasteland”. There is nothing, I even saw tumbleweed. I felt like if I were to see cowboys come riding in with handguns on mustangs, it would be the perfect setting.

          Anyways, we arrived at Mission:Wolf and there was inhabitance! At Mission:Wolf there’s buildings where the volunteers eat, sleep and works. There are also teepees where people who have been working for a while live.

          Kent, the director, he showed us around. The wolves live in enclosed areas, which was a HUGE relief! When I heard about this place, I expected them to be roaming around and the only safe place would be in my tent. That, thankfully, wasn’t the case.

          As were writing this, we’re outside looking up at the stars and oh my god they are so beautiful. There’s a silhouette of the mountains and those are breathtaking.

                                                                             ♥ Love

                                                                                      ~Grace

    Authors

    Meggan DeSousa
    Chelsea Barboza
    Anthony Dempsey
    Grace Perry
    Amber Mello
    Meera Sabeh

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