Wolves in New Mexico

I just realized I forgot to post about my experience with wolves in New Mexico.  A few weekends ago, I signed up for a photo tour of The Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary, which is in Candy's Kitchen, NM or pretty much Ramah, NM.  It's a beautiful drive across I-40, to Highway 53 in Grants, then a few smaller roads.  The worst part was the 3-4 mile drive along the gravel road that led to the sanctuary.  Anyway, once you arrive and get out of your car, you can hear the wolves howling, which gives you chills.  I walked in and met my tour guide.  She first took me to a fox pen to get used to being around wild animals.

It was a cute fox, but I wanted to move onto the big guys.  The first wolf pen that I went into was home to two artic wolves.  They were a little startling to see at first and I was not as confident as I would have liked to have been.  She warned me that these wolves needed to keep their distance and I could not get too close to them. 

Teton

It wasn't a problem.  For the most part they kept their difference, only coming close to smell where we had stepped.  The next pen that we entered was home to Sassy.  The tour guide warned me that she was friendly, but she apparently took an extra shine to me and was additionally friendly.  I couldn't get her far enough away from me to even take a decent picture for a while.  Finally she calmed down a bit, became bored with me and I was able to take a few.

So then we stopped in another pen, but eventually headed over to a black wolf's pen.  His name was Jaeger and he looked pretty scary even though he really seemed more afraid of me than I was of him. 

Jaeger

Next we went to the pen where I ended up with scratches/bruises.  It was another friendly wolf, but this time with a 150 pound male named Dakota.  He was so friendly, that to greet me when I entered the pen he put both paws on my shoulders and pinned me to the fence.  His paws were extremely sharp and he was so strong I ended up with a bloody arm and some cuts in my side.  He was still a beautiful wolf, but not very active so it was difficult to get a good picture.

Dakota

So my trip was over.  I spent two hours there and loved every second.  The time flew by, it was just amazing.  If you're ever within a few hours, you can't miss this one.  And definitely sign up for the photography tour.  It's one I won't forget, and definitely made me want to sign up for the tiger photo tour that is offered in Arkansas some time.  So hopefully in a few months there will be a new post on that adventure!

P.S.  There were some nice views on the way home: