Big Salmon Lake Pride

There had been many opportunities for this wolf to die. Many days and nights of hunger and thirst. Many fights for scraps that even the vultures had left behind. He had crossed so much terrain that his feet hardly knew the difference anymore between rock and grass. He had been faced with more opposition than he cared to admit, and he had certainly seen much death and pain—so much so that he no longer feared the coming of either.

Pride kept him going. The will to live and not die a tragedy like most of his family. He searched the wild for peace, for a paradise that wouldn't demand he always be worried, agitated, and alone. He didn't want to be alone anymore. Thousands of empty, lonely miles had taught him this much at least. But he would be alone for as long as it took for him to find what he was looking for...

The grey stranger took to an abundant lake area for a few days, finding his fill on fish, small mammals, and some larger game when he could. He had gained back much of the weight he'd lost during the last stretch trekked, but it would be a few days more in this place before he'd feel good enough about moving on.

It was a blazing mid-day and he was in the lake now, standing very still in the shallows, waiting for some unwitting fish to float close enough for him to snag.