Gorgeous day.
We reached the old wolf in time to watch a fierce green fire dying in her eyes. I realized then, and have known ever since, that there was something new to me in those eyes - something known only to her and to the mountain. I was young then, and full of trigger-itch; I thought that because fewer wolves meant more deer, that no wolves would mean hunters’ paradise. But after seeing the green fire die, I sensed that neither the wolf nor the mountain agreed with such a view. … I now suspect that just as a deer herd lives in mortal fear of its wolves, so does a mountain live in mortal fear of its deer.
“
| — | Aldo Leopold in his autobiographical story Thinking Like a Mountain |
Lake Erie Sunset
If this doesn’t explain why I go here so often, I don’t know what will. I don’t know of a better place to clear my head.
This is the extinct North American bear Arctodus, which died out 12,500 years ago. These once lived in Pennsylvania. I am both saddened and relived by the word “once.” Saddened because what an amazing creature this was. Relived because I would have definitely been eaten alive as a kid.
We reached the old wolf in time to watch a fierce green fire dying in her eyes. I realized then, and have known ever since, that there was something new to me in those eyes - something known only to her and to the mountain. I was young then, and full of trigger-itch; I thought that because fewer wolves meant more deer, that no wolves would mean hunters’ paradise. But after seeing the green fire die, I sensed that neither the wolf nor the mountain agreed with such a view.
“
| — | Aldo Leopold, Thinking Like a Mountain |
