Vancouver Island
for a few years, I never quite felt satisfied while shooting wildlife photography. I would head out to Yellowstone and The Tetons in search of bears and wolves to photograph, but I never got the raw and solitary wildlife experience I was hoping for. Most wildlife photography in this area from my experience involved driving the national park roads, looking out the window hoping to see an animal, or looking for groups of people and cars pulled over who had already found something. I wanted a more wild, authentic experience, some kind of wild encounter with a bear or wolf like you see in the movies. Thats when I started researching and came across the Coastal Sea Wolves of Vancouver Island.
Vancouver Island is the largest island on the pacific coast with much of its land is still wild. The majority of people their live in the southern end, leaving the middle and north feeling very solitary and remote. I remembered watching youtube videos of Sea Wolves back in 2023, and quickly I started mass researching. I started learning what parts of Vancouver Island they occupy, how to find them, and how logistically possible it was for me to go there and photograph them. I became obsessed with the idea of going there and looking for these animals, and so I started planning. About a month later, I began my adventure.
I drove up through Oregon and Washington, and got my car onto the ferry and entered the island. I drove up the west coast where I began my search. I would spend the first few days exploring the beaches and coast line looking for tracks. after a few days I came across wolf tracks, which is where my momentum and confidence started to form. Sea Wolves are incredibly hard to find, they live in dense rainforest, and come out onto the beaches early morning at low-tide, but with only 250-300 wolves occupying 200-300 miles of coastline, finding tracks felt like a huge win. I kept returning to these beaches where I kept finding tracks, so I knew that I was in the right area. Multiple mornings a week my 4:00am alarm would go off while car camping, Id drive to the trailhead, and hike down to the beach before sunrise. One morning, about two weeks into my search, I came across tracks right next to the tide that had to have been no more than 1-2 hours fresh. I was excited, but starting to get frustrated, due to the fact that that day was the last low tide dawn overlap for the next little bit.
After that there was a morally painful cold stretch. After feeling like I was only getting closer, I didn’t see any tracks or sign of activity for 5 days. I was rethinking the whole idea to commit to this goal. Not regret, because I still was enjoying the amazing landscape and scenery I had been exploring through and all the other wildlife, but I started to feel stupid for the fact that I was spending my time looking for such an elusive animal. Multiplw Nat-Geo photographer recount failing 98% of the time when trying to find Sea Wolves. However, I came up with a slightly different plan for since I wasnt having success on mainland Vancouver Island. I arranged for a water taxi to drop me off on a remote sub island I had researched and heard about wolf activity on.
I was dropped off on this Island with my backpack, camera, and nothing but pure focus on finding these wolves. I hiked across the foresr to the west side of this island, and quickly came across tracks. I set up camp on the beach, and prepared for a session at dusk.
Dusk came, and nothing happened. The sun set and right after the doubt and fear creeped in. Ive come to realize that all emotions are amplifed while in adventurous wilderness situations. extreme highs, but also extreme lows. I was beginning to feel discouraged again, and also lonely and scared, being ona remote island all by myself with wolves occupying the area. Logically, I know most wolf interactions are harmless, but alone at night your mind starts to wander scenarios. I slept in my tent that night, slogging it out, sand everywhere and mentally depleted.
Nevertheless I woke-up at 4:30 that morning, and got to work. I hiked a mile north up the beach and waited. Nothing happened, and I started to shiver from the cold, So I hiked back to camp. Sand and dew had gotten onto my camera gear, and so I started cleaning the gear. A few minutes later I poked my head up and look towards te ocean, and locked eyes a Sea Wolf, starting its way along the beach. I grabbed my camera, and started taking photos. Soon enough, a second wolf emerged from the forest and started making its way across.
At last, two more wolves came out and I spent the time from 6:02am-6:17 photographing and watching them. The last wolf seemed more weary of me than the other and would rarely take her eyes off me. I put the camera down and just watched as she slowly disappeared north up the beach. It was one of the most surreal and greatest payoffs of my life. I used my sattelite phone and arranged for a boat pickup later. and ended my 25 day journey on Vancouver Island, with the biggest smile on my face.
