Wolf Moon

January's full moon is also called the "Wolf Moon" according to Native American lore because they associated this full moon with the wolves howling in the cold winter nights. Our current full moon which appeared yesterday was 30% brighter and 14% larger. This was because the moon was some 30,000 miles closer due to its egg-like shaped orbit. With the clear skies and the white snow I told my wife that we could almost read the newspaper outside at midnight.

January 2010 ends today. For me this January went by real fast. Usually January drags for me. The first two weeks we were at the University of MN Hospital with my wife's surgery. These last two weeks have been associated with trying to adjust back to life in the woods with her new kidney. We go into Bemidji's Hospital three times a week for blood work with the results being faxed to the Univ. Hospital for analysis. This January also brought me my 65th Birthday. So I am an official old man. All of that was enough activity for January and I am now ready for February. Our temperatures have been January like with many below zero days and the words "wind chill" were used often.

Last week in my blog I wrote about the Leech Lake Trail. I found this subject fascinating and I marvel at the ancient history right here in my own back yard. This past week I found out more information. I visited with the Tribal Archeologist from their Heritage Program and also with some folks from the US Forest Service. From them I received more maps one of which I am attaching here. (click on map to enlarge) I also learned that the trail had different names, Red Lake Road, Leech Lake/Red Lake Trail and Wagon Road. From these maps I am able to follow where the trail's remains are now in several locations by looking at the Cass County Aerial Photos from their web mapping system. It appears that in various locations forest service roads and even township roads are using the ancient road beds. When the snow is gone and the weather is warmer I hope to walk several of these locations. The Leech Lake Trail beginning/ending is in the vicinity of the location of the Northwestern Trading Company that I wrote about in my blog of November 15th. This area must have had a significant Native American settlement in the immediate area. I will keep you posted as I learn more.

Our local Timber Wolf is also called the Grey Wolf, (canis lupis) is native to north central and north eastern Minnesota. The wolf is dog-like in appearance and can weigh between 60 and 120 pounds. Its usual color is grey but some are black, brown or redish. Wolves are highly social animals and usually exist in packs of between 5 to 8 members. The leader is the Alpha male who is usually the largest. Usually packs have only one breeding pair that will have 4 to 8 pups at birth. The whole pack gets involved in the rearing of the pups. Individual packs defend their territory which can range from 50 to 100 square miles. The usual ratio is one wolf per 10 square mile. Wolves eat a variety of large and small animals with the white tail deer making up approximately 80% of their diet.

If anyone is interested in providing stories or ideas please email me at nitchals@paulbunyan.net.

Leech Lake Trail

The Oak Point area has another claim to ancient historical significances called the "Leech Lake Trail". This ancient trail begins on the northeastern side of Oak Point (formally called Squaw Point) and ended up at the east side of the Red Lake Agency in Beltrami County. The beginning of the trail is lost in the pre-history of the Dakota, or Sioux, who had villages on both lakes. The Dakota were driven out by the Chippewa probably around 1750. Henry Schoolcraft in his 1820 accounts called the route "ancient". The trail was used for communication and trade between the tribes. Travel was by foot across the high ground and across the lakes and rivers by canoe.

From the trails beginning at Oak Point it went northwest to the northwest side of Pike Bay and then proceeding to the eastern side of Little Wolf Lake all in Cass County. At that point the trail proceeded north into Beltrami County east of Wolf Lake to cross the Mississippi River near the entrance to Andrusia Lake before proceeding on to Red Lake in a northern direction.

The trail was improved under the Chippewa Treaty of 1863 when a $5,000 budget was allocated for construction. The trail continued to be used until travel was replaced by railroads and roadways. But it all started out on Oak Point.

Timber Wolf

The Minnesota DNR estimates that about 3,000 Timber Wolves live in our state so the sighting of one is a rare occasion. I happened to see a wolf run in front of my car on Oak Point Road just a few days ago. You are more apt to see a wolf in the winter because their coloration contrasts with the white snow, plus you can occasionally see them cross the frozen lake.

While on the subject of wolves I have a true story of a deer stand called "Wolf Stand". In my blog of Sunday November 8th I wrote about the legend of the "Three Buck Stand", this story is equally famous. I have neighbors here on Oak Point named Sharon and Anthony that retired from the hectic life in the cities and built a beautiful home up here. She is Native, but he is not. She is one of the five daughters of Frieda Fairbanks who grew up here on Oak Point but never hunted until she got married. They now hunt deer, ducks, geese, and grouse. In the summer they fish and will soon start ice fishing. This is her story about the legend of the "Wolf Stand".

This happened a few years ago. It was opening day. The weather was warm, but not too warm. The first snow of the season occurred about two days prior and had already melted. The leaves were soft to walk on and hardly any noise was made by my falling feet. It was 5:10 am in the morning. It was very dark. My headlamp lit up the trail directly in front of me. My deer stand was about three quarters of a mile into the dark forest. It would take me about 10 to 15 minutes to walk there walking at a fairly even pace-not to fast to get too warm-but not too slow either.

I got there safely-no strange noises along the way to make me jump and make my heart race.

I climbed into my stand and settled in waiting for the light. I arranged my seat cushion, quietly put my headlamp away into my backpack, took out my book for reading later, and leaned back into the tree and promptly fell asleep until a seeping shill woke me. I was dawn-about 6:15 am and I became alert.

By 7:00 am it was very light out. But not a breaking branch could be heard anywhere near me. I heard very distance gunshots almost right away. But not a sound near me, not a chipmunk or a squirrel not a blue jay or a chickadee, and not a grouse. This was strange. Usually as soon as daylight comes, the smaller animals become active and noisy. But I never thought about it at that time that it was very strange.

By 8:00 am I was reading an excellent Alex Cross novel but keeping ears open and my eyes scanning the woods around me about every half a page. By 8:30 am I was wondering why it was so quiet. Where were all the forest animals! A few geese flew over me talking loudly to each other probably arguing about whether to head south now or later, their wings beating a whoosh, whoosh sound as they flew by.

All of a sudden , off to my left about 300 yards through the brush, pine, popple, and oak trees a huge doe cam running toward my woods but angling away from me at a horrific pace! Before I could blink, the biggest wolf I ever saw, I mean big and fat looking, ran between my stand and the doe. The wolf was only about 60 feet from me. And then, the doe and the wolf were gone in a blink of an eye and then came the second wolf flanking the doe on the other side of her running after the both of them. I don't know if they ever got her. Maybe they did. I don't know. I hope they didn't.

Needless to say, 4 years passed before I would walk to and from that stand in the dark! To this day, my husband and I call that stand the "Wolf Stand". And their hunting legends live on.

Caring Bridge Site

I have set up a website so that others can follow Marlys Nitchals medical progress. The site is called Caring Bridge and can be accessed at www.caringbridge.com and the password is marlysnitchals. Both of us miss Oak Point area very much even when its this cold outside. We miss that warmth of the wood fire with the contrast of the snow and cold outside. Although I could get use to going to Starbucks for a good coffee and a Blueberry Scone and read the paper every morning. Please remember Marlys in your prayers. I have some great stories lined up for the new year. Jim Nitchals

Christmas Miracle

My wife, Marlys Nitchals, and I are down at the University of MN Fairview Hospital where she just received a new transplanted kidney. Our 9 year old, 4th grade granddaughter, Katherine Nitchals, wrote this wonderful story that I am going to copy to the blog:

Christmas Miracle

On Christmas Day my grandparents and I were playing a game that I just got from them as a gift. We were sitting at the table playing, it was 8:00 PM at night. My grandma has to go and get her blood cleaned (dialysis) every other day because she has a disease in her kidneys. We could not play much longer because my grandmother had to sleep so she could go in the morning for her blood cleaning. While we were playing a phone rang and my grandma picked it up. Disappointed because she thought it was a person calling to sell something. It was not at all like that, it was a doctor from the University of Minnesota because he had a perfect match for my grandma's kidney that she needed. The person that had the kidney was a 55 year old woman who had fallen from her attic in Georgia and was on life support. This kind of thing does not usually happen, it was amazing that they found a person that lived on the other side of the United States of America that had the same kidney as my grandma. Over the night on Christmas Day the doctor called twice once at 10:00 pm and again at 1:00 am in the morning. The doctor told my grandma that tomorrow she should come to the University for a Transplant. The next morning my grandma and my family went to the University of Minnesota it was pretty convenient that the University was only 10 miles away from my house. The next morning at six o'clock my grandma had the transplant. They put some amnesia gas on her so that she would fall a sleep so that it would not hurt. She woke up that afternoon. The day after that me and my family went to visit with her and she looked pretty fine. Their were lots of cords, wires and stuff on her but I knew that she was okay. She ordered some food it was mashed potatoes and spaghetti it sounded gross it looked so good and it was real food. My grandma told me that she thought she was really lucky and she was. It was a Christmas Miracle.