Restored

I'm feeling much better today although last night I froze my butt off waiting for the lodge owner to get back so I could get my stuff out of storage. My boots and feet were wet from crossing a river and I think they were literally turning to ice. He didn’t arrive till much later, by that time I had done 300 push-ups to keep warm and decided to go to another lodge. I ended up sleeping there but I missed my sleeping bag.

I woke up in the middle of the night with a bit of anxiety. The what if’s, the how’s, where’s, when and who’s. I started worrying about what I’m going to do when I get back to LA, how am I going to fix my car, get money to get to Utah so I can finish my feature film, how will I get back to South Africa to renew my passport etc. Eventually I just decided that I’m not going to worry about any of that, I've got to find the wolves and finish this documentary, after that I will worry about whatever comes next because to worry now isn’t going to help the situation I’m in so I might as well just take one day at a time. I calmed myself down and fell asleep again.

This morning I’m heading up Renjo-lo pass for the third time because someone saw tracks and if they’re fresh I’ll take my tent back up there and spend a few nights. It's getting harder now because winter is setting in; the ground freezes so it’s difficult to track and everything is icy and slippery. I should have found them by now but it is what it is, it certainly hasn’t been for a lack of trying.

It's about 2pm and I’ve just returned from Renjo-Lo pass with exciting news. I found 4 fresh scats, probably about a day old. Unfortunately, I grabbed the one piece of poop to break it open because it was frozen and the thing exploded in my hand, so now I stink of Wolf Poop. It was fresh inside and when I say fresh I mean, it smells like a million dead carcasses. It reminds me of when we were filming Lions in South Africa, if we accidentally rode over lion scat or stood on one, we would smell that sickly deathly smell for another 2 days, it stinks to high heaven, nonetheless it’s exciting.

I came back down to grab my tent and I’ll head on up again and spend a few nights up there, maybe I’ll be lucky enough to hear them howl. First, I have to go back to the lodge where all my stuff is stored and track up that valley again to see if I can intercept the tracks then I’ll know more or less where their den is, not that I would want to stay too close to their den but close enough to see them. I feel I’m getting closer.

My plans changed a little in that when I got to the lodge where some of my stuff had been stored, I went to go check-up the valley area to see if there were any tracks. Of course, there were so I quickly ran back to get my gear and went as high up the Tibetan trail as I could. It was dark by the time I set up camp, so I had to be discrete about it since I didn't want to make too much noise.

Choosing a spot was a little tricky because the area I chose is extremely rocky and it’s on a ridge which means I could hear the river. The sound of the river could potentially mask any howls that I may hear through the course of the night. While trying to find a spot for the tent I came across three kill sights of three different yaks, so this was definitely a good spot. It was a little daunting setting up camp though because it’s overcast and snowing and pitch dark. I couldn't see my hand in front of my face so it’s always that chance something could be sneaking up behind me. I must remember though, these are not Lions. Wolves are very wary of their pray, they don’t just attack, they like to stake out first and plan so it was unlikely anything was going to pounce me from behind unless of course a snow leopard was nearby. That was also unlikely because there had been no recollection of snow leopard attacks on humans, ever.

Once the tent was up it was time to collect water which is about 600 yards away. I contemplated whether it’s worth the risk because I could lose my tent and not find it again and water was over 2 ridges. Navigating through the big boulders with a head lamp is tricky but worth the risk. At this high altitude, a person has to eat and stay hydrated or acute mountain sickness could set in. I left the light on in the tent and took a heading on my compass and in 20 minutes I was at the water source and within another 20 minutes I was back at my tent. I must say from the top of the rise the tent looks kind of cute with the glowing lamp inside marking its isolation surrounded by gigantasaurus mountain peaks. I wish there was a way to capture it on camera but there just isn’t.

I’m not sure if this snow will scare off the wolves or keep them in their den but the tracks I saw were heading down to the rural areas. I’ve come up from where she has gone down which means that when she gets back from a hunt she’s bound to howl or perhaps create some kind of disturbance that should encourage a reaction from the others, that’s generally how it works. I must say I’m getting rather nervous that I might not find them, they moving a lot and I’m always one step behind. Anyway, I’ve prayed and hoping with a bit of luck, skill and God willing I’ll find them.

On another note, there must be a hole in the sleeping pad because it doesn’t want to blow up; I guess it’s going to be a loooong night, at least the pasta is cooking. I have to do it on low heat so the gas doesn’t prevent me from hearing any howls. Every time I open my tent I get a little fright because I see 2 red eyes looking at me. They could have designed the night vision camera a little better; the infrared lights look like an evil werewolf. I’ve got it pointing at the tent. I’ve peed in a couple of places so hopefully something will come investigate, maybe I'll get to see the Yeti.

Its 2:30am and it’s so quiet out here, not so much as a peep out of anything. For some strange reason, I have a shooting pain on the side of my head that’s keeping me awake. It’s not like a headache just a sharp shooting pain every so often and when I touch that part of my head it actually hurts like I bumped it or something but I know I didn’t, very weird. Anyway, time is something I’ve never wished away so I'll just use this time to relax with my thoughts, that's all I can do actually. I'll let my thoughts take me wherever they want to go and I'll just enjoy the ride.