The White Coyote

Jon wanted a rest on Sunday from the daily hike, so Molly and I set out at 5:45 to look for the elusive moose. It was just barely daylight, and Molly stayed close for a long time.

The cattle were back, so we had to vary our route to avoid them. The moose was nowhere.
We followed the fence line west, through the aspen. Molly was very excited by a smell, and trotted keenly, nose to ground.

When we got to the V tree, I knew I was next to the span of barbed wire that was easiest to cross. But as I looked ahead, I saw a pale wolf like creature walking slowly in front of us., not towards us, but in front of us. Molly had stopped too.

I called Molly back with an urgent voice and made her lie down. I was shaking, because I've been stalked by coyotes in L.A. But this creature looked peaceful. I got out my binoculars, I focussed on it. It was sitting by an aspen tree and it was the same color. Its eyes were squinty like a Chow's and it looked totally at ease. In fact it seemed to be grinning at us.

I was shaking when I took this picture. When I got home I was sure I could see the coyote in the picture, but when I looked at it tonight, nothing, there's no coyote there...

What was I thinking? What did I see?

There aren't wolves around here, there aren't any wolves in Colorado. But there aren't white coyotes either, according to my Audubon book.

I made a big loud noise before we crossed the fence, and hiked on in wide open area.