An avid explorer shares her experience of living among, and learned from, wild wolves in the Canadian Yukon and Arctic Circle with her husband and Husky—a memoir for fans of Barry Lopez
Helen and Bill Thayer, accompanied by their part-wolf, mostly Husky dog, Charlie, set out to live among wild wolf packs first in the Canadian Yukon and then in the Arctic. When they set up camp within 100 feet of a wolf den, they were greeted with apprehension. But they establish trust over time because the wolves accept Charlie as the alpha male of the newly arrived “pack.”
In this evocative nature memoir, readers travel with the Thayers as they learn about wolf family structure, view the intricacies of the hunt, the wolves’ finely-honed survival skills, and playfulness.
In 1988 New Zealand born Helen Thayer became the first woman to walk and ski to any of the world's poles when she trekked solo to the Magnetic North Pole without dog sled or snowmobile. She was the first woman and first American to circumnavigate the Magnetic North Pole. Her best-selling book Polar Dream tells the story of her historic adventure with her beloved companion Charlie, her protector from the ever constant threat of polar bear attack. Helen has gone on to explore far corners of the world.
Best selling author, international speaker, National Geographic explorer, gifted story teller and motivator.
If you read the natural history books by Farley Mowat, James Herriot, or Gerald Durrell as a child, this is the book for you as an adult.
Thayer and her husband Bill explored the social order of three different wolf packs by living with each for a season. Their part-wolf dog, Charlie, was their entry into the pack, allowing them to watch ravens and wolves teasing each other and sharing food; see an older wolf teaching the pups to watch for airplanes (carrying hunters with guns) in the sky; and be protected from a grizzly by the pack. As they grew to know the wolves better, it was like looking into the life of a family: the wolves became characters in their own right, and the departure from each pack was moving.
This is my third Helen Thayer book; I find them captivating. She is an amazing female adventurer (named “One of the Great Explorers of the 20th Century” by National Geographic and NPR). Although each in their late 50s during this journey, both she and her husband were pulling 300-pound sleds in the Arctic when it was -36 degrees Fahrenheit! The Arctic ice portion was terrifying: within 3 days of starting, they had nearly fallen through the ice as it cracked and moved and had two polar bears charge them, the second one stopping only after they fired two rounds of flares and Charlie eventually scared it off. That strong sense of place made for compelling reading.
If you like books about adventure, you might enjoy Thayer’s other books: Walking the Gobi: A 1600-mile Trek Across a Desert of Hope and Despair Polar Dream: The First Solo Expedition by a Woman and Her Dog to the Magnetic North Pole
In 1994, Helen Thayer, her husband Bill, and Charlie, an Inuit dog with wolf ancestry, set out to study wolves in the wild in the Canadian Yukon. They spent six summer months near a wolf family's den, and another couple of winter months among the wolves and polar bears of the Arctic.
Through observing and documenting the wolves' daily lives, they eventually felt an interspecies bond developing. The couple and their dog spent another few years checking on their wolf friends, and the book provides an "after" to their stories.
For those familiar with more popular stories, the first part (Summer) feels like Never Cry Wolf (which, if someone's still not aware, is a work of fiction), but in this case, they really spent these months among wild wolves. In contrast, Jim and Jamie Dutcher lived among captive ones, as described in their Wolves at Our Door.
It's a bit repetitive at times, and the writing isn't spectacular, but boy, is the story amazing! I forgot about this book, but then it was recommended to me a couple of weeks ago and I finally ordered a copy. No regrets.
This quote from p 137 summarizes much of the essence of the book:
It is generally believed that animals defend their kills from other species and even from each other, and that sharing is not a survival skill in the wild. But we had seen something different. ...
As we returned to camp, Bill wondered aloud. "Is it possible that some species instinctively understand, at a primitive level, that they're just a single link in the environmental chain—that to survive, everyone must survive?" We hoped to explore such questions further in the winter, when we would travel farther north to encounter arctic foxes and polar bears as well as wolves.
This book checks all my boxes; educational, high adventure (with near-death moments where everyone survives), true memoir, compelling page-turner that leaves me in jaw-dropping awe of the capabilities of humans and animals alike. So good!
If you read the natural history books by Farley Mowat, James Herriot, or Gerald Durrell as a child, this is the book for you as an adult.
Thayer and her husband Bill explored the social order of three different wolf packs by living with each for a season. Their part-wolf dog, Charlie, was their entry into the pack, allowing them to watch ravens and wolves teasing each other and sharing food; see an older wolf teaching the pups to watch for airplanes (carrying hunters with guns) in the sky; and be protected from a grizzly by the pack. As they grew to know the wolves better, it was like looking into the life of a family: the wolves became characters in their own right, and the departure from each pack was moving.
This is my third Helen Thayer book; I find them captivating. She is an amazing female adventurer (named “One of the Great Explorers of the 20th Century” by National Geographic and NPR). Although each in their late 50s during this journey, both she and her husband were pulling 300-pound sleds in the Arctic when it was -36 degrees Fahrenheit! The Arctic ice portion was terrifying: within 3 days of starting, they had nearly fallen through the ice as it cracked and moved and had two polar bears charge them, the second one stopping only after they fired two rounds of flares and Charlie eventually scared it off. That strong sense of place made for compelling reading.
If you like books about adventure, you might enjoy Thayer’s other books: Walking the Gobi: A 1600-mile Trek Across a Desert of Hope and Despair Polar Dream: The First Solo Expedition by a Woman and Her Dog to the Magnetic North Pole
This book was magical to me. The observations of the author and her husband regarding the interactions of the wolves and, more interesting to me, the wolves and their dog Charlie were far more than I expected. Looking at the society of the pack, the way that the wolves related to each other and adapted to strangers in their midst certainly challenges the general reputation of these animals. They observed them cooperating with other species (crows, bears, foxes) in the hunt for food,caring for the sick and infirm of the pack, and developing bonds of friendship and mutual respect with Charlie.
I am always grateful that people who can and do engage in such physically demanding exploration choose to write about their experiences. I felt that I had been on this adventure with them and been touched by the wild.
The authors spend a summer observing a pack of wolves in the Yukon. Their interactions are guided by the reactions of their dog, a husky with wolf ancestry. They observe some interesting behavior. They then spend a few months near Tuk looking for and then observing wolves on the pack ice and later near Inuvik. The descriptions of wolf society are captivating.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, even though I do not particularly like Helen Thayer or her writing. When I realized the book (recommended by a friend) was by Thayer I almost didn't even start it but am glad that I did. The writing is often sophomoric but the content interesting. Thayer tends to have to be dramatic and always seems out to prove how good she is - even in this book they do a few things that seem only motivated by proving they can do it.
To study the winter habitat of wolves this woman, accompanied by her husband and faithful canine, traveled across the Canada's Northern Territory in the dead of winter. Temperatures plunged to 45 below zero. Polar bears stalked them. They lived in a tent and pulled sleds that weighed 300 pounds. They camped on shifting offshore pack ice which could open lanes of icy water with no warning. In the summer they camped adjacent to a wolves den somehow managing to gain a tenuous acceptance from the pack. Summer was no picnic either. Huge northern mosquitos tormented the author and the wolf pack. The result of all this adventurous travel is a fascinating picture of the intricate social relations of wolves in their natural environment. It is a picture filled with respect, love, and awe.
This chronicles a year with a man and woman and their 1/4 wolf and 3/4 Inuit dog, Charlie as they undertake a massive journey to attempt to study and learn more about wolves. Using Charlie as a go-between, they spent a summer in the Canadian Yukon where they were graced by the trust that Charlie seemed to be able to gain from the Alpha wolf, as the wolves took him to be their Alpha and the humans his subordinates. With their tents 150 yards away from their denning site, and Charlie "scent-marking" his "territory" to enforce his rule as Alpha, they were able to see things that very few, if any, had ever seen in wolf society--their day-t0-day activities, their affection for each other, their games and play, and even a few times were able to watch--from afar--as they worked together to bring down prey much larger than the wolves were. And how treasured the newborn pups were to every member of the pack. And, unfortunately, how they had to teach the yearlings and the pups how to look skyward for airplanes where human hunters shot wolves from the air. The next trek was to the Arctic where they discovered wolves following polar bears--something never before believed--but the polar bears were experts at grabbing seals from the holes in the sea ice and, after eating the blubber, would move on while the wolves, ravens, and occasionally arctic foxes would feast on the remaining meat. A third trek, further into the Arctic, was told to them of a place where a longtime friend and Inuit, who refused to have his name used in the book, told them of a pack of wolves that lived in a sheltered wooded area. They found the area and, living in tents, once again, Charlie became a go-between, understanding how to speak to the wolves in a language that humans never could. It was a dream come true for many (myself included) but the only way they were able to get as close and "personal" to the wolves was because of Charlie.
Helen Thayer has quite a reputation, including the first woman to reach the magnetic North Pole. She received the Outstanding Achievement Award by the American Mountain Foundation as well as being named the National Geographic Society/National Public Radio as one of the great explorers of the 20th Century, even being honored at the White House by President Clinton. Both she and Charlie visit organizations and corporate groups, as well as schools and hospitals. None of this, of course, could have been done without Charlie who, unfortunately, died in 2003.
Some nature books are great reads, some are great adventures. This one is the latter. It details the year-long trek the author, her husband Bill and their dog Charlie made into in the Yukon above the Arctic Circle to study various families of wolves.
Spoiler: in the winter there is a lot of cold and ice and very little sun. And, in this case, the ice takes on a life of its own as Thayer writes:
“The distant rumbling, now much louder, closed in on us. I stared at sections of falling ice as though hypnotized. Time stood still as my heart tried to hammer its way out of my chest. A crack in the ice zigzagged past us, widening to three feet. Then a ghostly moan came from the direction of a pressure ridge we had just crossed. As we watched in disbelief, the entire thing collapsed on itself with a thunderous roar, sending blinding particles of snow dust into our faces. A hundred feet away, a flat area suddenly erupted upward under powerful pressure from the ocean depths. Plates of ice rose and slammed on top of each other. We hurdled a wide crack. In front of us a ridge jerked fifty feet apart.
Endearing story about a middle aged couple and their wolf-dog who set out to study and live beside wild wolves in Alaska and the Arctic Circle for one year. They encounter three families of wolves on their journey, which they are able to observe, photograph and document with painstaking detail.
Fascinating insights about wolves in the wild, their attachments, their patterns, their social structure.
Thayer is a world renowned explorer, and was the first woman to solo walk and ski to the magnetic North Pole without snowmobile or dog sled.
This book could have been a dry scientific treatise on wolves, but for Thayer's compassion and humanity. Her observations are astute, and she seems to see right into the wolves very souls. Some of her recounting gets a little redundant at times, particularly during the six months she and her husband stay with the first family of wolves, but if you stick with it, their adventures at the Arctic Circle prove exciting and fascinating.
I heard Helen Thayer speak at REI in Durham a couple weeks ago. At 70-something she's quite energetic and fit. However, if you ran into her at, say, Target, you wouldn't expect her to be the first woman to have trekked solo to the Magnetic North Pole without dog sled or snowmobile. She was also the first woman to circumnavigate the Magnetic North Pole, and she (at 68) and her husband (at 74) were the first husband-and-wife team to walk the length of the Mongolian Gobi Desert. That's 1,500 miles, people.
Anyway, the prose of Three Among Wolves is not like the prose I normally read -- it's not "literary." The object of the book is not the language used but the story, which is simply told. Therefore, I'm surprised by how much I'm enjoying it; I can't seem to sit down with it for less than an hour at a time. My favorite character is the dog, Charlie, but I'm growing quite fond of Helen and Bill as well.
No one could do what Bill & Helen Thayer did unless they had the Thayer's dog Charlie. Desiring to study wolves in the wild, the couple chose the Canadian Yukon Territory in the summer and the Canadian MacKenzie River Delta in the winter. They camped near the dens of wolves and, thanks to the fact that Charlie had been raised with the native Inuit people while young, he was familiar with wolves to the extent that he displayed their behaviors when near them. This is a fascinating story and I was most struck by the strong emotional ties wolves have with each other. We typically regard wild animals as creatures that eat, breed and hunt. Not so! Read this book and you will be surprised over and over again.
[3.5 stars] I'm embarrassed to admit how long this book has been on my bookshelf, so I think I won't.
I like showering, having indoor plumbing, and not having to keep my food out of the maws of apex predators. So I can't imagine camping out all summer without being able to do laundry or shower. That being said, I'm impressed by the author and her husband, who lived among the wolves without most of the comforts of home. Even in the summer den, they experienced extreme weather and insect-related insanity. In the winter, they lived on the ice and hoped they wouldn't get too close to the polar bears.
Years ago, I read Helen Thayer's quirky and oddly engrossing book about her solo trip to the magnetic north pole. I had my qualms, while reading it, about the way that she put her newly adopted dog in harm's way for the sake of adventure. I experienced none of those misgivings while reading Three Among the Wolves. Here the same dog takes center stage. I began this book with some hesitation, but was soon finding myself inserting it into every conversation. This is the kind of book that makes a person want to sell all of her worldly goods and live a simple life... maybe near a pack of wolves.
I bought this used as a gift for a wolf lover in my family, and I read it first so we could discuss it. I was pleasantly surprised how interesting this book was since I am not necessarily a wolf fan. I have to say, my perspective did change, as the author did an amazing job portraying the wolves, their family structure, and the rules they live by which do allow for empathy within their pack and sometimes stranger wolves. I was concerned about her encroaching upon their wild behavior, but the author does seem sensitive to this and seemed careful to not acclimate the wolves to humans to a dangerous degree. I would definitely recommend this book for anyone curious about wolves.
I felt like I was at Wold Camp 1 right along side the author, her husband and the wonderwolfdog Charlie. The howls really came right off and out of the pages. If you love the outdoors, wildlife, animal/human behavior, and especially if you are a dog person. Pick this up. You’ll love it.
I was hesitant to read this afraid it would be some psuedo science and some wackos out in the woods doing things they shouldn't be doing. Maybe that is still true, however I think it is well written and I found myself very much interested in their adventure.
Three and a half stars. An amazing adventure with an unusual couple and their awesome dog that reveals new insights into wolf life. It takes a certain type of person to live life in the wilderness and accept the challenges. I’m glad I could share the experience vicariously.
An adventure mingled with keen observations of wolf behavior, wilderness exploration and great ecological insight. All told by a bad ass woman explorer.
Fascinating book about wolves in the wild as witnessed by a couple and their dog who set up camp to observe three separate wolf packs in the Yukon and Arctic.
Riverbend Nature Center Book Club selection Jan 2023: at first I wasn't enthused to read this. However, that changed quickly. It is an easy and enjoyable read. It offered interesting insight into the pack dynamics of wolves and their connection/communication with other living beings. I was impressed with how the researchers could live like that for so long and was curious about how they dealt with more of their biological functions, especially as a woman and in the Arctic climate. It was intriguing to learn of the connection between their dog Charlie and the wolves. Overall, this book inspired me to question more about the living beings we share this world with.
The most interesting aspect of this book is that the doggy(Charlie) lived to be 23 years old. The writing seemed to be simple and more apt to children or teens. I did somewhat enjoy reading the book however.......I question the selfishness of two people who want to thrust themselves and their dog into the faces of wild animals. No science was learnt by what they did. Haven't we learnt enough from Tim Treadwell. Please can we just leave these poor animals alone. I think they have been through enough.