Wolves of Whitewater Documentary

Spring Flood 2007

Episode 1

The Wolves of Whitewater This book is still a WIP, the journey begins on the day of the March 2007 flash flood as Lisa and two conservation officer students from St. Paul, Minnesota set off to explore an area where the wolves were.

After six hours of trudging up snow covered bluffs, three to four feet in some areas, they found the evidence they were looking for. What they didn’t expect when they set out on their venture was for the temperatures to suddenly rise, melting away the recent 29-inches of snow; creating a flash flood scene from a horror movie, one that swallowed the land and the valley they’d hiked all day.

Evey step to get to safety, forced them back up the bluffs trapped by ravines that had, since their climb up earlier in the day, turned into towering waterfalls, with no cell coverage, no paths around the deep wet snow that swallowed their legs down into tangled brush with every step, they slipped into the wet cold snowy hoping to find solid footing rather than loose limestone. 

Usually, it would safer to go up the steep bluffs, but the snow was sliding down, the limestone cliffs like an avalanche, many times, they’d get carried down the unstoppable power of the snow. With the valley—everywhere they could see—underwater, with trees, and objects swirling in the whitecaps, climbing up the bluffs—still seemed to be their only choice out. 

To go up, they were forced down, right into the ice cold water, because the bluff they were on, had no path up. 

Instead, they waded through waist deep flooded waters, to get to the next bluff, and we’re forced to cross the swollen ravine, balancing on a thin log to escape the raging waters beneath—just to reach the truck—hoping against hope, it was still there, not washed away in the spring flash flood of 2007.

Lisa writes a fictional series, The Wolves of Whitewater Falls, this however, is the true story of the real wolves.