“This is a beautiful story. I came into the shop, looked at the wall and I saw a big picture of an icefield with the forest behind it and right at the side – small – a wolf,” said Peter Bertels.

In life, people take different paths to seek unfamiliar things that bring definition and meaning to their lives. Bertels is a Belgian man seeking a dream – to meet a wolf.

In Canmore, 2007, Bertels was beginning his first wolf hunt adventure. Not hunt to kill, but to see. There in a store he saw what he describes today by saying: “I was looking at this picture like I was looking at my dream.”

“It’s a lot more than just wolves, its more than just an animal,” he said. “Call it a kind of religion. There are religions that everyone knows: Christianity and stuff like that, and I turned away from that. I want to find my own way of doing things and maybe the wolf is a part of a religion,” Bertels said in a strong Belgian accent.

Bertels has been coming to Canada for four years now, looking for his illusive spirit guide. He still remains true to his dream.

In that store in Canmore, Bertels gazed upon the photograph. “I was looking at it maybe for ten seconds, maybe for ten minutes. I don’t know,” he said.

A man approached him and asked if he liked the picture. He told Bertels that it was his photograph.

“I said ‘I’m crazy about it, that’s my dream hanging on the wall. That’s what I want. That’s why I came to Canada,’” Bertels replied.

After some discussion, the photographer (Jason Leo Bantle) told Bertels that if he comes back to Canada next year he would take Bertels to see wolves.

So he spent the rest of that trip looking for wolves alone in Lake Louise and Golden without any success.

In 2008, Bertels came back to Canada and met Bantle in Waskasu Lake in Prince Albert Park, Saskatchewan.

“So I arrived there. It was really, really, extremely cold. The first day I arrived it was -36 C, but I love that. I was crazy about it, so extreme,” he said.

They spent three days in the park looking for wolves.

“The last day it was -42 C and we saw a pack of wolves,” Bertels said.

In the middle of the road seven wolves were basking in the sun. Bertels said it was a beautiful sunny day with blue skies, but because it was so extremely cold they could only get out of the vehicle for 15 to 20 minutes at a time.

“That evening I was back alone at my place and I really felt sad, and at the same time glad. On one hand I saw my wolves, but on the other hand, I reached my goal so I was a little lost,” he said.

Bertels said when he looks back at that moment, all he has to remember it by is the photograph he took.

“I forgot the moment itself. I was so focused to get good pictures. That is something I have to learn next time, I hope,” he said. “To leave my camera where it is and enjoy the moment.”

Bertels said that he learned two lessons that day. One: to enjoy the moment and two: what to do after you reach your goal.

“The second lesson was I reached my goal, and then okay, what’s next? That’s a big question, that is also something that I can reflect on in my life,” he said.

After seeing his wolves he started to evaluate his life.

“I’m at this age in my life. Midlife has passed. I have two children, I have a beautiful job, I have a car, I have everything you work for. But when you have it, what’s next?” Bertels said.

His introspection brought him an answer. He said that he was taken to the wolves with a guide and now desires to find wolves on his own.

“That’s what I’m doing now. I’m talking to people. I’m asking: give me directions, give me tips where I can find them. But then I want to go all on my own in the woods, with me and a back-pack,” he said.

For four years, he has been coming to Canada to find wolves and has yet to find them on his own.

“The wolf gives me direction. He’s the direction I want to go, but it’s all about the in-betweens – I call them,” said Bertels. “The in-betweens are the people I meet, the places I’ve been, and the other animals I see.”

In just one day Bertels said he saw two beautiful woodpeckers, a dead lynx, a wolf kill, and a bald eagle – just some of the in-betweens, he says.

“Even the things when you’re doing nothing – staying in the lodge, looking at the fireplace, and everything around it. That’s what it’s really about,” he said.

 “The wolf gives me directions.” He says “move on, go further, but look around. That’s more or less living in the moment.”