Owner Jim Stein gives young visitors a tour of the Lakota Wolf Preserve.
(Star-Ledger file photo)
on April 07, 2014
In Columbia, you can see — and hear — wolves.
Wolves are not found in the wild in New Jersey, so you know the Lakota Wolf Preserve must be a special place. The resident wolves, which go by such names as Cheyenne, River and Raven, are the stars of the preserve, one of the state’s lesser-known yet most spellbinding attractions.
The largest facility of its kind on the East Coast, Lakota was founded by Dan Bacon, who had visited a wolf facility in Montana and found himself “very upset” with the conditions. He and his wife, Pam, acquired two wolf cubs in North Dakota and opened a facility in Colorado. They relocated to New Jersey in 1997; Lakota opened a year later.
The preserve, now owned by Jim Stein and Becky Mace, is reached by a half-mile trail from the parking lot at Camp Taylor Campground, minutes from Route 94.
Don’t just drive up there any old time; you can see the wolves only on a scheduled tour. Spring and summer tour times are 10:30 a.m. and 4 p.m.; fall and winter times are 10:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. Reservations are required for weekday tours; no reservations are necessary for the weekend tours.
Wolves call this preserve home, as do bobcats and foxes.Columbia, part of Knowlton Township, is a sleepy rural hamlet just south of the Delaware Water Gap. It was once home to the picturesque Columbia-Portland Bridge, one of 12 covered bridges that formerly spanned the Delaware River.
Minutes from the wolf preserve is Brook Hollow Winery, whose wines include Sequoia/Sophia White Table. Twenty-five percent of the proceeds of each bottle of Sequoia/Sophia go to Lakota.
Spending the night? The RoseMary Inn, a B&B located on 17 scenic acres, is in Columbia.
A food must-stop: the Old Log Cabin Inn on Route 46, a funky, cozy roadhouse, with deer heads and tilted floors. The pizza, made in an adjoining room, is pretty good.
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