wolfa.jpg

Owner Jim Stein gives young visitors a tour of the Lakota Wolf Preserve.

(Star-Ledger file photo)

There is a Bogota in New Jersey and there is a Columbia (not Colombia). The two towns — the former in Bergen County, the latter in Warren — couldn’t be farther apart.

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.

WHILE YOU'RE THERE

Lakota Wolf Preserve

89 Mount Pleasant Road

(877) 733-9653

lakotawolf.com

Open Tuesdays through Sundays. Tour prices, not including tax, are $15

for adults and $7 for children 11 and younger. Cash or checks only.

Brook Hollow Winery

594 Route 94

(908) 496-8200

brookhollowwinery.com

Old Log Cabin Inn

47 Route 46

(908) 496-4291

The RoseMary Inn

88 Hainesburg River Road

(908) 496-8855

therosemaryinn.com

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.

The wolves are beautiful, spectral presences, loping casually through woods within a fenced enclosure. One thing they know how to do: eat. The wolves go through about 50,000 pounds of meat a year. The wolf preserve is also home to bobcats and foxes. The bobcats eat chicken parts and bluefish, but they really love squirrels.

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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