Mountain hiking

[MentallyUnstablePie]

Good to have all that cleared up, but the bolded parts mystify me somewhat. What is the difference?

It means that you should look at the wolf enough to make it aware that you are aware of its presence and not just stand there and stare at it.
It's the same thing with dogs, never stare into the eyes of a dog you don't know (i.e. when you are a stranger to the dog), it's considered as a challenge to animals.

But he said "make direct eye contact". Should you or should you not look into its eyes to let it know you're aware of it?

I never said how long, they know if you are looking or not. If you sit there and just stare at him forever he will think you want to fight, if you make eye contact at first he'll know that you can see him so he doesn't do a pussy move and attack. but the odds of one actually attacking you instead of running is really rare, usually only happens if its where they live. sorry about my idiotic wording, that's where i get my username

something else you could do is bring a gun for self defense.