Barred owls are called monkey owls in some areas.
While hiking AT a huge grizzly bear suddenly charged at me , so I instinctively ran down the hill scared to death. Then I remember I should not/could not escape from a bear attack by running and better stand my ground but suddenly I realized there is no Grizzly bear on AT so I stopped and told the bear" Hey bear, we don't have Grizzly on AT". The bear stopped , then felt ashamed and turned back and told me:" Sorry, wrong trail".
Originally Posted by Tuckahoe64
Nah mate they use door gunners when they get towed thru bad neighborhoods.
Dogs are excellent judges of character, this fact goes a long way toward explaining why some people don't like being around them.
Woo
Yea lets hope that doesn't catch on....
Dogs are excellent judges of character, this fact goes a long way toward explaining why some people don't like being around them.
Woo
worst wildlife encounter....best explanation
AT thru-hikers from 2009 will remember this legendary story:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpxNOmJxQUY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkBAJDnesiE
As told by Prairie Dog, Angry Beaver, and recorded by Check Six. We actually heard it via word-of-mouth (Shenanigans) a few hundred miles up the trail from these guys....
THE DARKNESS!
AT09
LT11
PCT12
CDT15 hopeful
One rainy night, I hung my skivvies under my rainfly in hopes that they wouldn't be quite as wet in the morning. A porcupine came in under the fly and made off with them. It drove me off the trail the next day because going commando under wet hiking shorts was getting me horribly chafed on the you-know-what, and there would have been real trouble in a sensitive spot if I didn't get some sort of medication and some wicking material on it.
Journal from that trip
Last edited by Another Kevin; 05-16-2014 at 21:35.
I always know where I am. I'm right here.
had my first overnite hike with my dog lastnight. We did Amicalola to Black Gap Shelter. 3minutes after we left Black gap this morning, and headed back, we saw our first bear.
Luckily I was able to make a video of it. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v...type=2&theater
Not bad for our very fist overnite hike together.
Me: Ricky
Husky: Jack
Skeeter-Beeter Pro Hammock.
From Dalton, Georgia (65 mi above Altanta, 15mi south of Chattanooga)
Worst experiences:
Snakes: Rattlesnakes along the trail on a cliffside in PA. There were four of them spaced out along a ledge at about shoulder height, basking in the morning sun. When my hiking partner Bloodstone and I walked into the cleared area, they woke up and warned us alarmingly. That was a bowel loosening (though not venting) experience.
Mice: My brand new Montbell Goretex jacket got a hole chewed through the inner mesh pocket to access the trail mix I had stupidly left in the pocket. Shelter mice here.
Mice: Shelter mice kept running across my face and forehead as I was trying to sleep in one shelter. That mouse was caught mid passage, crushed in hand and tossed out of the shelter.
Mice: One shelter was pretty well infested and the mouse dander (I assume) was making it damned near impossible to breathe, so I flipped around head outwards and breathed easily the rest of the night.
Deer Flies: In the NY/CT/MA area the deerflies got so bad that I lost count of how many I was killing on a daily basis. Probably around 100 or more per day.
Aside from the deer flies, nearly all of these are manageable issues brought about by human activity and preventable by modifications of my behaviors, or maintaining higher situational awareness.
For ticks I highly recommend getting Tick repellent clothing, getting your chosen clothing treated with tick repellent treatments, or spraying your clothing (after washing and drying and well before wearing) with a permethrin based tick repellent. This will solve most of your tick problems (though not all). I work in tick infested brush and rarely have to remove ticks from my clothing and haven't had one dug in in years.
Snakes are terrified of humans and we are too big to eat. They rarely strike unless surprised and cornered/threatened. If you can avoid this, you won't have an issue. Study snake behavior and learn about them to learn how to avoid them.
Poison Ivy is the next most common issue. It's not animal wildlife, but it's a more common problem than any animal. I found that hiker dirtiness is pretty good protection, as is heavy sweating. But whenever I really got into it, I washed pretty quickly afterwards using wet-wipes. Seemed to control things pretty well. There is pre-exposure ointment available that works pretty well also.
Andrew "Iceman" Priestley
AT'95, GA>ME
Non nobis Domine, non nobis sed Nomini Tuo da Gloriam
Not for us O Lord, not for us but in Your Name is the Glory
My worst experience was also my best experience. While camping at Mt Rogers during the Perseids Meteor Shower we left the tent door tied back so we could watch the meteor shower while lying in our sleeping bag. A baby pony tried to get in the tent with us. Not once but all night long. Even a baby weighs a couple hundred pounds and I was afraid he would step on us or fall on us. He would stick his head in the door then raise up, almost tearing the top off the tent. This and his running around close to the tent at top speed in pitch black darkness made for a restless night.
You're quite lucky. I have yet to see a bear on the trail while hiking with a dog. Bears are usually terrified of them.
Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
my dog looked at it and i think after a second he forgot he was looking at something..... the bear ran about 20feet away when he saw us. then just looked while i recorded it
i guess it helps that Huskies dont bark.
Me: Ricky
Husky: Jack
Skeeter-Beeter Pro Hammock.
From Dalton, Georgia (65 mi above Altanta, 15mi south of Chattanooga)
Imagine if you were a bit jumpy with some bear spray and when they came around the corner you had to explain to them why you maced their dog.lol.
Awwww. Fat Mike, too?
Almost the same as Kerosene's 1997 Porcupine attack. Not very far from his adventure, Happened at Wilbur Clearing Shelter. "The attack of the porcupines. Sometimes it seemed like at least a half dozen t a time. Early 80's in the early fall months. gave out a few bloody noses. No on got an sleep. It was like wave after wave. Someone must have split some salt. Our weapon of choice was a shovel. Almost forced me to make a night time retreat viva money brook trail to Hopper, to Sperry Road. My friend Ranger Bob said it happened regular that year and was just mother natures way of keeping the part crew out. Road crossing nearby. Bob and I got real chuckle out of the matter.
Just yesterday while hiking down standing indian I slipped in bear sh** & ripped my new trail runners on a rock!! Dam bears dumping on trail .
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Really? Our very first long distance hike we saw 8 while hiking with a dog. What kind of dog do you have? A bear hound? Now of course we were hiking SNP
Huhhh could you say that again. I did nt quite get it
I have not yet hiked SNP, however from what I've heard the bears there are incredibly habituated to people and pets. I'm sure you're aware that seeing 8 bears in one section isn't typical for the A.T.
Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
Some folks are better at spotting them than others. I was walking behind another hiker for a while in SNP and he kept saying "there's another one" while I missed them all. I did have one genuine, close-up bear encounter on entering the park, and that was my only bear encounter, ever, on the AT.
WILD VICIOUS FERAL billy and nanny goat vic Ed Garvey shelter. I barely escaped with my life.
76 HawkMtn w/Rangers
14 LHHT
15 Girard/Quebec/LostTurkey/Saylor/Tuscarora/BlackForest
16 Kennerdell/Cranberry-Otter/DollyS/WRim-NCT
17 BearR
18-19,22 AT NOBO 1562.2
22 Hadrian's Wall
23 Cotswold Way
Yes i am aware of that...that is why i stated where i was. we did have a pair of mature bears follow us up the mt for a 1/4 mile. really freaked my wife out until i had enough and chased em off
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