20 feet from me I saw a hawk get a squirrel in the Maryland AT section
Would you be offended if I told you to
TAKE A HIKE!
CowHead
"If at first you don't succeed......Skydiving is not for you" Zen Isms
I once was lost, then I hike the trail
While hiking the Florida Trail in January 06 I was deep in the Glades and 15 miles from nowhere, all alone on a narrow tram path. About thirty yards ahead a Florida Panther came from my right onto the Trail and stopped, looked casually at me then growled very strongly but quietly in a "you keep out of my way and I won't have to kill you today" way. The mesage was very clear to me and I waited while he paused then walked slowly on across the Trail and into the swampy woods. I hiked about 4 mph for a while before I felt safe again. I admit to making a bigger than necessary fire that night. No photo DUH! But like most great encounters, I just have to close my eyes and remember it to see it all perfectly again.
1990, awoke to Mule screaming because of the skunk sleeping on his chest in the Smokies.
1990, awoke in the morning in N.C. to see a mouse sleeping in Hippy Man's beard.
1990, watched a fawn being born just north of Atkins.
1990, porkies, moose and loons in Maine.
2002, woke up with a moose standing with his head inside the shelter just north of Gorham.
2007, "accidently" saw a mountain lion lying on a high rock watching me just outside of Big Bear, Ca. on the PCT.
geek
Favorite trail animal encounter.
During my thru I spent the night at Bearfence Mountain Shelter with a group of Boy Scouts. I was sitting at the picnic table, in front of the shelter, talking to the scout leaders when one of them said, " here comes a bear." Turned around to see a bear walking tword the shelter. The leaders went into panic mode. Rounding up all the scouts who were tenting in back of the shelter. The bear became agitated when the leaders started to try to chase it away. It circled the shelter area just in the woods line until it got to the path to the privey. It went to the privey, opened the door and went inside with the door closing behind him. I got my camera and went as close to the privey as I dared and took a picture of the bear comming out of the privey. That photo I consider one of my best trail shots. It's in my scrap book with the title: "who said a bear s***'s in the woods." The photo is posted under my photos.
Grampie-N->2001
In Yellowstone I watched a mother coyote stand guard over their den while her three pups played. In the same meadow, three other adult coyotes were hunting rodents. Every few hundred yards they would stop, pounce, and then throw the mouse up in the air a few times before eating them.
To me one of the more fascinating things about nature is when you find a critter doing whatever it is that they do uninterupted by us. See pics below.
Right outside of Pearisburg I ran into a GOAT that was just standing on the trail. I didn't expect to see any goats on the trail, it took me by surprise.
hey Geek...what about Ziggy! You forgot to mention!Originally Posted by Jim Adams
Starlyte,
Ziggy really wasn't "wildlife"...he was just crazy!!!!LOL
geek
Winter and I have many animal stories. One evening we were stealth camping not too far from the AT. It was just about sundown and we were about to get into the slickrock for the night. Winter indicated that someone was coming. Some times she gave me as much as a five minute warning that we were going to have company. So we got into the tent and just sat side by side watching the trail where the person should come from, our right front. It wasn't a person it was a big buck deer. We both stayed still and quiet. The deer walked up the trail toward us and then left the trail as it got close and crossed within feet of our tent (and us). The buck walked right in front of us as if we were invisable. We just sat there as it disappeared into the woods to our left. Winter and I looked at each other and smiled.
Interestingly, both involved snakes
It's one thing to see a human-animal encounter on a TV show, it's another to have it happen to yourself.
While hiking on the AT several years ago, I chanced upon a snake swallowing a rodent it had just finished off killing (don't know if it used venom or choking, and I wasn't about to find out). Took several photos as the snake took in the rodent's head, then its body, and finally its feet.
Okay, this wasn't on the AT, but it was still memorable. Out in the Superstition Wilderness of Arizona, I met a diamondback about three to five meters (no WAY I could get an exact measurement!) in front of me on the trail. Its pose was right out of a scene on an Animal Planet show -- mouth open, tongue out, body coiled up, head about 20 cm above the ground, rattle shaking. My only thought was, "Snake, there's one thing you and I DEFINITELY agree on -- I should NOT get any closer." After I stood still for a few seconds, the rattler slithered away.
My First Post!
Anyway, Years ago during spring break in college, I went hiking on the AT with some people I knew at school. We went backpacking for few days at Shenandoah. I wasn't as in shape as I am now, and quite a bit pudgy in these days so I always lagged behind those guys. They kept telling me about the wildlife they kept seeing even though I hadn't seen any. On the last day- it was cold and snowing, I decided to stop at Big Meadows (It was closed at the time) because I didn't feel like walking more plus I wanted to wait and see if any deer would show up.
They kept on walking south toward the car they were hoping one of the guys' brother left for them while I just stood among the silent, empty and dark cabins. Sure enough, after a bit while, I was suddenly surrounded by dozens of deer walking around me. It was a sight! I'm not sure if I had my camera on me then but I don't have any to show. I was freezing, cold and raw to the bone. But it was worth it.
A Dreadful Sight
I almost forgot about this one....I was walking south through the mossy green forest in the One Hundred Mile Wilderness in Maine ( I think it was either '05 or '06) and I saw a WARRAGHIYAGEY!!
That was by far the strangest thing I've ever run into.
Scared me worse than I've ever been scared before!!
Stumpknocker
Appalachian Trail is 35.9% complete.
In 2004 I was camped at the Kleghorn picnic area just S of Cajon Pas on the PCT. Around dusk a Mountain Lion walked casually through my site. No photo.
E-Z---"from sea to shining sea''
Just off Climgmans Dome I picked up Bobcat who was hitchhiking. We drove down the road just a bit and there was a 2-year-oldish black bear feeding alongside the road.
For me it was just another bear, but for Bobcat, well she was amazed at the sight of her first bear. So much that she forgot about her camera.
I asked her if she had one and it finally donned on her.
She took a few pics but if I recall her camera was stolen at Trail Days, so I sent her a copy just in case it was lost.
Bobcat eh? My most unique wildlife encounter was a bobcat/wildcat while on an early morning day hike in Shenandoah. It occurred in all of 3 fleeting seconds; this large cat appeared on the Trail about 20' in front of me, walked along the path in the same direction for a few seconds, and vanished into the brush. What impressed me the most was how noiseless it was. When a bear, moose, deer, or small mammal run into the bushes, you usually hear something but this cat was as quiet as a mouse, er cat.
The cat was larger than I expected for a wildcat but since I had a rear view, I could see its short tail and therefore knew it wasn't a cougar.
I got yelled at by a chipmonk until I took it's picture. It must of been yelling for 3-4 minutes as I was trying to walk past it. It kept going from one side of the trail to the other while doing this. I finally got my camera out and it stood up and waited until I lowered the camera and said "Happy?". At that point it squeeked once more and disapeared into a hollow log. Gave me a good laugh the rest of the day.
About 1972 I was with a group of hikers and we had been bushwacking for about two weeks in the Western Cascades, near Glacier Peak. It was one night they were all asleep and it was my two hour watch at the fire. I was sitting there and it was very late, I was writing in my journal. I spotted some movement out of the corner of my eye and here was an Elk not 30 feet from the campfire. It was stepping closer and closer and it was about 10 feet from stepping on a hiker sleeping on the ground. for some reason I was threatened so picked up some firewood and eneded up throwing about 3 or 4 pieces at the Elk hitting it each time in the head or antlers. Well it finally ambled off. I never did wake up my partners. In the morning they thought I was telling them a whopper, until they saw the footprints and wood and all. Fun.
But by and large over the years the greatest animal life I have encountered while hiking as been watching birds through the lense of binoculars. It is really something to get so "closeup" to a little bird, with its vibrant colors, lively action and listening to its call. These have been the absolute best.
"Something hidden. Go and find it. Go, and look behind the Ranges. Something lost behind the Ranges. Lost and waiting for you . . . Go!" (Rudyard Kipling)
From SunnyWalker, SOBO CDT hiker starting June 2014.
Please visit: SunnyWalker.Net
On the AT in VT last year, two red squirrels were squawking at each other, each from his own tree. Their "argument" just kept gettng louder and more violent while I watched, then they both ran down their respective trees and started running right at me like I was just another tree to climb and continue their feud. When it was clear that they had forgotten that this 6' pink tree had just arrived, I gave out a "HEY!" They abruptly stopped with a shocked look,, did a 180 and ran back up their own trees. They then followed me down the trail for a bit, screaming at me from the treetops instead of each other.
I had clearly interrupted a domestic dispute. Do squirrels have make-up sex?
I always enjoy an owl near my camp that whos in the night. I just like the company.
In the Wilderness along a lake, I came around a corner of the trail and spooked a Moose Cow...she spooked me too as she was less than ten feet away. She tromped down into the lake and watched me, before walking across it with an eye on me until she was half way across it.
Walking Dead Bear
Formerly the Hiker Known as Almost There
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