Eastern Coyote - Hawk Mountain - Pinnacle & Pulpit
Albino Red Tail - Delaware County see Gallery
Kayaking near a whale Maine
Kayaking over a school of Striper Delaware
Bald Eagles fighting above my head Lancaster County
Bald Eagle with a fresh fish in a tree Elk Neck MD
Hawk Mountain in Fall.
Waking up to goats in England outside the tent.
Waking up to skunks in a NY AT shelter.
Numerous owl incidents - because I go look for them...
Dogs are excellent judges of character, this fact goes a long way toward explaining why some people don't like being around them.
Woo
Lots of encounters, but one that comes to mind was a ruffed grouse in Georgia in June, 2003, on our family section hike. This female grouse had a whole bunch of chicks with her, and they were in the middle of the trail as we came through. Total mayhem ensued. The mom is running around using the old "broken wing" trick to try to draw us away from her babies; meanwhile the chicks are running panicked circles around us, with one running over my daughter's feet and between her legs. We're trying not to step on the chicks, while getting out of the way so that mom doesn't have a heart attack from all the anxiety. She eventually got them all together and off into the rhododendrons next to the trail.
2006 on the PCT. We were finishing up a 24 mile day in WA, headed toward a spring for the night. Got there and there were NO flat spots anywhere! Only place to pitch was right on the trail. About midnight, awoke to a large herd of elk running down the trail past our tents! I was sure we were about to get trampled! Never did figure out what spooked the elk.
GA - NJ 2001; GA - ME 2003; GA - ME 2005; GA - ME 2007; PCT 2006
A wise man changes his mind, a fool never will.
—SPANISH PROVERB
I was day hiking on the Halemau'u Trail in Haleakala National Park. A couple of miles from the parking lot the trail reaches the rim of the volcano's crater. From there it is about 1000 feet almost strait down to the moon-like crater floor. Warm, moist air from the ocean 7700 feet below was rising up the mountain and forming clouds which were pouring into the crater through the Ko'olau Gap just to our left. Then I hear this odd sound. I looked down and realized that I was so transfixed by the views that I had not noticed that I was standing in the middle of a flock of 12 Nene (Hawaiian Geese). These are the rarest goose in the world. They only live in remote mountains of Hawaii. At the time (this was in 1884) there were only a few hundred Nene in the wild so I was standing toe to toe with about 2.5% of the world's Nene population.
I haven't seen one on the AT,but have on some local trails by me.The Beaver is amazing to watch,if only from afar.They typically are active during day,but if are interrupted,can become nocturnal.Amazing how they build.One of the few animals that changes it's environment to suit it's needs.
Did you run into Mel?
I can't explain it AT first I was looking for "The Bevve" - but this found my funny bone.....
Dogs are excellent judges of character, this fact goes a long way toward explaining why some people don't like being around them.
Woo
In Millinocket early 80's. Sounded like a truck crashing thru the woods. Was a female moose looking over her shoulder, she just missed me. Followed by what sounded like a freight train. Big old wild eyed bull moose crashing thru the woods maybe a half click behind her and catching up fast.
I went and did a little day hike this past week from Woody Gap to Jarrard Gap and on my way back to the truck a couple told me they saw a horse off trail. Sure enough there was a what looked like a lost horse just hanging out about 300 yards off the main trail. Did not expect to find a horse that day.
Nothing really original to add, but here are my favs:
2010- on the Long Trail headed south from App Gap, I had been leapfrogging all day with a group of dayhikers. I'd pass them, then stop, they'd catch up, and so forth. They were a little ahead of me just north of Mt. Abe and I heard a commotion and a sort of clatter. I thought maybe one of them had fallen. I came around a turn and they were all standing there. One said, "Um, there's a moose right there." Me: "Where?" Them: "Right there!" Less than 10 yards away, sure enough, a medium sized moose with BIG antlers was staring at us. I said, "Um, now what?" (I've seen them before but not so close). They said, "Um, keep walking." Then it pawed the ground and snorted. Did I mention this was late August? I said something dumb like, "Hi moose. Nice moose." and just stood there, flicking my eyes around looking for a big tree to get behind if necessary. It then started eating some hobblebush and paid no more attention to us. After about 5 full minutes of staring at him I took some good pictures. It did not look up again, just seemed happy to nomnomnom the hobblebush.
2011- last May on a trail work day near Minerva Hinchey Shelter we saw a snowshoe hare who was stilll mostly white even though the woods were all brown. He looked very embarrassed.
2009 or 2010- Spending the night at Pico Camp, got up in the middle of the night and saw a porkie. Followed him (her?) and he went down the path to the privy. Pico camp has a very old privy and a newer privy. The porkie went right down under the old privy. I thought that if anyone accidentally used that one they'd be in for a surprise! Yowch!
"Dreamt last night I was climbing mountains
Way beyond love’s fierce hold..."
Another one. Saw and Osprey take a fish from a pond at the Seney NWR (MI UP) and then a Bald Eagle took the fish from the Osprey in mid air.
SquSKYMDWS 047.jpgeeeze!
Sky Meadows. I heard a commotion beside the trail and spotted this black snake having lunch!
Yesterday morning I was packing up my camp at wildcat hollow. I was camped close to the trail head so there had been a lot of traffic coming through. I heard a barred owl, but thought it was somebody messing around since there had been so many people through. then I heard something bounce off of my tent and assumed it was somebody throwing a stick or pine cone. I jumped out of my tent in a hurry to find the perpetrater. What I found instead was poop on the side of my tent and on the ground. I found the perp about 30' above my tent. It was mr. barred owl perched in the tree. First time an owl has ever pooped on me.
Plenty of encounters since I most often hike solo, but one of the most memorable was with a group, and not on the AT.
I was working on a volunteer vacation, doing maintenance on the Kekekabic Trail (The KEK) in May of 2007? We were done for the day, had canoed into camp, had dinner and were waiting for the lunar eclipse at around 10PM. We were sitting on a rock overlooking several of the lakes in the Boundary Waters. As the lunar eclipse began, the loons of several of the surrounding lakes began calling out in a mixture of both discordant and harmonic songs, at times melodic, at times a cacophony with frequent crescendos. There were songs coming from at least five different lakes, each from a different direction. This kept up almost continuously for about a half hour before gradually subsiding.
If you have heard Loons before, you know of their unique and varied sounds, but this night was absolutely astonishing, I will never forget it.
Guess a close second would be getting treed for 45 minutes by a Bull Moose in rut on Isle Royale.
OK, I did it again, repeating myself in one of these old threads. Got the date of the loons wrong this time around, but the experience is still vivid.
Sorry bout that.
Speaking of Isle Royale, I was walking along the path leading to the dining hall at Rock Harbor Lodge when we saw a fox in the bushes stalking some ducks who were standing across the path, right along the edge of the dock at the marina. Then a large group of Japanese visitors came out of the dining hall and walked down the same path. The fox timed his attack for when the Japanese were between him and the ducks. I think he figured he would have more cover darting through all the legs of the Japanese. I don't know who was more frightened, the ducks, the fox, or the Japanese, but the mayhem that ensued was memorable. Everyone survived but the fox went away hungry.
My favorite encounter was when I was a young man and on a Outward Bound expedition in WA's Northern Cascades. We were camped and it was night it was my turn to keep watch. I large deer with a great big rack approached camp. Everyone was sleeping and it kept trying to come right up to the campfire. I finally began to throw pieces of wood at it, hitting it several times before I persuaded it to leave. In the morning no one believed me until our supervisor went out and looked at all the tracks, wood, etc. I was never scared during that encounter. It was amazing to me and the Deer was a beaut.
"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.
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