Poor fella! I'm sure it wasn't intentional, but if it came down to bite vs. flat snake, I'm on the flat snake side. I was suprized at how calm the snake was. She didn't rattle unless we were within about 5', and calmly moved off the trail to let us pass. Unfortunately she was gone when we passed by again on the way back down. It was quite a hike. On the way there (via boat) we spooked a mature bald eagle which flew along next to us for about 1/2 mile, only about 20 yards away. Fantastic. That was also the first eagle I'd seen on the lake in my 25 years of going up there.

-Zeke

I remember backpacking at night with my dad on the C&O canal here in D.C. It was about 11PM, out in the more isolated sections, and while we're walking down the trail we look into the forest and see two large, green eyes staring back at us. We picked up the pace a little bit

I'm pretty sure it was a mountain lion. It couldn't have been more than 10 feet away.

Mountain lion in DC? I'd heard about L.A.'s problems with mountain lions assaulting joggers/hikers, but DC?

-Z

Hehe, well technically it wasn't D.C., as the canal is 184 miles long, so it was more likely somewhere in Maryland. Some parts of that canal are pretty far from anything.

But there was one time that there were escaped convicts in the area we were hiking

In reply to:

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On the way there (via boat) we spooked a mature bald eagle which flew along next to us for about 1/2 mile, only about 20 yards away. Fantastic. That was also the first eagle I'd seen on the lake in my 25 years of going up there.

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I went camping recently at a freinds place in northern Wisconsin. His neighbor has an eagle that takes fish off of his dock daily.

The eagle population seems to be recovering in a big way. My parents report that the upper Hudson (at least to Albany) is lousy with them these days (I'd never seen one as a boy except in Florida). Unfortunately, the slightly less impressive Turkey Vulture seems to be recovering even faster.
Lovely creatures, vultures.

-Zeke

A bear was sighted at the FCC site (CX08) on Monday August 4.

Please use extreme caution when walking, running or biking on the trails in on the HP site and in Ute Valley Park. These areas are home to a variety of wildlife.
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Had that one in my box when I got back from vacation. Not uncommon around here to see bears, snakes, and mountain lions. Saw a bear about a month ago walking back to a friends house from the shopping center near him. Was just a bit bigger then a cub, and was wandering around attracting quite a bit of attention from several cars with out of state plates.

The last thing you want to do is approach or make any threatening move around a cub - especially a healthy one that probably has a much bigger (and infinitely nastier) bear nearby protecting / watching it.

I was visiting relatives in British Columbia a couple of years back, and was out for a walk on a mountain path with my cousin and her alsatian.

Rounding a corner towards a viewpoint, she suddenly turned and said "Bear. Don't run!", briskly walked past me and headed down the mountain.

Despite her advice to refrain from breaking into a mad dash down the path, I noticed that she was moving rather quickly, and was now wisely (for her, at least!) between myself and the black bear.

I never actually saw the bear myself, partly because I never got round that last corner before retreating, and partly because I never looked back.

I saw three non-boot-dented rattlers on my bike ride today. I was up in the Santa Monica mountains, and rode past a pair of them, about a foot and a half away. They were just under 2' long, and about as big around as the clear center part of a CD (hey, gotta pick a reference that everyone here can relate to ). They were twining around each other, flopping around, buzzing and hissing. I stopped to watch for about 10 minutes, or so. Their rattles were about the length of the last two knuckles of my pinky.

On the way back, I saw the third one, off to the right of the trail. This one was maybe 3' long, and not quite (but almost) as big around as my wrist. It had gorgeous colouring -- very saturated yellow margins around the dark patterns -- looked a lot like this one, and this one. Very beautiful.

This reminds me. Anyone ever seen a rattlesnake dodge a bullet? I have. It couldn't dodge the gasoline we poured down the hole though.

Tsk. What would Steve Irwin say?

"Crikey, Dija see that?!"

Followed by: "Woah! That thing nearly bit me! Ah was really lucky, there, mate."

Guess I could share my bear story.

I am (or was, it’s been entirely too long since I've been on the trail) an avid backpacker. Well about 3-4 years ago I was hiking through the Shenandoah Valley with some friends. It was the middle of the day in the middle of the hike and my mind was wandering. I was out in front, but was looking fairly downwards deep in thought. Suddenly the person behind me (behind by about 30 feet) says that calm controlled voice that tells you something is very wrong "Marcus, STOP"

I look up. Well somebody else looked up too. A black bear 30 feet ahead of me going the opposite direction on the trail (towards me) He seemed to have been paying as much attention to his surroundings as I had been.

Now I’ve been in the woods plenty, and I’ve seen my share of bears (we saw about 10 total that week). But most of those were from more than 30 feet away. Fortunately I kept my cool. I kept an eye on him but didn’t look him in the eye.

Well he seemed to know what the deal was, he picked himself up and sauntered off the trail about 50 feet, sat down, posed for a few pictures, and let us go on by. After we passed he hopped right back on the trail and kept on going.

I think maybe he is used to backpackers.

I think maybe he is used to backpackers.

He'd clearly already had lunch...

Well, if you're ever in NY hiking and see one, please leave it alone as the Eastern Timber Rattler is endangered.

-Zeke

I would never bother one in the wild. This one, however, was about 10 feet from the back door to the house. It may be endangered, but at the time, so were we. Besides, it was an eastern diamondback.

My favorite backpacking trail buddy is a marmot. Sort of like an obese weasel. They tend to run point for backpackers, although I've never figured out if the do this because they like to or they can't seem to understand that if they would get off the trail I'd stop following them. They run in groups sort of like prairie dogs. Not nearly as exciting as a bear, but much more amusing.

My favorite backpacking trail buddy is a marmot

Had lots of those hiking in the Rockies in Colorado. But mostly they would just check me out from their holes in the rocks, and dive back in if I got too close.

The tallest mountain in New Mexico is Wheeler Peak. It has a trail that crosses it which you can climb from the base or 3/4 the way up from a lake that is accessible by 4X4. The peak (marmots seem to like to be above tree line) has a colony of marmots. Since the trail is well used they've gotten used to backpackers. They'll actually take food from your hand if you're brave enough... The whole time I was doing it though the Jeff Foxworthy skit about the guy getting his nipple bitten off by a beaver kept running through my mind.

Fair 'nuff!

-Zeke

marmots seem to like to be above tree line

The scree above the tree line makes for great marmot homes.

- trs

Heh. That reminds me of a backpacking trip I did up near Sault Ste. Marie. We parked at the lot around noon, and had PB&J before setting off down the trail. It was only a couple miles to the site, so we got there quick, and set up camp before wandering off to explore the 'hood. After a bit, I heard some mention of there being a big dog wandering around in our campsite. There were a couple other people around other than my group, so we went back to see if the dog was theirs. It wasn't. In fact, it wasn't even a dog. It was a black bear. It had ripped the back from one of the tents, snuffling for food. So we threw rocks at it. I beaned it in the noggin with a fist sized rock. I was pretty pleased with that, as I'm a pretty lousy shot. Maybe that wasn't the best of things to do, but since we all lived, it makes for a good story. Anyway, the bear stood up -- it was about 6' tall -- sniffed for a bit, then wandered off.

We packed up in a hurry, and hiked out to spend the night in a state park. When we got back to the cars, one of the cars had the rear spoiler and some trim laying on the roof. Under one of the wipers was a note that said "There was a bear jumping up and down on the roof ." along with contact info in case it was needed for insurance.

We pitched camp in the dark at the state park campground. In the morning, we discovered that the rangers had been chasing a bear around in the park for most of the night.

I'm glad I only had to deal with raccoons and skunks while hiking in the US

Backpackers probably aren't very good to eat. The bags must get caught in their teeth

Well, shit. It happened again last night. Right before 5 AM. And we usually sleep till 7:30 or so.

This time, I felt it on my ear, it woke me, I tried to get it but couldn't find it. Jenny complained that I'd turned on the light... she wasn't aware of what was happening. Since I couldn't find the spider, I thought I might have simply imagined it, or that it was just my hair touching my ear in a funny way or some such. So I settled back down, turned out the light, and tried to go back to sleep.

Then I heard Jenny shuffling around strangely on her side of the bed, and suspected she might now be going through the same thing. So I turned on the light again, and she says angrily, "what are you doing?", approximately 2 seconds before letting out a shriek and sitting bolt upright, brushing at her arms.

"That is what I was doing", I replied calmly.

We looked for the spider all over and around the bed and couldn't find it.

I'm really sleepy today.

Oh, and a few minutes later, she's sitting in the office on the computer because she can't go back to sleep. I give her a hug and she tells me she's got the willies. I nod knowingly and try to comfort her...

How timely. Remember that big spider I said I had in my house last spring? Well I guess it left babies or something, because in the past 3 weeks I've seen the same type of spider, smaller, about 15 times. One morning I woke up, took a shower, and went to get dressed. Still groggy, I went to pick my pants up off the floor and just as I grabbed onto the waist I saw one of them scurry across the fabric.

Imagine my thought at having spiders crawling around in my pants!

For the next week I would put my shoes up on a shelf when I took them off.

I finally got one of them, and the glue traps the Orkin man left in my garage have caught another few. I'm hoping the cold takes care of them for this season.

I'm hoping the cold takes care of them for this season.

It only drives them into warm places. Like pants and shoes...