Wildlife encounters

Peacocks yelling in Black Star, bighorn thumping on Baldy, black bear sniffing at midnight, an insolent deer chewing my T-shirt, a mountain lion disappearing on MW, a lion pup sitting amongst cacti, a slow skunk on Borrego, a snarling fox on the Santiago, owls hooting on Concourse, bats swooping, burros chilling, coyotes tricking, vultures circling, hawks perching, antelope blending, ground hogs digging; a rattler hunting mice in the root cellar.

 

...and a partridge in a pear tree....

 

Sure they are...

 

yep, but not for the squirrel.

 

Marmot looked cute chomping on my right hiking boot.. had to chase it down.. needed it for hike back out.. still 2 days out..

 

Enjoyed reading this thread.
Most here in So Cal don't know there are bighorn sheep behind Cucamonga peak near Baldy. had a couple nice encounters with them back when I was a teenager spending most of my time backpacking and hiking all over that area.

Most of my wildlife encounters have been when riding alone in the earlier part of the day. I'm quiet and they are out!
Saw a Cougar in O'neil park. Biking I went onto a side singletrack and just around the corner there it was. Looked at me and walked away. I was checking it out, then turned around and rode out. I didn't have the least bit of fear, was more elated to have seen on close.

Used to ride down a hill in O'neill couple times a week and a Roadrunner would jump out and race me down. This happened dozens of times and i knew coming up to that spot I'd have a race on my hands.

Bobcats galore! Love seeing Bobcats. Had one jump right in front of me with a rabbit in it's mouth. Pretty cool, but of course not for the rabbit...

Multiple snakes, a lizard about a foot+ long. Never seen a lizard like that before or since. Probably a pet that got away.
A big turtle, Deer, horned lizards, Marmot, eagle and all kind of the usual critters.

 

Looks like my daughters tortoise...
U know when a tortoise passes u on west fork ..its time to call it a day..

 

Waitin for my daughter to finish tennis...so...
Ever see a skunks little fingers open up ur brothers back pack that he is using it as a pillow...still sleeping.. dont move brother..why? Bc there a skunk next to ur head.. just dont move! I had just woken up ..sleeping next to him out in the open .. sleeping bag.. when i heard.felt something go over my bag..the skunk was now 2 feet from my right unmoving eyeball.. one inch from my bros head..
The skunk unzipped the outer pocket ... took a plastic bottle of cooking oil.. and looked at me...
What u gonna do about it punk!
Waddled away about 15 yards and slurped the oil..
No one got sprayed..

 

Where did you see that terrapin (turtle)?

 

I saw a couple of bunny wabbits today while rolling through the Santa Monicas.

 

It was on the trail outside of Oneill park in OC. Moved it off the trail and it was not happy about it.
That was about 2007.

 

Holy jackrabbit fest, they were darting everywhere this morning. Even a cottontail for good measure. They must be breeding like rabbits...I'm sure the raptor, coyote and bobcat population is healthy.

 

Oh yeah.....totally forgot about that.

Desert tortoises' on Zen Trail in St. George:

 

Okay, I guess @UPSed is not going to chime in.
Ride Report: https://www.imtbtrails.com/forum/threads/cherry-creek-epic-frazier-park.1463/#post-5399

I promised to take UPSed and his then fiancé @MrsUPSed on an adventure ride in my neck of the woods.
Turned out we came across a desert tortoise that was way out of place up in the mountains and then we came across bears, lots of bears. In fact, they were dropping out of trees in front, behind and between us. I had never encountered bears in such a way, so it was somewhat intimidating me. Especially since I thought I was going to be responsible for my friends getting ate.
Turned out to be a great day, but wow! What an adventure!

 

I saw a mama bear and two cubs on pineknot trail in Big Bear probably 4 years back. Almost Tboned a big black bear that was attempting a high speed trail crossing in Whistler on Blue Velvet last week.

 

Was there water nearby? That's basically a type of water turtle.

 

There is a small creak a ways away, it drys out for summer though.

 

I'm not a big writer but here goes my wildlife encounters. Ride two weekly evening rides with one being a Lonewolf one (I know Lonewolf at night- wife tracks me with Glimpse). Have seen my share of sunset red rattlers which are hard to see while the sun is in your face. Plenty of quail, hawks, owls, squirrels, skunks, raccoons, deer, and all sort of the creepy crawlers. All this within a mile from home. The best encounter has to be the attacks by two owls at different time with one actually landing on my clipped in shoe. Scarred the b-j out of me. No pictures hauled the mail out of that area. A frighten deer darted across the trail missing me by a yard during a cold Dec evening (grandmam got ranover by a rain deer came to mind). Forgot the coyote pups playing on the trail no stopping for pic mother might be near. Here's is the once in a life time pic of a quail sleeping.

 

Interesting. It's an invasive species, the Common Snapping Turtle. Somebody likely released their pet when it got too big for them to manage.

 

I have an ongoing game I play where I chase lizards. I try to stay on their tail and make them run straight ahead as long as possible. My record is probably around 20 yards.

 

C

Cool story.

 

We came across a Cheetah in San Clemente. I didn’t realize that they were indigenous to Southern California.

 

Agreed! Very cool story! Thanks Juan!

 

Thx guys. Did I tell you about the cougar I encounter in Ketchikan, Ak. back in the sailing days? Oh wrong site..

 

That cheetah was much healthier when I saw it a couple years ago. Looks like it's has a rough time...

 

Is that in CO, @mike? Staying at a friend's place near 50 Yr in Tucson we were told to park under a light and leave our hood open to discourage pack rats from getting into the engine compartment and chewing wires. I can't imagine a tarp would keep any determined critter away.


I've had a few cool wildlife sightings riding. Had a bear drop out of a tree right next to me at Sun Peaks one year - scared the crap out of me. Had a mountain lion run across the road in front of us on Mingus Mtn while bikepacking. On the AZT near Kelvin I came across a whole herd of javalinas that scattered in all directions. I was shocked how fast those things could bolt straight uphill including huge vertical leaps up and over rocks. I still have never seen a gila monster, which is something I really want to see. Need a reason to keep going back to AZ I guess...

A few other memorable ones I did get shots of:

From summit of Ben Lomond near Ogden. Was resting at the summit, heard a noise behind me and turned around to see this guy hanging out. The rest of the herd was in a meadow below.


Moose probably scare me more than bears, they can be ornery, unpredictable and territorial. We had to wait for this one to move away from the trail. Jackson Hole


Then a creature I'd never heard of before on Mt Lemmon last fall. Riding along there was an explosion of fur flying in all directions. Couldn't even see what they were, til I found another one further down the trail that didn't hear me approaching. Coatimundi


And these guys near the top of White Mountain


And probably the coolest sighting ever for me. This wasn't on a ride, but was on the drive back from a ride going through Yellowstone. Wolves taking nips at an injured bison. Still too strong for them to go for the kill, but letting him know they were waiting.

 

I once saw a bird...



"I'm a Hufflepuff!"

 

Incredible pics!

 

Really nice pics!

 

Did it look like this?



I bet you wish it did.