Wildlife encounters

Took this youngster out of a pool last week. Get there again today back in there. It took several swipes at me today. Last week docile.

 

Came around a corner yesterday and scared a bobcat half to death. Stunned for a few seconds before bailing out!

Also got real close to a couple pregnant burros. Sire seemed happy.

How would you feel if you're just chilling in your pool and some lifeguard tries to save your life?

 

Well he had no escape plan, lifeguards have duties.
Immediately reminded me of comment the other day. Baby One. He heh

 

Maybe drowning was his escape plan. You stopped a suicide! He'll never forgive you!

(Took me a minute to remember the baby joke)

 

Maybe

 

I always forget about tortoise sightings because we have them in the back yard

 

OK @SnakeCharmer , care to ID this one? Is it a glossy? In water?

 

My guess, kinda educated. Red Racer(Coachwhip). Pattern changes on the head and the last 1/3 near tail.

 

That's a Red Coachwhip, aka, "Red Racer". Those are some biting little buggers, too! I bleed almost as much handling this snake as I do handling the Mountain King.

 

We have alot of them around, for some reason they love bathing in pools.

 

Thanks guys. Red? where is the red?

 

The picture doesn't do it any justice. It's also a small one. The larger specimens are brighter red.

 

They actually have different color patterns. The most common around here IE are red and black.

 

Saw 5 deer last Thursday riding up Eagle Road to Main Divide, wanted to check out the Holy Jim burn area, it has displaced a lot of wildlife closer to my riding area.

 

Please stay out of the Holy Fire burn area. I know we are all curious.....but it makes us all look bad.

 

Is there a trails update? I'm not curious - per se - I just want to know if I can ride up Harding to the Modjeska Radar Towers.

 

Harding is still closed since it leads up to the burn area.

 

I must say, the CNF website is horrible; especially related to these closures.

 

What closures?

I agree......the CNF website hasn't been updated in 2 weeks. The official closure still has been posted on the site.

 

Beautiful husky!

 

I love seeing pretty much anything out on the trail but my favorites so far have been;
A Mt. Lion cleaning itself under a tree in the middle of the day in CHSP
A bobcat cub all alone on Sleepy Hollow in Whiting. It wouldn't run away and would only go a few feet up the slope and then stop to watch me approach again. It was adorable.
A big bear when I came around a corner in Marshall canyon. At first I thought it was a big deer and stopped to check it out about 10' off the trail. When I realized it was a giant bear I yelled "Oh Sh!t!" The bear looked at me and leaped down through a ravine.

I did my freshman year at UCSC and I'd drive back up to Santa Cruz late on Sunday nights from my parents' in OC. I'd sometimes cut through a mtn. road that dumped out into Watsonville. I loved seeing bob cats and other animals. One time very late on a Sunday my roommate and I were dying to get back and as we crested a hill we just saw something drop out of the tree tops and then realized that a mountain lion was very calmly and slowly crossing the road. I like to think the it fell out of the tree and then just tried to play it cool.

 

Ran across these creatures this morning.

 

Ewwwww, you didn't get any on your shoe, did you?

 

Where dat?

 

Eew groomed trails. Hope they enjoyed it. Looking forward to the RR.

 

I have a spray that keeps them away.

 

Skypark

 

Night rides in the P-12 area involves doing the roo rat dodge. Lots of these guy darting out in front of you when you least expect it. I think the lights confuse them because they often run up the trail ahead of you. I hate to run over the little guys so there is a little swerving involved. It is not unusual to see dozens on a solo night ride. No wonder the snakes are so fat up there.