Wildlife on Trails

[asdf]

Anyone ran into any cool wildlife on the trails? If so post some pics.

[asdf]

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[Mtnman1830]

Here is what I have ran into

[asdf]

Those Moose pics are great!
Where did you run into the buffalo?

[Mtnman1830]

Those Moose pics are great!
Where did you run into the buffalo?

It was on the way down from Frary Peak, Antelope Island. He was on the trail, so I had to go around.

[goofball]

sorry no pics.

those who spend any amount of time outdoors are bound to have some memorable wildlife encounters.

in oklahoma's wichita mountains i saw a bald eagle snatch a fish form a river just 50' in front of me as i relaxed on its bank. also tons of elk there. many a time i have came to a clearing to see a bull and his harem, whether near or far, and felt as well as seen and heard their rapid departure to the woods. when they rut you can hear them alllll night long. one here, then an answer over there, and mr. not-to-be-outdone up there, etc., etc. i have heard up to 6 different boys buglin' away at once. nice... and bison here too. and longhorn steers which i think are mean so i always gave them BIG berths.

in the sangre de cristos of northern new mexico (pecos wilderness) the mountain goats are so thick w/ coat in winter that i swear to god their big as horses. and they dot the slopes in large numbers, w/ thier horns all curling around. beautiful creatures. we were traversing the ridge above riders wall (?) between north pecos baldy and truchas one winter when we spotted a female comign our way. she veered towards us a began to gain speed and headed right for us. i was a littel shocked and unsure of what to do so in addition to my trekking pole in one hand i grabbed a nice rock in my other, just in case. my buddy got all agitated nad said "no, don't throw it yet, your fine" i turn around to get some advice and he is framing the shot in his viewfinder ! yep, i was nothing more than a "funniest home videos" episode. ha ha ha.

seen many a group of desert big horns ni the se utah desert. nearly stepped on or over or passsed to close to some big rattlers from ok to ca. saw an ugly little pugnosed pig snake thing in the ozarks once. it pressed itself real flat and turned up its littel 2 pronged nose and was almost scary. saw lots of black bears in teh olympics. marmots are always funny.

so sorry, no pics to share, just some memorable experiences.

[stefan]

puhleeze deeleet

[stefan]

wildlife's pretty cool. i have had a few bear encounters. but your post made me think of one bear encounter i totally forgot about. an old girlfriend and i were hiking in the subalpine forest below the grand teton. we were talking and walking on the trail. she's in front of me. and there are a bunch of trees to the left of the trail, tall and big. all of a sudden she stops and catches her breath. i quickly walked up and stopped, and looked into the trees. there was a HUGE black bear literally 5 feet away from us, right in between the trees so we couldn't see him while back a bit on the trail. further away another one appeared.

that moment was sooo amazing to be that close up, and actually not feel threated. the bears stared at us for a little bit, and then went upon their business.

but one of my favorite moments was dropping into red butte canyon after a we decided to bail on a long hike to encircle the entire canyon. as we were walking along a road in there, in a very lush overgrown part, we came to a tree with an enormous cooper's hawk perched on a branch, about 5 feet from the road at eye level. it stood there solemn and beautiful ... stunning.

perhaps one of those moments that made me giddy. my friends jon and sarah were moving from michigan (gradschool) back to california, and passed through salt lake to visit me. we went for an afternoon hike to the top of red butte. when we got to the top a golden eagle was guarding a nest a ways along the butte to the east. the eagle made two or three U-shaped passes along one side of the ridge, around and back along the otherside, right at our eye level, very very close to us, wings spread gracefully. one of those special moments. my friend jon was immensely happy to be back in the west!!

probably the strangest "wildlife" i've ever seen ... my friend and i are nearing the bottom of grand gulch on the last bit of canyon to the junction with the san juan. he takes out his camera to take a photo of the mouth of the canyon. i am helping him put it back into his pack. right as i turn around ... banking a sharp turn from up the san juan is some sort of large bomber jet, which is below the rim of the canyon ... yes in the canyon like a video game. we stood there looking at it as if it were an alien craft as it blacken the sky above us ... crazy that he just put the camera away too. we talked to some boaters who said it freaked them out since they couldn't here it, and it was well below the rim of the canyon, and zoomed right over them. freakin' crazy.

but i think whales in alaska ranks pretty high up there.

ooo, actually one of the most memorable wildlife experiences i have had, beside watching sage grouse mate at 4:30 in the morning with the teton science school, was on a 4 day backpack trip to the "lost coast" south of cape mendocino (northcoast) california. basically the route enjoyable repeats following the edges of cliffs dropping into the sea, back into the forest (douglas-firs/redwoods) down to a secluded black sand beach, surrounded by high rocky cliffs. we spent one entire day on one of the beaches. prefectly sunny day. for most of the entire day 5-6 sealions, and a half dozen black cormorants and a half dozen brown pelicans huddled around the set of waves focused at our beach. the cormorants and pelicans frequently swooped to catch fish, and the sealions were surfing the waves ... getting mouthfuls. and they just wouldn't stop. it was such a pleasure to watch them all day. looked like fun.

[Sombeech]

Antelope Island





Jamis Jockey was there also.





Maples Loop

[asdf]

Jamis Jockey was there also.



Now thats some wildlife

[moabfool]

In '03 some friends and I had gone to climb the Grand Teton. We didn't make it past the upper saddle, but we had some interesting wildlife encounters on the hike out.

The first encounter came when we stopped to "take a break." A doe (deer) came walking up the trail toward us and about 15 feet from where we were sitting it turned off into the trees and began to parallel the trail. My friend, Alison, wanted a picture of it so she began to dig for her camera. The deer started to walk off so I said, "Excuse me, my friend would like to take your picture. Would you please wait for a minute so she can get her camera out?" Well I'm convinced that National Park wildlife must take a photo etiquette course. The deer stopped, posed for the photograph, and looked right at the camera. After the picture I said, "Thank you," and the deer ambled away.

Further down the trail a squirrel came scampering down a log right at Alison, chirping wildly . The squirrel, on a collision course, was going to full-on attack her (she was in front) so I said, "HEY, that's my friend!" The squirrel slammed on the brakes and just looked at me with a "Well, if you put it that way," look.

Even further down the trail Alison was about 10 yards ahead of me when I heard a crunch off in the brush. I thought it might be an elk or a moose so I whispered, "Alison, something's down there." I looked toward the sound and saw what looked like a giant dog that desperately needed a bath. "Alison, It's a bear!" Pretty soon Alison was standing about three inches from me.

The bear was lazily munching berries. I can only assume that it made the noise to alert us to its presence. I asked the bear, "Can we please walk by here? We need to get closer to you before we can get further away. Is that okay?" The bear, looking at us at that point, let out a "humph" and went back to munching berries. We walked past very gingerly. I was just going to keep going, but I knew I'd regret not having any pictures so I got Alison to dig my camera out of the top of my pack so I didn't have to take it off.

I snapped a couple pictures and Alison was putting the camera away when some other hikers came down the trail. They got about even with the bear so I thought I'd warn them. "Check out the bear."

"Oh, cool, thanks."

Ali and I walked on and soon the other hikers caught up with us. "Did you see the cubs?" they asked.

I've had lots of other cool wildlife encounters, but to have three Dr. Doolittle moments in about an hour was pretty strange.

Here's a picture of the bear. She had a collar and looked like a black bear while we were admiring her. In the pictures I think she looks more like a grizzly. It's strange to find a griz in the Tetons, but not unheard of. Any thoughts?

[stefan]

She had a collar and looked like a black bear while we were admiring her. In the pictures I think she looks more like a grizzly. It's strange to find a griz in the Tetons, but not unheard of. Any thoughts?

well, since the color of the fur isn't necessarily a strong indicator, do you have any better pictures from the side where the hump, if it is a grizzly, would more visible. it kinda looks like a hump but not as pronounced from this angle ... hard to tell.

but the hump is the strongest sign.

[Mtnman1830]

Went up to Causey the other day to see the salmon..

[moabfool]

well, since the color of the fur isn't necessarily a strong indicator, do you have any better pictures from the side where the hump, if it is a grizzly, would more visible. it kinda looks like a hump but not as pronounced from this angle ... hard to tell.

but the hump is the strongest sign.

I was making my judgement based on the hump, the color, and the shape of the face. I only have one other picture of her and it's blurry, but I'll post it anyway. I was in digital zoom since I wasn't too keen on getting much closer than I was when I took the pictures. If I had the camera I have now the pictures would be better.

[Sombeech]

Went up to Causey the other day to see the salmon..

That's awesome, man. Did you throw a line in?

[Mtnman1830]

Mtnman1830 wrote:
Went up to Causey the other day to see the salmon..


That's awesome, man. Did you throw a line in?

No, you aren't supposed to disturb them, and you can't keep them when they are red.

[stefan]

well, since the color of the fur isn't necessarily a strong indicator, do you have any better pictures from the side where the hump, if it is a grizzly, would more visible.

I was making my judgement based on the hump, the color, and the shape of the face. I only have one other picture of her and it's blurry, but I'll post it anyway.

hmm, i'm no expert, but it would seem to me that since the hump is not pronounced, it could go either way. as i am sure you know, black bears features can vary quite a bit, in face and especially in color. there are many black bears whose color looks exactly like that in your photo. probably the most interesting anomally of course is the kermode (black) bear whose fur is white.

have you thought about emailing it to the park service for identification? the fact that it has a collar might even help.

[Shan]

I have one good one; two bull meese in the same pic!

[moabfool]

I almost forgot about these. They were in the Moose Ponds on the southwest side of Jenny Lake in The Tetons. They looked like a family, mama, pappa & baby, which is very strange for moose. The calf was running back and forth while the adults ate, but I was on a bit of a schedule so I didn't have time to catch all three of them in the same picture.

[asdf]

-----moabfool, thats a great set up pics. Crazy that you got see all 3 together.
We saw a bull, two females and two little ones just outside Gros Ventre campground in the spring of '05.

---- Last year when we were in point reyes NS, We backpacked out to coast camp. As soons as we got to our site and set down are packs this Tule Elk litteraly walked right through the middle of our camp. It was really neat, I had never seen an Elk that was this white.