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Wildlife Sightings Today

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    • CoachLou wrote:

      LIhikers wrote:

      that was good!
      I"ve only seen a near once in the wild, in New Jersey
      I have seen more bears in and around Harriman since I've been doing trail work, than every other state combined ever! And I've been to Jellystone 10 times!
      Yellowstone or Jellystone?
      I don't know that I would really want to run into a Grizzly in Yellowstone. ;(
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General

      The post was edited 1 time, last by Astro ().

    • All the bears I have seen have been in New Hampshire or California, but I have seen several. Sometimes a little too close. Here is a bear that pounced onto the trail in front of me in Northern California.. I had unwittingly gotten close to her cub...


      You can still see the dust she raised when she jumped onto the trail. And she stood her ground, which I never saw a bear do before. I slowly backed away.

      Once in NH I was in a wild raspberry patch eating some berries when all of a sudden a head popped up not 8 feet away in the bushes. That one was on his hind legs taking a look at me. He (I think) was big and handsome, jet black and very calm. I left the rest of the berries for him to enjoy.
      “Of all sad words of tongue or pen,
      the saddest are these, 'It might have been.”


      John Greenleaf Whittier
    • odd man out wrote:

      LIhikers wrote:

      that was good!
      I"ve only seen a near once in the wild, in New Jersey
      I guess I'm lucky. I've seen lots of bears Three while backpacking on the AT in VA. Some grizzlies while day hiking in n Glacier NP. A cinnamon bear surrounded by dozens of tourons in pajamas in Yosemite, and several while driving (MI, Yellowstone, SNP, Teton NP)
      Perhaps you should change your trailname to "the bears are out"
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • max.patch wrote:

      The neatest bear sighting I've had was on my thru. I stayed at a shelter (unusual, but I was the only one there) that overlooked a creek. When I woke up in the morning I saw a bear walking slowly upstream in the creek presumably looking for breakfast.
      Thankfully you and your food bag were not on the menu. :)
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • My first day on the AT I see a bear running away in the mid afternoon. Not long after that I stop at a shelter to eat supper. There was a couple tenting about 50 yards down the hill and two solo hikers in the shelter. We were Al sitting around the table watching one of the solo hikers fair miserably at hanging her food bag. I think we all wanted to help but also didn't want to come across as patronizing as she seemed determined to do it herself. While throwing her rope, the was a loud crash as a bear not 10 from her comes out from behind the shelter and runs away. She looks white as a ghost and gets a perfect hang on the next attempt. The the husband asks his wife "did we leave our food bag in the tent?". Without saying a word they both run off to the tent to retrieve their food. I then announce I was going to put in a few more miles after dinner. They said I should stay at the shelter. I said no thanks.
    • When I woke up this morning my wife said there was a wild turkey in our yard. Then it went across the street to our neighbors where another one was. Apologize for the distance, but figured by the time I got dressed to go out they would probably take off.
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      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • En route to Raleigh we see the sign that says Blue Ridge Parkway.

      Mrs OMO: "you didn't tell me we were going by the BRP".

      OMO: You can't really drive from MI to Raleigh an NOT cross it.

      Mrs OMO: Can't we go for a drive on it.

      OMO: Well it goes from SNP (points over left shoulder) to GSMNP (points over right shoulder) and we are going to Raleigh (points straight ahead).

      Mrs OMO: How about for just a little?

      OMO: What time do you want to get to Raleigh?

      Mrs OMO: As soon as possible.

      OMO: Grrrrr.... Let me look on the Map.

      So I found a short section from Fancy Gap that sort of paralleled the highway for 10 miles. But even that little section reminded how nice it is. And these two gals posed for us.

    • odd man out wrote:

      En route to Raleigh we see the sign that says Blue Ridge Parkway.

      Mrs OMO: "you didn't tell me we were going by the BRP".

      OMO: You can't really drive from MI to Raleigh an NOT cross it.

      Mrs OMO: Can't we go for a drive on it.

      OMO: Well it goes from SNP (points over left shoulder) to GSMNP (points over right shoulder) and we are going to Raleigh (points straight ahead).

      Mrs OMO: How about for just a little?

      OMO: What time do you want to get to Raleigh?

      Mrs OMO: As soon as possible.

      OMO: Grrrrr.... Let me look on the Map.

      So I found a short section from Fancy Gap that sort of paralleled the highway for 10 miles. But even that little section reminded how nice it is. And these two gals posed for us.


      Mrs. OMO and I are kindred spirits. I would have asked the same.

      When I was taking my daughter to Lowell, MA for her internship, I said, we'll have to cross the AT at some point so I googled and found the Greylock Club in Mt. Adams where we parked and walked SB on the AT for an hr then back. And you may recall that several yrs ago, my friend needed to go to NJ to retrieve some things from her Dad's home before it was sold and I said hey, if we're going to NJ, then we'll have to cross the AT somewhere in PA. So, she graciously took a day to let me walk an 8 mile section.
    • Trillium wrote:

      Mrs. OMO and I are kindred spirits. I would have asked the same.
      When I was taking my daughter to Lowell, MA for her internship, I said, we'll have to cross the AT at some point so I googled and found the Greylock Club in Mt. Adams where we parked and walked SB on the AT for an hr then back. And you may recall that several yrs ago, my friend needed to go to NJ to retrieve some things from her Dad's home before it was sold and I said hey, if we're going to NJ, then we'll have to cross the AT somewhere in PA. So, she graciously took a day to let me walk an 8 mile section.
      Yes, we have had the same conversation many times. I spend months planning road trips maximizing our opportunities to see all the things we want to see, until we get on the road and see sees all signs for these new things that were not on the list. Once she saw the sign for the New Haven exit. She says "You didn't tell me we were going by New Haven. There is a book at the Yale Library I wanted to look up."
    • odd man out wrote:

      Wife had a wildlife sighting. A turkey bouncing off the front bumper of her car. Estimate was 1600$. Will cash in on the extended collision insurance we have been paying for and pay the 100$ deducible. Turkey ran off so we did not get dinner our of it.
      At least it was not a deer.
      I don't even want to even imagine the damage a moose could do up in ME.
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • Had the perfect sighting for the 4th of July on Saturday. Went for a short walk in the woods at our local park. Saw some Turk's Cap Lillies and a grove of large sassafrass (you don't see many large ones around here for some reason). The black raspberries are just ripening and were able to pick a handful.

      But the 4th of July treat was seeing the Bald Eagle fly over the pond being chased by 4 blackbirds. He got directly overhead, made a u-turn, and went back over the trees (blackbirds still harassing him). He wasn't more than 50 feet up so we could get a good close up look at him. This park is on the Grand River just a fraction of a mile up river from an Eagle Nest monitored by the park service. Last I heard they had eaglets in the nest. The one we saw was almost certainly from that nest.
    • odd man out wrote:

      Had the perfect sighting for the 4th of July on Saturday. Went for a short walk in the woods at our local park. Saw some Turk's Cap Lillies and a grove of large sassafrass (you don't see many large ones around here for some reason). The black raspberries are just ripening and were able to pick a handful.

      But the 4th of July treat was seeing the Bald Eagle fly over the pond being chased by 4 blackbirds. He got directly overhead, made a u-turn, and went back over the trees (blackbirds still harassing him). He wasn't more than 50 feet up so we could get a good close up look at him. This park is on the Grand River just a fraction of a mile up river from an Eagle Nest monitored by the park service. Last I heard they had eaglets in the nest. The one we saw was almost certainly from that nest.
      I get goosebumps everytime I see an eagle.
      "Dazed and Confused"
      Recycle, re-use, re-purpose
      Plant a tree
      Take a kid hiking
      Make a difference
    • jimmyjam wrote:

      odd man out wrote:

      Had the perfect sighting for the 4th of July on Saturday. Went for a short walk in the woods at our local park. Saw some Turk's Cap Lillies and a grove of large sassafrass (you don't see many large ones around here for some reason). The black raspberries are just ripening and were able to pick a handful.

      But the 4th of July treat was seeing the Bald Eagle fly over the pond being chased by 4 blackbirds. He got directly overhead, made a u-turn, and went back over the trees (blackbirds still harassing him). He wasn't more than 50 feet up so we could get a good close up look at him. This park is on the Grand River just a fraction of a mile up river from an Eagle Nest monitored by the park service. Last I heard they had eaglets in the nest. The one we saw was almost certainly from that nest.
      I get goosebumps everytime I see an eagle.
      and to think, our national bird was almost the Turkey
    • LIhikers wrote:

      jimmyjam wrote:

      odd man out wrote:

      Had the perfect sighting for the 4th of July on Saturday. Went for a short walk in the woods at our local park. Saw some Turk's Cap Lillies and a grove of large sassafrass (you don't see many large ones around here for some reason). The black raspberries are just ripening and were able to pick a handful.

      But the 4th of July treat was seeing the Bald Eagle fly over the pond being chased by 4 blackbirds. He got directly overhead, made a u-turn, and went back over the trees (blackbirds still harassing him). He wasn't more than 50 feet up so we could get a good close up look at him. This park is on the Grand River just a fraction of a mile up river from an Eagle Nest monitored by the park service. Last I heard they had eaglets in the nest. The one we saw was almost certainly from that nest.
      I get goosebumps everytime I see an eagle.
      and to think, our national bird was almost the Turkey
      That would have ruined Thanksgiving.
      2,000 miler