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Has anyone else had any interesting run-ins with residents of the trails?
———————————I was in the Needham Town Forest in Needham, MA a few weeks ago. On a downhill, I very suddenly came upon three beautiful young does drinking from a stream. I saw them still drinking – scared the heck out of them, and they scattered.
I locked up my brakes, which took a minute to stop since I was going downhill. I watched them run into the woods and was thinking how graceful they were when I heard a large commotion in the trees/bushes behind me. I turned my head and like 30 feet away, THE MOTHER DEER WAS CHARGING AT ME THROUGH THE WOODS!
I lurched forward like a bat outta heck (thank God I was going downhill!) and was on the move, and she quickly gave up chase, but that scared the sweat out of me! Now I have an aversion to deer… great. 😆
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I often see squirrels and rabbits on the singletrack. They tend to run down the trail for a ways before darting into the brush. I try and catch up to them. The squirrels are pretty fast runners, but I can catch up to most of them. The rabbits are really fast and are extremely difficult to catch up to.
One time, I surprised a squirrel barreling down a singletrack called Vertigo.
My front wheel just missed him, and he then decided to bolt left. As he leaped, my bottom bracket or chainrung slammed into him with much force. I definetaly felt the impact. I hit the brakes, and stopped to see if he was ok. Couldn’t find him. I’m sure he had quite the headache at the very least.Lots of reports of mountain lions where I ride. Seen a bunch of tracks, but still have yet to see one myself. Not real sure if I even want to see one…
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Deer, the rats of the forest…
My nephew was bombing down a local trail “The Chutes” when he came around a corner and smashed right into a deer. The deer bounded off, leaving my nephew dazed and bruised. Gotta watch out for the vermin.
I have seen lots of wildlife over the years (everything from turkeys to wallabies). Nothing worthy of a good story, however. I do still find it a bit unnerving when I encounter large snakes (I have learned to ignore the little ones).
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Glad to hear the deer ran away! I’ve got a good friend who got pretty messed up by a deer after spooking it with his bike!
I’ve always wondered about the snake situation out in the west/southwest for bikers – do they move for bikes, or do you just pull your feet up and ride past?
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I see lots of rattlesnakes in the summer. Keep moving and pull your feet up. They like to sun themselves on the singletrack.
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Here’s a photo of a snake mudhunny and I saw at Buffalo Creek. I’ll let her tell the story, also ask her about her encounter with the bees at Big Creek in Alpharetta.
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One more photo. Here’s a lizard we saw at Chutes and Ladders in Fruita. Never seen anything like it before…
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"trek7k" wrote
One more photo. Here’s a lizard we saw at Chutes and Ladders in Fruita. Never seen anything like it before…
My wife ( the zoo keeper) say’s it’s a male Collard lizard (Crotaphytus Collaris)
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huh…
i figured that lizard was a raver that ate some bad pills and got lost at a desert party….. 😏 -
I bet it would be great with some Jack Daniels barbecue sauce and some mashed potatoes… 😛
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Seen a lot of critters but the best was we were climb single track. A gray squirrel jumps into the trail in front of my bike and starts trying to bite my front wheel while running backwards. finally gives that up and just chases along sreaming at while whipping it’s tail. It’s hard climbing while choking from laughter 😆
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"Juan_Gear" wrote
Seen a lot of critters but the best was we were climb single track. A gray squirrel jumps into the trail in front of my bike and starts trying to bite my front wheel while running backwards. finally gives that up and just chases along sreaming at while whipping it’s tail. It’s hard climbing while choking from laughter 😆
Hahahahaha! The squirrels along the Charles River in Boston sometimes chase me… but mainly because I make loud squeaky noises at them. Apparently I sound like a female squirrel… weird. 😕
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never had any squirrel encounters, but i seem to attract bees a lot. i can think of at least three times that ive been riding and got stung. once was during a race at hog run and this bee landed on my hand and crawled into the finger hole and before i could think of a smarter reaction, i started swatting at my glove with the other hand…. so not only did i get stung, but i crashed.
another time i was my first ride at rampart reservoir…. i was gasping for air practically the whole ride because i wasnt used to the altitude yet. well, during one of those gasps a bee flew towards my face and luckily it didnt fly into my mouth, but it did bite me on my upper lip. it was so so swollen and the very next day was my first day of work at my new job… talk about your lasting first impressions!
and now for the grand finale of my bee encounters… one time i was riding and approaching a wooden plank over a shallow ditch. i chickened out at the last minute not thinking i would make it across and fell into a big pile of leaves in the ditch. i got up to dust myself off and noticed a strangely intense buzzing sound. i had landed in a bee hive and my back was covered with bees. i was dancing around like a fool and jeff came over to try to shoo them away. we both got stung that time and in the famous words of homer simpson… bee bit my bottom, now my bottom’s big!
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On the subject of deer, a couple weeks ago I’m bombing down hill about 25mph, I look to my left and a doe is pacing me not 12 feet away! We go along like this for about 100 yards and she decides to cut me off! Cut across the trail right in front of me! I had to get on the brakes to keep from hitting her!
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What is it with deer… kinda nuts!
I came about four feet shy of hitting a sleeping red fox today at Bald Hill in Mass. It was apparently sleeping in the rather warm sun about 6 miles into the woods and I scared the heck out of it when I ripped around the corner. Good times!
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Anyone got a good Sasquatch aka Bigfoot story out there??
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Not yet, but someday I will bike through Mexico and capture photo proof of the elusive Chupacabra! 😎
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Deers,I see them all the time in my parts,but never had any of them run beside me…
No, encounter was with a moose,(not a mouse!!!)
Was riding and enjoying myself on one of those mid-week ride where nobody is around,just me and nature,when from my left I hear this heavy rusltling sound,branchs cracking,I knew it was something big.It kept on getting closer and I’m slowing down,getting ready to Do whatever was needed,when just 10 feet in front of me a BIG,BROWN,MOOSE appears on the trail.I jammed the brakes and we stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity,at the same time I’m scanning my surroundings to spot a big tree,if it charged,the bike would dropped and I would sprint around that tree.A tree was not needed,the moose stayed there for a bit more and got bored or something but we departed from this amicably…
More like,it left me uninjured.
They are REAAAAAAAAAAAALLY big when you encounter them as such a close proximity.
Chipmunks are really brave for their size,once I had one cross the trail tree times,just inches in front of my front wheel,then the next time,it crossed right throught my frame and ended CLAWED on my leg for a few secs,yes I did get scars and did get it checked at the hospital for rabbies and whatever …
One thing I’m glad we don’t have around,are snakes,I HATE THEM!!!!! -
Me and a friend were hiking up mount Blodgett at about 8 am, and we turn a bend and see… a severed deer leg hanging from a tree. O.O So, we’re a little spooked, but we keep going — making sure to keep an ear tuned for crazy hunters or wild animals. We get in about another 100 feet, when we find a second leg hanging from a tree.
Finding animal bits in trees is really creepy in the early morning on a foggy day.
I have pictures, at least. >.>
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"Purplesmurf" wrote
Me and a friend were hiking up mount Blodgett at about 8 am, and we turn a bend and see… a severed deer leg hanging from a tree. O.O So, we’re a little spooked, but we keep going — making sure to keep an ear tuned for crazy hunters or wild animals. We get in about another 100 feet, when we find a second leg hanging from a tree.
Finding animal bits in trees is really creepy in the early morning on a foggy day.
I have pictures, at least. >.>
There was probably a mountain lion sitting someplace else watching you, making sure you didn’t swipe his stash. Man, that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
I rode by a bear at Evergreen Mountain and didn’t even know it until someone else told me that he saw it back there. Apparently, the bear was just chilling out, about 30 feet off the trail, watching all the bikers and hikers. The only thing he did was get the rangers very excited.
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"hurdaddy" wrote
Anyone got a good Sasquatch aka Bigfoot story out there??
Yeah! Well maybe? Was up above Nevada City riding by myself way back in, very very lonely. Was coming into a steep right hand switch back just looking at my line. Just as I jumped over the front and tapped the back brake, in the corner of my left eye about 50 feet off the trail SOMETHING 😮 big and black standing full upright YIKES!. So like any good male who use only parts of his brain I stop as fast as possible to look. Sliding to a stop and turn to my left to see SOMETHING! step behind a tree. O.K. bears don’t step Eh? looked to be 10 foot tall at least. TIME TO GO! Was real fast for about 30 mins.
Our bears don’t get that big and they do not step sideways behind tree’s
So the next week I take a Bud and of course don’t tell him till we get there 😼 what fun would that be 😆
Still ride there but there, but that corner still kinda spooks me, hair goes up just a little
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I was riding the [color=red:4ip3gw87]Sweet Water Trail[/color:4ip3gw87] and came across a half eaten deer carcass laying in the trail. Made me feel real good knowing there are mountain lions in the area! 😮 That reminded me why it is good to ride with other riders. You don’t have to be fastest, as long as you aren’t slowest. 😎
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"Juan_Gear" wrote
So the next week I take a Bud and of course don’t tell him till we get there 😼 what fun would that be 😆
Ummm, was that the trail you recommended to me?! Guess I need to figure out where to strap the shotgun to the handlebars 😉
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UH! yeah What you point 😳
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Alright, alright, so not really a wild animal, but I was riding with my dad and my husband (the pavement addicts) through a local neighborhood. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, an enormous German Shepherd comes tearing at me. Wouldn’t have been a big deal, but I’ve got this crippling, paralyzing, totally irrational fear of German Shepherds. My husband said I started pedaling so fast he thought my bike was going to fall to one side, shifting gears frantically and the whole time screaming “No No No!” at the dog (yeah, like he’d just lay down after being scolded). Apparently he stopped chasing me after about fifteen seconds and walked back towards my dad and my husband, happy as a lark and tail wagging.
I don’t ride there anymore. 😃
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When I was growing up, there was a huge black lab nearby who thought it was fun to knock over people on bikes. He’d just slobber all over you as you lied there on the ground. In hingsight, it was pretty funny.
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Many, many squirrels, a few marmots up at high elevation, lots of hawks and even a pair of Bald Eagles perched in a tree above a paved bike trail along Lake Washington in Seattle. However in 2004 I was huffing up a steep F.S. road just north of Squaw Valley, CA not very fast when a black bear darted out of the brush, across the road not more than 15 feet in front of me and straight on up the mountain…. I believe I was sucking air so hard I didnt even hear him coming. I dam near wrecked right there at a blinding granny gear speed, I didnt know wether to stop, turn around and haul ass or just keep climbing – I finally stopped to look around but he was long gone in just a few seconds and I didnt see him again – oh well, another MTB first for me.
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Saw a pair of coyotes today at Needham Forest in Mass… which was odd, seeing as it was about 1pm. Not really a good sign.
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"Fitch" wrote
Saw a pair of coyotes today at Needham Forest in Mass… which was odd, seeing as it was about 1pm. Not really a good sign.
yup. baaaaad juju. 😼
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Riding in Mass in March? Do you use studded snow tires or chains?
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This morning in the East Bay I was starting a ride. At the gate was the watch for mountain lion sign we all know so well. Two turn in there is a deer with the with the rear qt eaten off 😮 . Kinda made me think for a second till I hit on the fact the cats full now 😃 . O.K time to ride
Riding is life all else is waiting
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Gar – normally I don’t ride in the winter, but we’ve had freakishly warm and not too snowy weather. Wed-Fri of this week was high 50s! So I’ve been taking full advantage of it and have been out three times in the past week. I’m hoping it stays this way since I’m doing a group ride in April… at the same place the deer charged me and I saw the coyotes. 😆
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Resurrecting old thread. Ran into a really beautiful well feed coyote today. Watch your dogs and cats in Cleveland Heights/Shaker Heights area.
Horrible picture below. Looks like an emu. But I swear its a coyote.
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While riding, I have come upon:
Deer, elk, moose, bighorn, mountain goat, fox, coyote, bobcat, black bear, and all manner of rodents and reptiles.
All encounters were cool, but none particularly remarkable.
Except the birds. Rolled up to a flock of wild turkeys one day and instead of scattering, they all surrounded me. It was kind of menacing at first but then they just clocked their little turkey heads at me as I walked my bike through the flock.
Last week I was five bombed by a small hawk.
But its not the wildlife that concerns me. I’ve been bitten by dogs three times, two of which drew blood, and one of which required stitches.
I’ve also been threatened by homeless dudes camping along trails on the edge of town.
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I had a herd of cattle crossing the trail so I waited a few minutes. They all crossed except for one that was a few yards off the side. The second I start pedaling again the bastard bolts across! Locked up the brakes then pedaled like hell, I think he did it on purpose.
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While riding, I have come upon:
Deer, elk, moose, bighorn, mountain goat, fox, coyote, bobcat, black bear, and all manner of rodents and reptiles.
All encounters were cool, but none particularly remarkable.
Except the birds. Rolled up to a flock of wild turkeys one day and instead of scattering, they all surrounded me. It was kind of menacing at first but then they just clocked their little turkey heads at me as I walked my bike through the flock.
Last week I was five bombed by a small hawk.
But its not the wildlife that concerns me. I’ve been bitten by dogs three times, two of which drew blood, and one of which required stitches.
I’ve also been threatened by homeless dudes camping along trails on the edge of town
Dude, where the heck are you riding? Through a zoo? LOL
My experiences are mostly with deer, squirrels, rabbits and birds. I swear these critters have either lost whatever sense they may have or they have a deathwish. I can’t tell you how many times within the last year some animal or bird has darted out right in front of me or tried to outrun me on the trail. It wasn’t like this until fairly recently. Anybody else experiencing this? If not, maybe it’s the karma I’m bringing to the trail.. LOL
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