A Spring Break Hike - Blog Post #8
Over the past few years when we've gone on vacation we've often chosen locations good for hiking. Spring break was last month, and, true to form, we visited the southern California desert, specifically the area around Joshua Tree National Park.
One day we decided to hike up one of the medium-size mountains in the area, Mt. Ryan. The summit overlooks Palm Springs, but the hike to the summit goes through a fairly remote part of the national park that doesn't see a lot of foot traffic. It seems like cell phone service is everywhere these days, but there wouldn't be any here.
We're always on the lookout for wildlife when we hike, and in this part of the world there are scorpions, rattlesnakes, birds, deer, mountain lions, several kinds of rabbits, and even big horn sheep to name just a few. In fact, the day before we were driving through a residential neighborhood just outside the park and saw a couple coyotes cruising along the streets. They weren't up to any good. Hopefully we'd see something like these guys on our hike, although I don't know what we would do if we got close to them.
We start the hike at a small park ranger station, and pick up a map. We notice some big signs that say no dogs allowed on the trails, which is a good thing because they disturb wildlife. Off we go, tromping up a dry creek bed.
We don't see much on the way up the mountain, other than beautiful views and a few birds. We picnic at the top, and then start to make our way down. And then, right in front of us in the sand of the creek bed, are several large paw prints that lead off into the brush. They are relatively fresh, and I can see the imprints of the claws. They look too big to be made by a dog, and dogs aren't allowed on the trail anyway. Out come the phones for pictures.
We stand there motionless, and start scanning all around the area for a menacing carnivore. My son is hiking with us, and we insist in our most stern parent voices that he stay close to us, despite the fact that he's almost my size. Very slowly we start walking again, not saying a word, but looking intently at every thicket of bushes where the dangerous animal could be hiding. We scan the rocks overlooking the trail, thinking that we are definitely be watched by what we now believe is not just any carnivore, but a man-eating carnivore.
We keep hiking and then we find more evidence: animal poop. And it's not the little droppings that come from a rabbit or a deer. Too big. Out come the phones, we need more photographic evidence.
After another hour or so we arrive safely at the end of the hike. It's about 5:00pm, and the park ranger is getting ready to head home for the day. We run up to her and ask if there are mountain lions in the area and she says "Yes, in fact, there was deer kill not too far from this trailhead just a couple weeks ago. Blood all over the place." We fumble with the phones and show her the pictures of the paw prints and the poop, expecting her to nod her head and confirm our findings.
That doesn't happen. She furrows her brow a bit and says "Nope, these are from a dog. Dogs aren't supposed to be on the trail, but people take them up there all the time. Besides, mountain lion poop has animal fur and small pieces of bone in it, from the animals they eat." She hops in her car and drives away.
We kind of stand there looking at each other, and shrug our shoulders. But I will tell you that we sure felt alive that afternoon for a couple hours, and that is a good feeling.
One day we decided to hike up one of the medium-size mountains in the area, Mt. Ryan. The summit overlooks Palm Springs, but the hike to the summit goes through a fairly remote part of the national park that doesn't see a lot of foot traffic. It seems like cell phone service is everywhere these days, but there wouldn't be any here.
We're always on the lookout for wildlife when we hike, and in this part of the world there are scorpions, rattlesnakes, birds, deer, mountain lions, several kinds of rabbits, and even big horn sheep to name just a few. In fact, the day before we were driving through a residential neighborhood just outside the park and saw a couple coyotes cruising along the streets. They weren't up to any good. Hopefully we'd see something like these guys on our hike, although I don't know what we would do if we got close to them.
We start the hike at a small park ranger station, and pick up a map. We notice some big signs that say no dogs allowed on the trails, which is a good thing because they disturb wildlife. Off we go, tromping up a dry creek bed.
We don't see much on the way up the mountain, other than beautiful views and a few birds. We picnic at the top, and then start to make our way down. And then, right in front of us in the sand of the creek bed, are several large paw prints that lead off into the brush. They are relatively fresh, and I can see the imprints of the claws. They look too big to be made by a dog, and dogs aren't allowed on the trail anyway. Out come the phones for pictures.
We stand there motionless, and start scanning all around the area for a menacing carnivore. My son is hiking with us, and we insist in our most stern parent voices that he stay close to us, despite the fact that he's almost my size. Very slowly we start walking again, not saying a word, but looking intently at every thicket of bushes where the dangerous animal could be hiding. We scan the rocks overlooking the trail, thinking that we are definitely be watched by what we now believe is not just any carnivore, but a man-eating carnivore.
We keep hiking and then we find more evidence: animal poop. And it's not the little droppings that come from a rabbit or a deer. Too big. Out come the phones, we need more photographic evidence.
After another hour or so we arrive safely at the end of the hike. It's about 5:00pm, and the park ranger is getting ready to head home for the day. We run up to her and ask if there are mountain lions in the area and she says "Yes, in fact, there was deer kill not too far from this trailhead just a couple weeks ago. Blood all over the place." We fumble with the phones and show her the pictures of the paw prints and the poop, expecting her to nod her head and confirm our findings.
That doesn't happen. She furrows her brow a bit and says "Nope, these are from a dog. Dogs aren't supposed to be on the trail, but people take them up there all the time. Besides, mountain lion poop has animal fur and small pieces of bone in it, from the animals they eat." She hops in her car and drives away.
We kind of stand there looking at each other, and shrug our shoulders. But I will tell you that we sure felt alive that afternoon for a couple hours, and that is a good feeling.
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