Best wildlife encounters?

I drove up to Banff with my family last year. Even though I've been to the Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, and Banff a couple times each in addition to the fact that I've camped throughout Idaho and Washington, I must wear some form of natural Moose repellent as I'd never seen one in the wild. I was determined that come heck or high water I would finally find one.

First day in the park, we saw this cow moose and her calf wading through the stream. At one point, the current started to get the best of the calf but the mother calmly waited for it and allowed for the calf to work through the challenge. I'm usually guilty of overanalyzing everything but I thought that she set a pretty good example for parents everywhere.

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That one made me smile at work!

I had a similar experience. I was hiking on the Juan de Fuca Marine on Vancouver Island. I had a very late start to my hike and set up my hammock around midnight for the very first time. Trying to get comfortable in a hammock, it took me a while to fall asleep. I finally go to sleep with thoughts of “bear burrito” on my mind. I wake up in the morning and remember a very vivid dream. In the dream I was in my hammock with my face pressed up against the No-see um mesh netting. I open my eyes and see a bear snout sniffing me on the other side of the netting. In the dream I say to myself – no hasty movements are in order.

I’m still a little unsettled by that dream as I’m packing up my hammock. As I go to leave, and about 5 feet from my hammock I find a steaming fresh pile of bear p o o h!

I'm okay seeing snakes along the trail as long as I see or hear them before I'm on top of them. On one stretch of the West Rim Trail in PA a couple of years ago I almost stepped on three of them on the trail in the space of about 10 minutes. I let someone else take the lead after that!

We were hiking on the Mid State Trail in June 2011 along the ridgetop above Rte. 322 and the trail was completely overgrown. I almost kicked a porcupine in his tail as he scurried along in front of me. I didn't see him until the guy behind me saw him scoot off the trail right in front of my foot.

He then climbed a small 6-foot tree right next to the trail to get away from us…

My other favorite was along the Old Loggers Path in May 2010. On our second day we were hiking along one of the old railroad beds with a mile-long straight stretch. I was in the lead and spotted a hiker coming towards us with a very unusual gait. Shortly after that I realized it was a bear with her three cubs.

It's not easy to see (my little Olympus camera was zoomed to its 7x max), but one of the cubs is actually a blonde. Right after I took this picture she led her crew uphill off the trail to avoid us. We didn't mind.

Here is my favorite marmot, at the Swiftcurrent lookout in GNP:

In 2006, I was adopted by a family of goats at Lake Ellen Wilson in GNP. They followed my every move for the afternoon, evening, and all the next morning. I'm convinced that goats don't sleep, as they were tripping over the guy lines of my Squall 2 all night.

The next morning, they escorted me up Gunsight Pass. They would pass me, wait off the side of the trail for me to catch up, let me get ahead of them, and then come bounding by again. It was like a game to them.

At the pass, I was about to take a photo of Gunsight Lake, where I was headed. Momma goat grunted something about how I needed to take my photo from a different spot. (Lake Ellen Wilson is behind her)

She was right:

So I encouraged her to follow me down the trail to Gunsight Lake. She just grunted, and immediately joined her kids and they all bounded back down to Lake Ellen Wilson. Apparently the pass was the border of their domain, and they were just out for a jaunt, to be sure that I left their turf in proper fashion. Fun stuff…

A week later, I was camping at Kootenai Lakes in the north of GNP. Lots of moose there. In the morning, I was the last hiker to leave the camping area, as I had plenty of time to hike the 2-3 miles back to Goat Haunt to catch my boat ride back to Waterton. I sat on a log on the lake shore, watching a mother moose and her yearling on the other side. All of a sudden she moved directly toward me. I figured she was just going to eat some grass growing in the lake. But she and the yearling kept coming. Back at my campsite my pack was ready to put on. I decided that when she got to the middle of the lake, she would have to swim, which would slow her down and give me time to get to my pack and get out of there. The thing is, that lake was only maybe 2-3 deep in the middle, and she came across quickly. By this time I realized that she felt I was her biggest problem. I hurried back to the campsite, looked for a good tree to maybe climb (there wasn't one), pulled out my 4" Spyderco blade and pepper spray, and prepared to make my feeble stand. When she got to the trail that rings the lake, maybe 50 feet from my campsite, she grunted to her yearling to stop there, and then another, different grunt to instruct her baby to move down the trail away from me. Then she quickly bounded over thick and high deadfall to get right in my face. She grunted all sorts of things, dug at the ground with her front hooves, sprayed moose-spit on me (she was just 15 feet away), and generally let me know that I was about to be dead meat. At that point, I realized my knife and pepper spray might be useless–the spray might just anger her more, goofy as moose are, and about the only good that knife could do is let me slice my own throat to lessen the impending pain. I kept talking to her in sweet, soft tones, and after a few minutes she bagan to settle down. Finally, she let out a loud and forceful "HAR-UMPH," then she abruptly and quickly bounded back over the deadfall to join her yearling. That was the first moose word that I learned, which I think means "There, you sombitch, clean your shorts, get out of here, and tell everybody you see to never, ever come to my lake!" (BPL doesn't accept TIFF images; also, no yearling moose were harmed during this wildlife encounter).

OK, so about 3 weeks after the moose adventure, I was in Yellowstone. I came upon a huge female bison , which was standing right in the middle of the trail, staring at me. There was a steep dropoff to my left, and a serious pile of deadfall to my right behind the thick brush that lined the trail. To give her a wide berth, I had to climb up onto the deadfall, and try to inch my way past her. I was stepping from one 10" log to another, using trekking poles to keep my balance 3-4 feet above the ground. It was tiresome, and also a bit dangerous, as I was concerned about blowing out a knee somehow. After going maybe 50 yards in 20 minutes, I decided I was probably well past her. When I got back to the trail, there she was–looking at me as before. She had followed me, but she got to use the trail. I had no choice but to go back into the deadfall maze and keep doing it. After another 75 yards or so of that slow grunt atop the logs, I had a better view of the trail this time, and it seemed like she wasn't around now, but rather moved away from the trail. I guess she lost interest.

In 2011, I was hiking solo to Iceberg Lake in GNP. There was no one else around, so I made lots of noise and sang my songs. I came to a curved brushy corridor that was maybe 7 feet tall, and I could only see 30-40 feet ahead. That's when I met the griz, face to face. It seemed a little confused, so I talked sweetly and slowly backed up. When I got out of the brush and back to the open trail, I scooted uphill maybe 100 feet until I was pinned by a steep snow field. I waited there, pepper spray in hand. After several minutes, here came the bear, casually ambling down the trail. I kept quiet and just watched it go by.

After it passed, I decided it would be safe to resume my hike in the opposite direction. When I took my first step toward the trail, I saw the first of that bear's cubs. There were 3 of them in all. After they made it past me, I was about to slip in behind them and continue my hike. But one of the cubs got curious and decided to come up to see who/what I was. Mom saw this and kept a very watchful eye on things.

When the cub got to within 40 feet of me I knew I had to do something, and fast. So I started screaming at it. Mom finally let out a low grunt, and the baby did a quick about-face and rejoined the siblings. Then they all moved on down the trail. All's well that ends well.

Last summer, at Cracker Lake in GNP, I had a midnight duty to perform. I found a flat rock, did my business, and got back into my bag. Sometime later, I woke up to what had to be the sound of a griz digging and rooting near my tent. Turned out it was this guy:

He was the campsite's resident goat, getting his human urine however/whenever he can. Like I said, I don't think goats sleep.

Final story: 3 days later, I was at the Morningstar campsite in GNP. I set up my Contrail in late afternoon, and I was the first camper to arrive. I was inside the tent, lying on my stomach head first to fiddle with the pad at the foot of the tent. I heard a huge splash in the lake that I was camped by. I quickly slithered back out to meet this guy:

He decided to come closer to check me out. Not trusting any moose, ever, and despising them all for being so territorial and goofy, I slipped over to the campground's outhouse where I might find some protection. It turned out to be a non-event, and my moose went somewhere else. But there actually were 4 adult males in all, and they all bedded down right on the trail between the tent sites and that outhouse. Nobody used the privy that night, and the guys all chose to rather bait any goats that might be nearby instead.

Sorry for this endless post, folks. I had nothing better to do, since the stock market is so silly today.

(Edit: massive number of spelling/syntax errors)

Gary, Beautiful photos!

Thanks, Link!

I was hiking the Tatoosh Range in Rainier NP when I topped out on one of the peaks and almost ran into a Mountian goat. He was not amused.

I had a black bear cub "charge" me in Lost Creek Wilderness. In reality the little guy just had no idea that I was there while he was zipping down the trail at top speed- evidently for the simple joy of it. I started screaming at him when he was twenty feet away and he practically jumped out of his skin and tore off into the bush, leaving me wondering "where's momma?"

I had a Golden Mantled Ground Squirrel steal my disposable camera on top of Burroughs Mountain, again in Rainier NP. Evidently the little b@$s+@rd thought it was edible or something. I got into Ta tug-of-war with him, with him latched onto a rock with all four claws and growling at me.

I had some sea lions try to send me for a swim while kayaking in Monterrey Bay back in 1990. I think they were just being playful, but having half a dozen sea lions ramming you does get one's attention.

Same timeframe- I had a Sea Otter climb onto the deck of my kayak, rub its belly, and start sunning itself. Since they are endangered you had to keep more that 50 yards from them, so I started shouting at him "Hey, you're gonna get me in trouble!" and splashed him with my paddle. He gave me a dirty look, then returned to sunning himself.

Wow awesome pictures and stories! Because of my school studies and job, I especially enjoy the bird sightings. I think for me my number one animal sighting was when I was trail-running when I briefly lived in Arizona some years ago. As I stopped to grab a drink I happened to see one of my all time favorite birds/stories of successful human interference. I saw 2 California Condors perched no more than 50 yards away. It was awesome but unfortunately I didn't have a camera.

Here's another one of my local favorite birds. Around where I live the grey color morph isn't as common so this was nice to see. Photo taken on the AT north of NOC.

Love reading these. Gary, your bear story is great. A few of my favs:

A bobcat and three kittens last year on our way to a jobsite early in the morning. We watched them play in some Junipers for a while before they disappeared. Of course all cameras were in the back of the truck.

Andean condors in Ecuador.

I never tire of pronghorns.

Part of my work is raptor nest surveys and they're been some crazy encounters with that.

I totally fantasize about a mountain lion encounter. Someday, I hope.

I'll add to Tyler's owl shot. Saw-whet:

I get pretty excited about plants too, but I'll save that for another day.

Brendan that's an amazing shot. I'm currently working at a raptor rehab clinic and I remember getting in my first Saw-whet last year. It immediately became one of my favorite birds. I'm partial to owls, they just seem to have so much personality. I am lucky enough to have the opportunity to see many amazing raptors up close.

Yeah I love owls. Saw-whets are awesome. They're strangely tame.

After a night at a beautiful camp in the Nelson Lakes National Park I was buzzed by a New Zealand falcon. I was completely alone, it was a perfect morning and made for an unforgetable moment.

I have been lucky enough to have many wonderful wildlife experiences during the decade I worked on and off as a freelance photographer and writer. However the encounter was my most memorable whilst hiking.

I know we're talking backpacking…but this happened Tuesday of last week at about 6:45 AM so I have to tell it…

I paddled out at my local before-work surf spot. I'm the first surfer in the water, waves are chest high, and it's looking to be a fun morning.

I notice a good deal of bird activity, pelicans and gulls mostly, about 100 meters out on my 10 o'clock. All diving and squabbling over something in the water.

Three more surfers are now in the water, but they're about 300 meters down the beach from me.

I catch a few waves, noting that the bird commotion hasn't died down yet. Seals or sea lions (too far to tell) have now joined the fray, a few black heads popping up now and then. At first I thought there was a large school of fish everything might have been feeding on, but given the location of the action never changed, I began to suspect there was something dead in the water out there and they were scavenging. I've seen this deep sea fishing.

I catch another wave.

Paddling back out this time, I see a dorsal fin break the water, only 25 meters away on my 1 o'clock. It's coming in my general direction, into more shallow water.

My first instinct is that it's a dolphin; we get a lot of them out with us in the mornings and they get within a few feet of you.

That image is immediately dispelled when I see it turn slightly and present a better profile of the dorsal- which was broad and triangular in shape, not curved like a dolphin's. It then began to accelerate for about 5 meters in a rapid, side-to-side and tightening zigzag.

At this point the panic sets in as I realize I'm in the water with a shark that was likely bigger than me. It's back broke the surface pushing water; within 20 meters, it was clear and close enough to see that it was as wide as my own shoulders, at least. The dorsal appeared about one foot tall. After the brief acceleration on the surface it dove. I saw a 6" tip of a vertical caudal fin break the surface at the end of the dive.

All this happened in a few seconds while I was sitting…I spun my board, laid down, and started stroking like a maniac towards shore. I missed the first wave coming in, but caught the second, riding it all the way into the shallows on my belly. The whole way I'm panicked the thing will overtake me, worried it'll give chase. I ran out of the water like a scared little kid, not letting my guard down until I was sitting on the sand. I doubt it was interested in me, but I was not going to wait around and see.

I watched for another 10-15 minutes, but no more sign of it.

I did end up getting back in the water, but much further down the beach, closer to the other surfers. They hadn't seen it and I figured, honestly, what are the chances? The session was a bit short-lived though; I blew all the paddling strength I had in the dash back into shore and my nerves were a little shot from adrenaline.

About 1.5 months ago, a couple separate white sharks were caught or sighted in shallow water within 2 weeks of each other only a few miles from where I was surfing during this encounter. It might have been a mako, but I'm betting it was a juvenile white shark.

Brendan – Great saw whet photo! You don't often see them in the wild. I spent a few months volunteering at the Montana Raptor Conservation Center and became close with their half blind northern saw whet education bird. Very mellow birds, until you put a mouse in front of them!

@ Craig

Spooky story, I know just how you felt… A couple years back I had two close encounters with the landlord within about a month of one another during a couple of long coastal paddles.

The first one was mid channel during the Catalina Classic paddleboard race. A good sized Mako circled me twice while my escort boat watched with amusement from about 200 yards away.

A month later I got bumped by what I believe to be a juvenile white off Goleta during a particularly nasty day. My buddy witnessed the whole thing. We were both completely freaked out but had to continue our paddle since we were a mile or two offshore and the conditions were too rough to turn around or head in. Longest 10 miles of my life. I'm still spooked from that experience.

The next year I did the Molokai to Oahu paddleboard race. Mid crossing, a big gray shadow appeared directly underneath me. I freaked out and was yelling and waving for my escort boat… Turned out to only be a pod of dolphins. Another paddler that year got shadowed by a large tiger shark for a bit off Molokai; glad it wasn't me!

Shark stories fall into not-so great wildlife encounters category.

We came within throwing distance of mountain goats in Denali National Park. They weren't concerned with us at all.

My most memorable sightings were from the cockpit of my kayak. I had a gray whale surface 10' off my quarter, so I didn't see it right away. I heard it blow and turned to see the tail going down. Talk about amazing! I padded the other direction a bit and watched it work its way around a bay, following the six fathom line on my chart. There must have been food in the mud at that depth.

I've seen Orcas, lots of seals, river otters, schools of Dall's porpoise. And the birds: great blue herons, eagles, osprey, too many kinds of gulls to identify, pelicans, oyster catchers and all the small wading birds and ducks.

I remember floating out the Nisqually River delta with the tide. With the current, there was no need to paddle so I sat still and quiet to have a harbor seal surface 6' away, it's sleek head sliding up out of the water to surprise me, and looking at me with huge dark eyes. I can see where the myths and legends of the seal people came from.

On the land side, I've seen lots of deer, elk, a bobcat, black bears at distance, mountain goats, rabbits, chipmunks and squirrels. Lots of birds too.

Hummingbirds are one of my favorites. My father put out feeders around his cabin, bringing them in large numbers and 4 or 5 species. If you went outside wearing a flowery Hawaiian shirt, they would fly right up to check you out. There too, I can see where fairy legends came from– perhaps Tinkerbell was really a hummingbird.

Last year we went to Boundary Bay in BC Canada to see the snowy owls. Awesome birds. The snow geese migrate through here. Watching the huge birds land in wave after wave at sunset is quite a sight.

We often live at nature's mercy. Glad you got out safe.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/new-zealand-shark-attack-swimmer-1732991

There are some sharky areas down here, but I feel for Northern Californians/Pacific Northwesterners.

But on the whole, I think the KFC Double Down is far more dangerous to our species than any of the predators we're talking about here.

>> I think the KFC Double Down is far more dangerous to our species than any of the predators we're talking about here. <<

Very true, but I'd much prefer eating myself to death over being eaten to death.

Surfers in my area are more likely to die from frost bite than shark bite.

I took my 3 boys to Yellowstone a few years ago. We decided to hike up Mt. Washburn. We saw a grizzly rooting around very near the trailhead. We were all pretty excited. The real excitement started though on our way down. There was a heard of probably 70 of these creatures, Bighorn Sheep I believe, right on the trail. They were regularly doing these hear butts within 10-20 feet. It was an amazing show.

We saw a lot of wildlife in Yellowstone, but this up close encounter still stands out.

On a trip to Costa Rica, near Montezuma, I walked with my boys down a deserted stretch of beach. It was really hot so we ducked back into the trees a bit. There was a playful group of Capuchins enjoying a tangled web of branches. We watched until they got tired and rested on this branch.

When the monkeys were done, my boys climbed the tangle.

I remember several years ago being kept awake by the sound of a snipe drumming directly overhead. It's a really eeire noise at night if you have not heard it before.

Not my encounter (unfortunately) and yes, this was a “tourist activity” but this would rate very high for me

How about a couple raccoons fighting in a tree directly over your tent? Like a cat fight with the volume at 11.

Dale, that would probably beat my munching deer. I sure was surprised how loudly deer swallow, though.

Here's one where the animal had me stumped. I was solo and days from anywhere, made a base camp and spent over a week dayhiking from it. I became aware the second day that a red fox lived there. Glimpses at first, then she started hiding in ferns and watching me (I'd bet money she'd never seen a human before). I pretended not to notice, and made sure the food was secure. One morning while it was still dark I went and sat in the bushes beside the nearby pond. A small spit of land extended into the pond in front of me. First light and the fox came through the bushes beside me, upwind, walked out on the spit, yawned, stretched, scratched, washed, and only then realized I was there. Uh-oh. Getting out meant coming even closer to me. I made a big show of not paying any attention to her, and she relaxed, even washed some more. I soon turned my back to let her get away unseen.

Well, back at camp later that day, I guess she figured I'd proven myself and now we were friends. She invited me to play! Hopped around me like a bunny and then did the foreleg-stretch deep bow that all dogs do to initiate play. I had no idea what to do. I didn't think she'd fetch. No potential tug-of-war toys around. Didn't want to risk a play-nip getting infected, given how far out I was, so wrestling seemed like a bad idea. Stumped. I stared at her for a bit and walked away. Still feel bad about it.