A recent Trip Report had pictures of what have been confirmed as wolverine tracks. That thread digressed into other topics , partly my fault, so I want to start a new topic. Pardon, old-time NW Hikers, if it's been covered.
Topic: What animals have you seen in places that seemed unusual for the species?
Here are some examples to get this started.
I witnessed a pine marten scurrying around in the summit rocks of Mt. Shuksan on a day climb in July 1967. I wouldn't doubt that it was hunting "snafflehounds," as Fred Beckey called them (bushy-tailed woodrats), two of which I witnessed that same summer (1967) another time when two of us did a planned summit bivouac. Those snaffles kept us awake most of the night....of course, trying to sleep on a pile of angular rocks didn't help in our comfort either.
During a camp on top of Glacier peak in 1978 we read comments by a Boy Scout troop in the summit register claiming that on the previous day they had seen a porcupine on top. I didn't believe it until we looked around and sure enough, there it was, huddling in the summit rocks, looking very out of place. Porky was gone in the morning,without even signing the register! We hypothesized that it had been driven upslope by a storm, wind at its back.
In Challenge of Rainier author Dee Molenaar writes of a black bear seen at 14,100' on Rainier, heading across the summit ice cap toward Willis Wall. No reports of its fate.
In the same book is the statement that mice have been reported at Rainier's summit crater. I have a hunch they were stowaways in climbers' packs. Hmmm....my pack does always seem a bit heavy going up there.......
On a 1974 expedition east of the Waddington group in BC, a grizzly bear crossed a glacier-bound col at about 8,000 feet in the night as we were sleeping in rocks a few yards away.The distinctive griz tracks had not deviated from the " bear went over the mountain" path, even though I bet it smelled us. After all, we had been climbing for four days.
Whatcha got? Let us know! First-hand accounts preferred because of their uniqueness. However, careful readers will note that two of my five examples above aren't first- hand but are from a book, albeit an authoritative book.
-------------- Passing rocks and trees like they were standing still
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-------------- Passing rocks and trees like they were standing still
Also not first hand, but someone I know took pics of momma bear + 2 cubs a ways north of Vantage. They were in a boat on the Columbia. Not exactly the first place you'd expect to find a bear as that sagebrush country seems pretty darn lean, but bears are obviously extraordinarily adaptable.
Some years ago I was relaxing around camp at upper Ice Lake in the Entiat and saw a porcupine waddling down from higher terrain above. At first I thought it was a small bear but realized what it was as it approached. It came to within 100' or so of my camp and continued downhill to wherever its destination was totally unconcerned with my presence.
On the way up the Coleman glacier late spring. There was a cloud layer, and vis wasn't the greatest at a few hundred yards.. Somewhere above 8,000', we spied what looked like a squirrel heading up the glacier. It was being harassed by a raven, who would swoop down, only to be met with aggression. This continued on and up the glacier until we lost view. It was pretty surreal.
I guess it could have been a marten. The closest trees where some 2,000' below.
Is this an April Fools? Or do you mean the observers were in the boat, not the bears? I assume the observers but on this day, can't be sure.....like our 43 year-old daughter who thought we had actually hidden a dozen Easter eggs today ( " first floor only, including the solarium, but not in the kitchen.") Completely fooled her such that she and her 41 yr. old brother ( who masterminded the evil plot) hunted intensely for ten minutes before we blew the lid off the gag.
-------------- Passing rocks and trees like they were standing still
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-------------- Passing rocks and trees like they were standing still
I know garter snakes aren't uncommon, but I just had to wonder what on earth had "encouraged" the dozen or so I encountered on the knife-edge north ridge on Mt Tebo (southern Olys) to be up there at 4600' to begin with. I'm not entirely sure what they eat, but when I was attempting to find the correct path to the summit block, I found the 12+ of them all sunning themselves on the warm pillow basalt within about a 2 square yard area (there's not a whole lot of vegetation or dirt up there, mostly just rocks).
-------------- *Just say NO to Rent-Seeking, don't give up the concept of "ownership"*
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-------------- *Just say NO to Rent-Seeking, don't give up the concept of "ownership"*
Meck, what time of year did you see the swarm of garter snakes? Some snakes will congregate in numbers in a twisted mass in winter for collective heat, minimal as that would be for ectothermic creatures (" cold blooded").
-------------- Passing rocks and trees like they were standing still
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-------------- Passing rocks and trees like they were standing still
Many snakes in the northern hemisphere stay warm in the winter by sheltering in a hibernaculum. Several different species can inhabit the same location. I visited one in the Methow with a wildlife biologist that had rattlsnakes and blue racers in it. The link will take you to one such locale.
I think it was mid July 2016. I guess I just expected snakes to stick to the lower elevations where there was "more terrain" to search for food, rather than at the upper end of a rocky knife-ridge. It was neat to see them enjoying the sunshine, just unexpected.
-------------- *Just say NO to Rent-Seeking, don't give up the concept of "ownership"*
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-------------- *Just say NO to Rent-Seeking, don't give up the concept of "ownership"*
Sometimes what those of us, like me, who aren't really knowlegeable wildlife biologists ( I have a biology minor from about 100 years ago) see animals in what we believe are weird places, but they may not be so unusual in actuality.
-------------- Passing rocks and trees like they were standing still
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-------------- Passing rocks and trees like they were standing still
Lol this probably doesn't count but i was laughin my ass off! I was climbin Big Chiwaukum on a late autumn day. Beautiful colors in the basin just below Chiwaukum, i was mesmorized by the vividness! Before i made the summit push i found a rock to sit on, to take in all the scenery in this gorgeous meadow! I thought i was completely alone, then after sittin there for a few mins i realized there there was a pack mule no more than 50yds from me, lol what the hell! He was probably thinkin the same. I didnt know the basin was frequented by hunters so it kinda threw me for a loop at first! What a otherworldly type place, and the donkey too!
-------------- “I don’t know what’s gonna happen, but I wanna have my kicks before the whole shithouse goes up in flames”-Mr Mojo Risin
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-------------- “I don’t know what’s gonna happen, but I wanna have my kicks before the whole shithouse goes up in flames”-Mr Mojo Risin
Good one, Ozzy. I guess I didn't say anything about it being a wild animal, did I? So yeah it counts!
Not wanting to throw this topic too far off, but I've seen dogs accompanying climbers to the summit of Baker on several different occasions.....and speaking of mules, there used to be a mule trail to the top of Adams, where they were used to haul sulphur down from the summit-area surface mines ( and supply the fire lookout).
-------------- Passing rocks and trees like they were standing still
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-------------- Passing rocks and trees like they were standing still
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, partly my fault, so I want to start a new topic. Pardon, old-time NW Hikers, if it's been covered.
We hypothesized that it had been driven upslope by a storm, wind at its back.
I assume the observers but on this day, can't be sure.....like our 43 year-old daughter who thought we had actually hidden a dozen Easter eggs today ( " first floor only, including the solarium, but not in the kitchen.") 
