[Cody s]

He looked and acted like a snake, so I am assuming he was.

[Bird in Hand]

Black bear on the Teneriffe trail, mountain goats at Blue Lake off Hwy 20, a family of five, deer on the levee here in E-burg, Mule deer, elk in the Teanaway, a cougar on Pollolie Ridge Badger in Frenchman's Coulee Big horn sheep in the Yakima River Canyon, I had to chase them off the road. Uncountable birds of all kinds. A couple of rattlesnakes All encounters were quite cordial.

[BlameTheDogz]

Getting charged by a black bear in the Olympics. Getting followed by a cougar at night in Torres del Paine on the way to the upper camp towards the actual Torres. Having to move out of the way of a whale shark, swimming next to a smiling pregnant dolphin, and being in the middle of a school of hammerheads in the Galapogos. Swimming with dolphins at La Perouse. Having to punch a tiger shark in the face in South Africa to get it to back off. Waking up to an entire herd of deer running down the ridge in the Okanogan and thinking we might get trampled. Seeing my dog actually catch a marmot in a scene that seemed from National Geographic near Image Lake (I made her drop the unharmed cute little varmint). Africa safari: lions mating, lions roaring, lion and leopard cubs, leopard kill, leopard about 4 feet from me in the back of an open vehicle. Lots of goat, deer, bear encounters.

[pcg]

First, I have to say that I envy those of you who have had first-hand encounters with mountain lion while hiking. I would love that, and intentionally hike where I hope to see mountain lion, but never have while hiking. I have seen them from a vehicle on three separate occasions, but never up close and personal. Hopefully some day I will! In the meantime, here are my noteworthy animal encounters: The rarest… Wolverine on Hwy 35 in Oregon. Pre-dawn hours in March of 2011 I was driving from Cooper Spur to Mt. Hood Meadows in light snow and a wolverine waddled across the road 60 yds ahead of me. I was late to a meeting at Mt. Hood Meadows so was unable to stop, but to this day I am kicking myself for not stopping anyway and trying to get a picture. The scariest… Grizzly bear bluff charge in Alaska. I had just parked my truck at a trailhead near Hyder, AK, and was hiking up a trail to view bears feeding on salmon in Fish Creek. Suddenly a bear appeared 100 yds ahead on the trail, charging straight towards my six year old son and me. My son immediately lost it and began screaming and crying. I yelled at him to run to the truck and I un-holstered bear spray and got behind a tree. I remember frantically trying to determine which way the wind was blowing and then suddenly, when the bear was about 20 yds away, it turned off the trail and went charging up the mountainside. The sight of him blasting up the hillside was actually scarier than when he was coming directly towards us because it was unreal how fast he could move up a steep slope. Dirt and rocks and brush were flying. I retreated to the truck and that was the last we saw of him, and of Fish Creek. This event pretty much changed my attitude about grizzly bears forever. They are wonderful creatures, but I now avoid grizzly country whenever possible. The most bizarre … I was hiking along the popular Cape Lookout trail on the Oregon Coast, with my wife and another couple. I was in front and suddenly a small cottontail rabbit appeared coming down the trail towards us. I expected it to soon dart off the trail, but it kept running towards me. Then I saw a weasel appear about 20’ behind it, running down the trail towards me as well. The rabbit stopped and huddled right between my feet. I was stunned and puzzled and still didn’t realize what was going on. After a few seconds the rabbit got up and continued down the trail and the weasel ran right by us, seemingly oblivious to us. It was then I realized that the weasel was predator and the rabbit was prey and I was going to be the rabbit’s savior. The rabbit ran another 20’ then darted off into the brush. The weasel was obviously following by smell and he left the trail at the same spot as the rabbit. I ran back to where they had disappeared and as I stood on the trail the rabbit hopped out and again huddled right between my feet. Within seconds the weasel leapt out of the brush and latched onto the rabbit’s neck. I gingerly placed the sole of my left boot on the weasel and the rabbit tore free and ran away. I then carefully grabbed the weasel behind the head and picked it up. It stank and it squealed, but I carried it down the trail for another 10 minutes and then tossed it into the brush. The couple we were with were not hikers and we were trying to get them interested in the outdoors. I was tempted to tell them that stuff like this happens all the time if they would just get outside and go hiking. Oh, and for those of you who think we should not interfere with nature, my response is that I am part of nature as well and I chose to take advantage of the opportunity I was presented with and I decided to side with the animal that came to me for protection.

[Schenk]

The most fun wildlife "interaction" I have had was with 5 little mink kits. I was hiking up a trail in SW Montana and down the trail came this "Ball O' Fur". It was truly a ball of fur rolling and moving down the trail. Imagine a ball of snakes with fur...5 little mink kits were all tumbling, twisting, and were playfully intertwined as they made their way towards me. They were preoccupied with their sporty game and didn't notice me until they were within about 10 feet of me. They stopped rolling about and untangled themselves, then spread out like a little gang of tough guys, and blocked the trail. Then, one by one, each kit would rush up close to me, then race back to their ranks and look at me to see my reaction. Then the next kit would rush me but come a little closer, and then return to their formation. Each kit did this in turn until all had rushed me twice and the last one almost touched my boot. Having proven their bravado to themselves, and not having elicited any response from the "soft pink thing" in their path, they turned their attention to something else and scampered off. I felt privileged to have been part of their day, and to have seen their playfulness in full display.

[Randito]

Gustavo

[ScottP]

Climbing in Icicle Canyon, I pulled up onto a small ledge to find myself at face-level with a small ball of baby rattlesnakes. Climbing a crack route in Kern Canyon, CA, I peered into a potential cam placement to find a bat 'snarling' at me. I stuck my hand into a crack at Index to find a slippery mess that was a frog. Hunting for lobster in the Florida Keys, I came over the top of a giant brain coral, looked into a hole at the bottom edge and came face-to-face with a mouth-full of lemon shark teeth. I pushed away from the coral head as the lemon shark rocketed out a side exit and disappeared. Night diving in the Florida Keys with my light off during a full moon, I noticed a shadow pass of over me. I turned on my light to find myself completely surrounded by a massive school of juvenile barracuda. My favorite was a dive at Race Rocks outside of Victoria Harbor. In between dives I was free diving and just riding the gentle current amongst the rocks. I came around a corner to find a huge Steller's sea lion on the rocks maybe 20 feet away. It was asleep with its head thrown back. It must have heard me clear my snorkle, because it came awake with a loud bark, dove into the water and swam toward me, head up and barking loudly. As it neared me it dove. I put my head under water and watched it slide by just beyond arm's reach.

[pcg]

[forest gnome]

hiking on a narrow trail, early morning I almost stepped on a huge porquipine! it just turned and then waddled down the trail fore a few minutes, I followed closely...

[Schroder]

[lee]

Last fall near Goose Prairie, during the muzzleloader elk season I was sitting on the ground leaning back on a huge dead fall fir tree slowly scanning left and right. After about 30 minutes as I was scanning back to my left I find a huge Lynx staring at me about 20 feet away. It had it's front paws up on the trunk of the same tree I was leaning against. It stared at me for a full minute with it's stubby tail flicking back and forth. Then boredom over came it and it walked off. What amazed me was how it got that close to me so silently. I never heard a twig snap or a leaf crunch, just all of a sudden it was there staring at me!!!! About a half hour later it came back and walked back up the trail it had originally came down. What a strikingly beautiful animal!!!!!

[kenbee]

I'm loving this thread, and am truly impressed (and envious) by all these encounters! My own favorites all seem to center around the Olympics: 30-odd years ago, on one of my umpteen trips to my beloved Toleak Point, I was starting to hike back and mid-way up the beach north of the point, there was a full-grown Bald Eagle standing smack in the middle of the beach, surveying its kingdom. I proceeded to hike past it within 10 feet, while it just stood there giving me the eagle-eye the entire time. It's astonishing how big they are up close, especially their hand-sized claws! I kind of recall that that was one of those years with an extra large concentration of eagles around the point. 25 years ago, heading back down the E. Fork Quinalt from a spectacular early summer trip up the Enchanted Valley, my partner (who was in front) suddenly stopped and hissed "Cougar!" I looked up the steep slope above us where he was pointing, just in time to see the tail of a cougar disappearing into the brush maybe 40-50 feet above us. We waited for a bit, and then moved on. Half a minute later Gary stopped and pointed again--this time I managed to see its tail AND its hind end. I was thrilled to death, but also kind of bummed that my first and probably only cougar sighting would just be of one's butt. After a few seconds, the cougar came back out of the brush and walked out to the end of a log that hung out over the slope...it stopped at the end and stared down straight at us for a moment or two, then turned and vanished once and for all. 5 years ago my buddy and I saw a three-legged bear (missing its left foreleg) in Muncaster Basin. Now that I think about it, the location was probably directly up and over the ridge from where we saw the cougar! And lastly, 3 years ago I was hiking up the Bogachiel. After plodding way too long through the muck, I finally realized that I had overshot my campsite. The light was just starting to fade a bit as I turned around and retraced my steps. After a few minutes, I noticed cougar tracks on top of my previous ones, heading just as I was back down the river. Restless night ensued!

[Gil]

[Gil]

Many, many years ago, I was duck hunting in Alaska. I had taken a canoe down river and intended to return upstream with the tide. I came to one of the huge grassy islands in the delta that I knew had a pond in the middle and just about then a flight of ducks went overhead and landed in that pond. I beached the canoe and started trotting through the chest-high grass, the gun loosely held in my left hand. Suddenly a full-grown brown bear popped up out of the grass maybe 10 feet away. I froze as it stood there (I was down wind), wondering if I could get the gun up, safety off and fire in time. Then I realized it was still just standing there, looking me up and down. I slowly started to back away, talking quietly to it, and when I was perhaps 30 feet away it dropped down to all fours and ambled off. That was pretty exciting. A few years ago, on the way to Thunder Mountain Lakes, I came across a mountain goat above Trap Pass. It followed me cross country for about a mile, and I had to stop every so often to tell it to back off. I felt sorry for it because it was getting hammered by flies.

[Bootpathguy]

Northern Flying Squirrel Yea, I know it's not that exciting but they are seldom seen. Also, it's a better story if I told you it was out in the wilderness, but it wasn't. Right from my back deck at dusk. Out of the corner of my eye, and to my right, I saw something fly / glide through the air and hit the trees trunk. Thought it was odd as there were no branches that low and thought maybe a bird with very poor vision. I stood up and noticed something climbing up the tree. A squirrel!? It got towards the top of the maple tree and leapt from it gliding from my right to my left to another maple tree about 150' apart. Hit the tree low on the trunk. Just a couple / few feet from the ground. Scampered up and repeated the same process heading in the same direction. I was amazed it could judge the distance it could glide without hitting the ground. Especially that far. It new how much elevation it needed before leaving the launching pad to reach the other tree trunk. At the time, Sugar Gliders were the fad pet in all the pet stores. I'd assumed somebody's got away from them. I was intrigued and thought I'd search if Washington State had a species of flying squirrel. I was actually surprised to see we did. This is how I found out that a Northern Flying Squirrel even existed. I had no idea