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Reader Participation Day: What Was Your Most Surprising Encounter On a National Park Trail?

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Tommie (middle) was flabbergasted, and so was I. Jim Elder photo. 

Surprise encounters can add spice to hiking in our national parks. Consider this one, for example. Last August I was hiking the Hidden Falls Trail on the far side of Jenny Lake in Grand Teton National Park when I bumped into my old friend Tommy. We were next door neighbors for nearly 30 years, and even though I've moved to a different neighborhood now, Tommy and I still stay in touch. Neither of us knew that the other had made any travel plans, and it was a tossup as to which of us was more stunned by this chance meeting more than 1,700 miles from home.

This was not my only memorable encounter on a national park trail. Another one I'll never forget is our encounter with Naked Guy and his friend.

It's your turn. Tell us about a particularly memorable thing, person, or situation you've come upon or met up with while using a national park trail or walkway.

Comments

During a Colorado River raft trip through Grand Canyon, we were gearing up for a hike into Stone Canyon when a huge roar sounded. My first thought was a plane had crashed but then somebody yelled "rock fall" and I saw where a cliff face was collapsing sending tons of rock down onto the trail and large dust clouds into the air. One of our group was struck so badly by falling rock he was evacuated by helicopter and lost a toe. Can't forget that day!


It wasn't exactly on a trail, but when I lived  and worked on the Blue Ridge Parkway, employee housing wasn't far off of a trail. I came out one day to find a man urinating on the corner of my house. I'm not sure if he just didn't want to use a tree or if he was trying to make a statement about his feelings towards the NPS.
Another day I was carrying groceries from my vehicle to my house in SHEN (again, close to a trail) when I found myself about 10ft from an angry momma bear. Some visitors had seen her and her two cubs on the trail and began chasing her for pictures. Unknowingly, I stepped right into her escape path and I guess I seemed the easiest person to go after. She woofed, rolled her head and headed my way. Luckily I was close enough to my truck to hop back in it.


Last Aug my wife and I were patting ourselves on the back because we thought we had seen almost all the critters in Yellowstone in one day. That included finally seeing a wolf at Soda Butte after 3 trips in 2 years.We also saw 5 grizz that day. It was late evening and we saw a beaver on the side of the road-- thought well that about everything.We were laughing about what a great day! Not over yet though!! When it was almost dark we saw something slowly crossing the road in front of us. We couldn't figure out what it was until we got closer-- a porcupine!! My wife said the only thing left was a sesquach!! ( We didn't see one though---LOL)


A wolf about 15 yards away on Lunch Tree Hill in the Tetons, about a half mile north of the plaque. Unfortunately it got tired of us while I fumbled for the camera.

Second place would be two bull snakes caught in flagrante delicto in the Black Canyon of the Yellowstone. Fortunately I did get an image of them.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/13467208@N02/5830005747/


OK not quite a trail but since we kayak we view it as one in the same.  Off San Juan Islands NHP, we were just out for the day, saw a bunch of tourist boats way off in the distance so figured they had something they were looking at.  We just put up the paddles to see what would come our way and to be safe.  A minute later the whole pod of Orcas was right in front of us, they dove under us and came back up on the other side.  


Took my grandson to Yellowstone for his first National Park Trip. Hoping to show him the high lites and get lucky with seeing some animals. I told him we had the whole week to find all the animals and we would have to patient. The first night in Hayden Valley we found a large black bear that soon ran away because a large Grizzly came out. Then we watched Bison and Elk feeding in the meadow when all of a suden here comes a large black wolf following a flock of geese down the river. The elk took off running at the sight of the lone wolf. This all occureed within the first hour. Needless to say the grandson was impressed (So was I) and was somewhat disappointed with the rest of the trip when the animals didn't appear on cue.


When hiking up Avalanche Lake trail in the Tetons we heard what sounded like an Alpenhorn. We heard it again several times. Finally we met a hiker coming down carrying an Alpenhorn. He was from Switzerland and had hiked to the lake to give a concert at sunrise. We had heard him playing for each hiker he met. He did the same for us and was thrilled that we had visited his homeland.


It's a toss-up between two wildlife encounters. The first was one morning at Agate Fossil Beds NM.  I decided to walk out to the quarries to pass the time before the visitor center opened.  About a mile away from the parking lot, I was startled by a sudden hiss and rattled and nimbly jumped backward from a big rattlesnake I'd surprised.  He hissed at me for awhile, giving me a chance to snap some awesome pictures, before he moved off into the brush.  After a couple more minutes, I started to continue up the trail, but hadn't gone more than ten feet before I was rattle-warned back again.  Wearing only sandals and not being able to see the snake this time, I decided discretion was the order of the day, I turned back to the visitor center where I shared my pictures with the ranger on duty.
The 2nd encounter was near Windigo Vistor Center in Isle Royale NP.  While waiting for a ranger-guided program, I walked the nature trail by myself.  While crossing a particularly brushy area, I was surprised by something suddenly crashing out of the brush ahead of me.  It turned out to be a sizable moose cow, who leaped across the trail and down into some brush below the trail, remaining visible.  I walked the rest of the trail and got back in time for the ranger program, which turned out to be a walk on the very trail I'd just finished!  So when we came back to the spot, I was able to point out the still-visible moose to the rest of the group.  I'm just happy it wasn't Isle Royale's only other large mammal species that I'd encountered that day!


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