Encounters on the trail

My doctor this week asked me what I do for exercising and I told him hiking, although I don't do enough of it.  I also told him I was going hiking this weekend in Chino Hills State Park.

I've been up there a couple of times in the past and I'd actually forgotten about one of my hiking trips up there.  I remember the hike, just didn't remember exactly where I'd been.  Now I know.  But I digress.

For this of you who do any kind of hiking, you know you can encounter just about anything out there.  I've seen deer, bobcats, lizards, butterflies and tarantulas while out on the trail.  Most of you already know too, that when I say hiking, I also mean geocaching.  They are kind of synonymous with me.

About the two scariest things that I've encountered while out geocaching are a mountain lion and rattlesnakes.  Please note the "S" on the end of rattlesnakes.  I've encountered more than one.

The mountain lion was seen in San Dimas canyon after a great walk back there to pick up a fantastically put together geocache called Curiouser and Curiouser.  As we were standing at the trailhead after a successful completion of finding the cache, I noticed what looked like a coyote up the trail walking toward me.  

As soon as I said, "Hey, look at the coyote up there," something told me there was something wrong with that coyote.  I couldn't put my finger on it until it made a left hand turn into the bushes and we saw the long sleek tail.  That wasn't a coyote, but a mountain lion walking toward us.  Since it was near dusk, we all decided that it would be a good thing if we headed out as quickly as we could and get back to our car.  Because of the light, I never did get a photo of the cat.

Yesterday, while out hiking in Chino Hills, I saw my sixth rattlesnake.  My friend was leading our group by about 10 yards or so ahead of us when we heard the distinctive rattle of this snake's tail.  There's always a little adrenal rush when you hear that, but my friend did a little jig and backed away quickly and the snake stopped rattling, although it never did uncoil and totally relax after that.  From what I've been able to find on-line, this one was either a Southwestern Speckled Rattlesnake or a Panamint Rattlesnake.  I've never seen one quite this color before.

Anyway, this is more of a public service announcement, more than anything else today.  With the weather getting warmer, encounters with snakes will become more common.  Be careful out there.  As a ranger once told me at Yellowstone National Park, "If you cause an animal to stop and alter its normal routine, you're too close to the animal."  We kept a safe distance between us and the snake, snapped a couple of shots and then left it in peace.  Let's hope all animal encounters by you are like this one.