When Animals Attack!

Okay, not really, but I've been having a couple of wonderful interactions with animals on the AT recently.

While in New Jersey I saw 8 bears, and had a couple visit my tent site after dark. Sparky and I were camping soundly in the vicinity of Island Pond, in NY, and he woke up at 2 am and heard a couple of them moving around.  He made some noise to scare them off, and I woke up to hear a high pitched yowling as they moved away (I sleep REALLY well on the trail, apparently, if I don't hear a 400 lb bear nosing around my tent at night).  It makes me wonder how many other animals come near my tent at night while I'm sleeping.  Incidentally, there are only a couple of photos of the 14 bears I've seen total because, hey, they're big and they're bears, and as soon as I see one I tend to back up really, really fast.

This young bear was eating his way through a blueberry patch (which was 

also what I was doing, until I ran into him).

I got within six inches of this guy. I am the FROG WHISPERER!

This video was taken about a mile before the William Brien Memorial Shelter. (Amber, if you're reading this, you might not want to watch or listen to this video, and also might want to ignore the next couple photos.)

Apparently rattlesnakes are considered endangered in New York, and messing around with them or killing one can bring along a hefty fine. I know that some of you are worried with how curious I am about the rattlesnakes, but you should know that the thought of the fine is keeping me in check. This is not the case with the Eastern Hognose Snake, shown below.

 

An Eastern Hognose Snake that curled up as if he were going 

to strike me after I gave him a pat on the tail. He also rattled his tail

against the dry leaves to mimic a rattlesnake.  COOL!

Apparently the Hognose Snake will play dead if you mess with them enough.  

Hey, Frodo- you might not want to hike with me for a while, because I 

want to check that out.

The next video is from Nuclear Lake, near Pawling, NY.  The lake is man-made, and was near a former nuclear experimental facility, which was shut down in the 1970s after several plutonium spills.  Apparently the area has been adequately remediated and is safe to visit, but still... one of those things you'd like to know BEFORE you stick your feet in the water.

 

At any rate, I wasn't sure what kind of fish these were.  Logically I knew that they weren't phiranna, as I was hiking in New York, and not South America, but their agressive pursuit of my feet made me feel a bit nervous about them.  Oddly enough, they were not as interested in my hands, although a couple of them did nibble on my fingers.

 She looks so grumpy!

At one point I had about 20 of these guys hanging around, 

waiting for a chance to nibble at my toes.  CREEPY!