Interesting animals or close dangerous encounters on a trail run?

Pretty standard stuff but once I was running up a hill at dusk and a pack of coyotes started howling like crazy, as soon as I crested the hill the sound cut out like a knife. I saw a ton of coyotes scatter throughout the brush and boulders, pretty cool and a little scary.

Saw 4 turkey vultures on a fence with their wings spread basically wing tip to wing tip. They not the most beautiful birds but big and pretty impressive.

While running along a single file track with a cliff on one side and a cliff face on the other I had a Kangaroo come bounding towards me at full speed. It hadn’t seen me and it was only before it was about 3 Meters from me that I yelled ‘Look out’. I had nowhere to go other then jump off the cliff but thankfully the Kangaroo was able to jump up the cliff face and we both continued on our journey. I’ve also jumped over countless deadly snakes while out running on trails and also had a couple of drop bears fall out of trees and land on me.

I have seen a moose, a couple black bear, several rattler and king snakes (they eat rattlers), many, many coyote, a marmot, seals (on the beach), owl, falcon, and golden eagle, all in California and Colorado. The moose was the best, particularly because I inadvertently snuck up on him/her.

Back in HS for CC we were out running in a secluded wooded area by Lake Michigan in WI. Suddenly we realized that rocks were being thrown at us. One of the guys saw a figure run off and we cornered what ended-up being a boy about 13 - and he was completely naked. It turns out he had a little compound built with a fort, clearing, fire pit, spears made, etc. and we were on his turf. He was basically playing out some kind of primordial fantasy. We nicknamed him Nature Boy.

Being a city dweller I don't see much wildlife on my normal runs, but one day on the Chicago lakepath I saw a coyote trotting along. It nonchalantly was coming down the path towards me - at first I thought it was a shaggy dog some lazy owner lost track of, but I passed within 10 feet of it and it was clearly a coyote.

Didn't seem aggressive or skittish, and just passed me by minding its own business. Wonder why it had even got there.

Hawkrunner wrote:

What HS and what college did you run for?

Boarding school - PA, Ursinus '93

You?

Mine is a momma bear and her 4 baby cubs in north jersey... the cubs were so tiny and uncoordinated one rolled down the hill. One time I saw a mountain lion, it wasn't that big though...

I was once followed for about a quarter mile by a goat.

And my mother saw a bear.

All in rural Connecticut.

Maestro wrote:

I've been charged by a mountain lion, mule deer, and hit on the head by an owl. Saw a Peregrine Falcon attacking a Golden Eagle and was attacked by a Peregrine while solo rock climbing. Came upon a cinnamon phase black bear dragging a road kill deer up a hill, as well as a mother with two cubs (twice).

While XC skiing got a good look at a Goshawk feasting on a Snowshoe Hare. Hopped over a pacific rattler and encountered a couple of Western Diamondbacks. Needless to say I prefer to steer clear of heavy "mooose" or Grizzly country (although there are a few of both around).

The most dangerous things are idiots in cars and dogs though.

Good job of the OP on mentioning 3 out of 4 animals NOT found at Western States.

All four of the animals he mentioned can be found in the western states, depending on how you define what "western states" means.

dmb wrote:

Hawkrunner wrote:

What HS and what college did you run for?

Boarding school - PA, Ursinus '93

You?

Ridge and st. Josephs for college. You must have grown up in somerset or Morris county to be running in the great swamp or patriots path. Nice places to run.

A Duck

carrier pigeon

Charging moose (multiple) in Red Lodge, MT.

Part wolf/huskies in Salmon, ID.

We have come close to both bobcats and mountain lions in Red Lodge, Billings, and Helena, MT.

No bears, yet. (knock on wood).

Moose are probably the most scary thing to run into.

I was running on a railroad bed in Vermont that is also used occasionally by horseback riders. The trail was long, straight and deserted. From about 800m out I saw what I thought was a horse. As I got closer I couldn't see a rider. As I got even closer it started to look like a really BIG horse (city boy - it didn't have antlers). I was less than 50m away when I realized it was a moose just standing there watching me run toward it. It didn't seem threatened so I just kept running. When I was almost right up to it the moose just slowly stepped into the woods and didn't even turn its head. It was still standing in pretty much the same spot when I came back the same way about 20 minutes later.

I was running along the edge of Tampa Bay at twilight on a concrete sidewalk with a seawall. My footsteps must have startled a perching pelican on the other side of the wall because it jumped up vertically as I passed and I jumped too. It startled the shit out of me. It was huge.

3 Urban Pavement apes attacked me while I was running in what I thought was a nice Suburb of Cleveland, managed to get away by running into traffic, ended up with a black eye and a busted lip. Feral savage apes.

black bear and coyotes.....not too nervous.

i twisted my ankle pretty bad on a trail that was very remote. limping along I hear this really deep growl come from the ravine and these big bushes going swaying.

I think its a bear.

So I start to make the most threatening primal noises I can muster up out of pure instinct.

Thats when a mama raccoon ran back up her tree with her two little cubs

damn...

I misinterpreted "Western States" to mean the 100 mile race in the Sierras, since it was capitalized. Certainly all the listed animals are found in the American West.

As for moose, I have encountered them at chillingly close quarters in Teton Nat. Park, (including a mother and newborn calf...yikes!!). They are scary if, like I did, you encounter them in a willow marsh. If on the other hand, you are in an area with trees or rocks to climb, not so much. Cougars have a creepiness factor that is enough to keep you looking over your shoulder for years after encountering one (not to mention carrying pepper spray or a knife).

Haha, "Maestro" so you were referring to the 100 mile race, huh? Wow, talk about nitpicking going astray. Geez! I would think the poster would know which animals they had encountered in the western states they were in!