Coyote Encounter

I posted before and said that I had never encountered a coyote in the wild. In saying that, I lied, accidentally of course. There was one time but in my defense I wasn’t hiking but instead was riding in a vehicle.

I’ve seen sign of coyote all over the mountains but had never encountered one before this one and haven’t run in to any since. This one was just a bit smaller than a German shepherd and looked like hunting had been good for him. (I don’t know which sex it was but for the sake of the telling it was a him)

We were on the Old Logan Turnpike between Lake Stephens and Glen Daniels. We had just come around a curve in the road and there he was. He was standing in the bend of the next curve, about thirty feet away, looking right at us. I thought it was too cool I had my camera but there was no way he was sticking around long enough for a photo shoot. On seeing us he hesitated but for a second then turned and ran away. We followed him a little ways around the road but he was fast and decided he didn’t want to be here right now and he was gone.

Later on that same afternoon, sirens from fire and ambulance echoed up the hollow. (Hidden Valley) There’s something about sirens that make most dogs howl. I don’t know why but some say that, because of the high pitch, it hurts their ears. But I don’t know for sure. I asked my dog Sam but shes wasn’t talking.

Anyway, when the sirens started I found out that basically we were surrounded by coyotes. Not literally, but they were howling from everywhere. I still can’t believe as much time as I spend in the woods and with as many coyote as there apparently are that I haven’t encountered one before now.

btw— I’ll post about the Old Logan Turnpike in the next few days. Interesting local history.

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