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August 26, 2006
Things that Snort in the Woods
I'm pretty sure that discovering something that snorts in the woods is much akin to learning about that which goes bump in the night. In this case, moderately alarming at first, then vastly entertaining by the end.
My friend and I were out on a trail run this afternoon, on a well-traveled trail not too far out in the wilderness. I hadn't seen her in several days, so as we ran along at a steady pace, we were chatting, laughing, and generally enjoying ourselves. Perhaps this meant that we weren't paying much attention to our surroundings? You might think that she and I would proceed with caution and attentiveness as it was her and I who had had an untimely meeting with a grizzly bear and her cub on a trail run last week.
It was a gorgeously, cool day, by the way. Some weird weather front came through yesterday, cooled things off, and even brought some light rain. For the first time since spring, the winds and weather are blowing from the north (I'm afraid to admit that weather from the north signals the approach of fall, which I'm not at all prepared for.). It was probably 65 or 70 degrees and with a cool breeze. I can't ask for better running weather.
We were rounding a bend in the trail and we heard 2 voices shouting. We wheeled around the corner, and then came to a grinding halt. There, around the corner, was a man and woman, standing at attention, looking into the woods nearby, holding pepper spray, and shouting. They yelled to us that there was a bear in the woods. Sure enough, as soon as we stopped and listened, we heard loud crashing noises in the brush and a series of snorts. We added our voices to the caucophony of animal noises in the wilderness, thinking that we had just stumbled upon one of those situations that can only be identified as not good.
The brush-crunching noises soon stopped, so we knew the animal wasn't moving towards us at least. However, the snorting persisted. We moved back and forth along the trail, still shouting, looking for an animal camouflaged in the woods. All through this, the animal continued to snort. Finally, we eased around a small curve in the trail and an elk became visible. A snorting elk in the woods. It seemed that this elk was having a bad day, allergy-wise. It sure scared the other hikers, as well as us.
The four of us all had a good laugh, and then we went on our merry way.
Posted by Meghan at August 26, 2006 10:42 PM
Comments
The pre-race dinner and course briefing the night before the White River 50-Miler (near Mount Rainier) is often held at a place called the Snorting Elk Cellar. However, it's never been clear to me (until now) whether elks really snort and, if so, why. Thanks for clearing that up!
Posted by: crowther at August 29, 2006 4:22 PM