Catchy title huh?!? Well its all true. Coming off of a conversation with one of my oldest and dearest friends last Sunday, Joe Heslin, I was shocked today to be in a similar but not exact situation to what he just experienced. Joe lives up in the hinterland (not really) of Vermont. He is an avid biker especially mountain bikes. Loves to make 'em, brake 'em and fix 'em. Skills that he acquired in the wide open spaces of Colorado. Being in a land of great trails Joe was out from work (vacation days are excellent are they not) on a great day last week. Riding a pretty common trail that he has rode countless times before. He stopped to catch hi breath near an ash or birch tree, whichever has the peeling bark we are familiar with.
Relaxing for a bit he starts to look at the tree and realizes its covered with slick, crimsony, oily substance. It looks familiar but then it doesn't. He moves in a bit closer and recognition kicks in. Crimsony, dark very viscous...blood. Heaps and heaps of it all over this tree. Not too old since its not that umber brown of dried blood but not too fresh as its already thickening up and changing color. About this type the visual scan moves a bit higher and immediately catches the distinct four finger slashes of...wait for it...wait...yes, a bear. Not a small bear by the way. If its big enough to get slash marks up near chest level on a tree. About this time the inner alarm bells must have been sounding. As Joe relayed the story, out came the phone, called his wife to let her know where he was and that the proverbial scat was hitting the fan, and that he would be calling her in 5 minutes as soon as he was off the trail. Exit stage left. Now when he told me the story it was hilarious for both he and I but he made it quite clear that the moment of panic of where your standing and what had just happened there is wayyyyyyyyyyy creepy.
I say all that to say this. As promised earlier today I said I was going running. Around about 11:30 the day got slow so I figured let me put in some miles now before lunch. I mean I'm only running a few cause that's all I can right now. I take off down the trail which runs right in front of our house. Its perfect for walking, running and mountain biking. Its about 25 miles long. From Nyack south to the George Washington Bridge. It used to be train tracks. Anyway I set out for my run. Heading south down the path. Like a woman on fire I see a woman and her dog bolt past me like...well as if they are on fire. That was not jogging or even running. That, was RUNNING. Fear induced running. Immediately I think that our neighbors up the block Laura and Andrew recently told us that in the paper as well as "word on the street" is that there is one possibly two large cats loose in the area. Now from my limited knowledge the only real big cats in the U.S. are the mountain lion which is in the western states, the Bobcat not sure of their range, and of course the cougar which may or may not be in these parts.
I continue running and thinking. Deep in my thoughts I continue on. I get to the visual marker I know is about a mile in and turn around. By this time I think that woman must have spooked herself. There's nothing out here at this time. I begin heading back. I get about .25 miles back down the trail I start seeing little tufts of hair. Interesting I think. I keep running. More hair and what looks like skin. A bit farther and, bingo. Mangles skin from something fairly big like a deer and the coup d' grace an entire ribcage and a portion of the spine picked and/or licked clean. I slow down to get a better look. Its definitely not a fresh kill but its a big kill. That's when I got the little alarm...hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm big cat(s), deer carcass right on a well trafficked area. Needless to say I picked up the pace. It was real fear. I've felt that rock climbing or being in the presence of immense waves in Hawaii. This was more along the lines of intense concern. The pace quickened a bit more.
Before I knew it I was back home. Sweaty, panting and laughing at myself. No one wants to end up on "When Animals Attack." Don't act like you've never seen it.
