Eyes in the darkness

Sunset...it's coming...

The days are much shorter now, winter is well on its way. The darkness is broken up by some street lamps and my own head lamp. I start to run through the grass on my usual trail. The dogs are ecstatic as they've been cooped up in the house all day while I was at work. At some point Czari passes me and jumps up so high past me I'm worried he'll jump over me. Zuz is a furry little blur in the grass. After about an hour of prancing around we're on our way back. I thought I saw some shadows moving a while back so we're walking a lot slower and more attentively now. Poochies are on leashes since we're approaching the road.  Czari's walking nicely right next to me, scanning the area, my hand brushes his head accidentally once in a while. Zuz is keeping up behind me. I'm scanning the shadows with my headlamp, just in case the coyotes decide to pay us a visit. Its not very likely since I haven't seen them in this area for a very long time...but you never know.

As fate would have it, today is my lucky day! There, in the grass, something is shinning back at me, a pair of eyes...I shout out at it and alert Czari. He's staring in the shadows trying to figure out what I'm looking at, there's no wind and the eyes are far away. I can't see a body, but it's staring straight at us and its bigger than a coyote. I wait and it advances forward a little bit, I shout out again. Czari's starting to pull on the leash. I pet him a bit and wait. I learned the trick to always stay calm a while ago, I'm pretty good at it by now. The eyes take one more step and then the head lifts, it turns around and walks calmly away. From the back and the walk I can finally tell what it is...a big deer. It vanishes into the grasses in a couple seconds and I relax. Czari's not completely convinced. We start walking towards the car and he's still restless, pulling once in a while. He's controlling himself well though, so I decide to let him go investigate. The deer is long gone.

I expected him to charge ahead like usual as soon as I tell him go, but he starts walking forward slowly and low to the ground. He stops to sniff the wind, but there's just not that much wind. He walks again closer and stops again. Tries to sniff again...walks closer, and then jumps away suddenly a few times. Walks around the area in a circle. Then goes all the way to the spot and sniffs. I see him walk around the spot a bit and check up and down the hill. He goes to pee on a bush nearby, and then just walks back calmly and I pet him, tell him he did a good job and put him back on leash. I tell Zuzi "good job" too, because she stayed with me calmly instead of barking. She too has gotten much better are following my cues when we're hiking. She's still a little silly though...what can I say, she's just a different dog :P.

I really thought Czari was just going to go running after the deer when he realized that's what it was...Yet again I am positively surprised by my dog's innate and acquired wisdom. How he seems to just know when to charge and when to approach situations calmly and take his time to figure out what he's dealing with. Of course, each time he comes back and looks to see if I'm happy with what he did or not and each time I give feedback. That helps too. But this situation was completely new for him and he handled it very well.

As for the mystery deer, I suppose it was perplexed by our presence...figured out what we were and then decided we are not worth pursuing...though I have to say it really did look like it was about to charge me for a few seconds there, but maybe it was just curious. I guess we'll never know...

A winter's tale...

Czari & Deer leg - previous hike when it wasn't pitch black!

It is late fall, and the days are getting shorter, colder. Here, it is already dark by 7pm. The colder weather moves in quickly. It was hot and sunny yesterday. Today, I woke up to the first light layer of snow. It isn't too bad yet and I convince myself that it's still kinda summer. I like summer (I really, really like summer) and I really hate the fact that it's so short here! I miss the days when summer was 4 months at least and by the end of it I was as brown as a potato. So, I like pretending it lasts longer than it actually does...

I love going hiking after work. There's something addictive about that feeling of freedom, especially after being closed in for 8 hours.The sunset is at around 7:30 pm, and I finish work at 7 pm, but I convince myself I can somehow still pull it off. Plus, I have a new head lamp I'm dying to try out. It's amazing how quickly I can convince myself to do these things...truly...it's amazing!

I race home after work and load up the dogs in the car. Half-way to the mountains the blizzard starts. In addition, there's no moon on this night. For those who did not know (aka myself before this little adventure), that means it's pitch black in the mountains...no artificial street lights up there...they make a difference, yea. It's one of those days when I really feel compelled to keep going though.

The blizzard is done by the time we reach our destination. There is however, a LOT of snow on the ground. I park next to the highway and figure I'll just walk alongside it for a bit and come back quickly. I start making lots of noise as soon as I get out and release my dogs. Czari gets to work right away scouting the forest. I notice that the area is quite beautiful at night. There is a short hill that descents into a little valley; its surrounded by forest but the valley is open and only a couple minutes from the highway. As I start walking the fresh snow crackles with each step. There are ice crystals on every branch that sparkle in the light from my headlamp. Its cold, and my feet hurt a lot but I start to think it was worth it. Where else would I see this? I try to take a picture but it doesn't show up on camera...some things can't be photographed.

I start to jog a little to warm up and get some blood flow back in my feet. Zuzi is sticking close to me, she knows the routine and she is smart enough to not venture far at night. Czari is a rapidly moving shadow to my left, zig-zagging every which way. Once in a while I call him, and he comes to check in on me. A huge head and a pair of glowing eyes pokes its way out of the tree line. I say "good boy"  and he goes back to doing his thing. The head lamp is very useful, I can shine it all around and see if other pairs, of less-familiar glowing eyes, shine back at me. About 15 min in Czari starts barking at something in a very pissed-off way. I look at Zuz, she looks at me, and I say "let's go" - she understands these situations; when its potentially dangerous she gets a LOT smarter, and more obedient, in a flash. We start running up the hill, towards the car. Czari sounds farther off, still barking his head off. Zuz is sticking close by, she resists the impulse to run straight to the car without me, and as soon as I get to the top of the hill I put her on leash. If anything does show up, she's the best target...

Miss Cougar-bait

I load Zuzi into the car and start yelling for Czari. A few minutes later, there's a familiar shadow moving towards me along the side of the highway. Czari is back but he's not happy, he's pacing and sniffing at the ground, stops to bark again, sniffs some more. I can't coax him closer to me so I get in the car and drive to him. When I get there, he finally comes to me and I load him in the car. I go to see what had him so intrigued. I walk to the spot where he was most intent on scratching and peeing and there it is, right on the side of the highway: fresh cougar poop. 

So, basically...

There was a cougar pooping on the side of the highway and Czari chased the crap out of it! 

I do feel a little guilty...the cougar had the right to crap in peace and I disturbed it's bathroom break. I may have mumbled "oops, sorry" and thought maybe I should not do this at night anymore - it's probably a bad idea. Then I got back into the car and told Czari he's the best-est doggy ever!!! Without him, chances are I would have been cougar poop too (to be honest - Zuzi can outrun me).

Not a flattering picture...

So ended my first wintery night hike. Yea - some lessons require repetition...No one's perfect!

The story continues...