So this is just an all around embarrassing story to tell. Yes, I know, the girls look so innocent here. They are very good at posing when they want to.
December hiking brings challenges. It can often be impossible to get to deep mountain trailheads or get up in elevation due to closed and snowy roads. I think of winter as often a time for lower elevation hiking. On this particular day, we went to one of my favorite places in winter (and spring for wildflowers). I was doing the figure 8 loop between Catherine Creek with the full connection to Coyote Wall and the Upper Labyrinth trail system as well as the Indian Pits. I had done the lower Labyrinth system many times, but had yet to explore the upper Labyrinth connecting trails. What better time I thought?
I started in my usual place which I consider my backdoor entry point. No one ever seems to go this way but me. I avoid most of the other people this way and love it. On this particular approach, there is a place I like to think of as my latrine. Every time I go up there, I take a side path around the same corner to a private hideaway to go pee after several miles of hiking and an hour or more of driving. It is a great little place that feels secluded by lots of trees, but with a nice view across an open valley to another ridge. Now what you have to understand is that peeing in winter is a different event than other seasons. It was in the upper 20's on this day with a good wind. I had on a pair of lined fleece leggings under fleece lined snow pants. I had my normal 6 layers of winter hiking clothing above my waist of course. I wear 2 tactical belts besides the waist strap on my pack. One of these has my gun, knife and pedometer. The other clips into the dogs leashes so I can hike hands free.
Well so if you, as a woman, need to pee in the woods in winter, you have to take a lot off. It is not a quick process. So I take off my pack, 2 tactical belts and start working down both lined pants. I am just in position when Nova starts to panic and wants to run. Huh, I thought. That is not normal for her. I actually turned to look up the tree covered embankment behind me thinking a cougar must be ready to pounce on my crouched form. Luckily that was not the case. I looked to my right and left....nothing. But Nova really wanted out of there in a bad way. This is so strange, I thought to myself. But then I looked to see what the wolf was doing. Its always the wolf.
There is not really an easy way to explain this. She had been digging in the snow about a foot from where I was peeing. What she extracted from the snow just then made me jump up and give some sort of high pitched shriek and full body contortion that probably looked like I had a seizure. I don't think I have ever gotten those thick pants up so quickly in my life. There was Josie, very innocently, standing next to me with a fully fleshed deer leg in her mouth with the hoof still intact. Apparently my latrine was also someone's dinner table, at least before the last snow. Now, if you know JosieLynne, or wolves at all, when they find something they want, they are not going to let you have it. Not without a fight.
So at this point, I knew I only had two options. We could A) Keep hiking and pretend that we did not see that a Wolf was hiking with us carrying the lower section of a deer's limb, or B) I could play tug of war with a Wolf over a deer leg. As I thought through these options, I knew exactly what would happen to me. It was a Murphy's law moment waiting to happen for sure. Either option I chose would surely be seen when the only other hikers of the day were bound to show up just in time to watch this show. I tried to think which option would scar and scare someone least. Seeing a grown woman tugging a deer leg out of a wolf's mouth would give someone nightmares for years. Maybe if I pretended it wasn't happening, another hiker wouldn't notice. I asked Nova if she thought it was very noticeable. She gave me the look. "Okay, Okay" I said, "That is pretty hard to hide". By now I was laughing. When I thought about the flesh of that leg sloughing off in my clean winter gloves that I needed to wear all day to prevent frost bite though, the decision was made. "Okay Ladies," I announced. "Let's hike as normally as possible and act like nothing is amiss."
Well the angels were with me this day. Josie only carried it a mile or two and no other hikers came along during that time. When she finally set it down, she agreed to leave it behind and not take it with us for the entire day's hike. What a relief!! But just so I am clear, to prevent hate mail, neither I nor my dogs had anything to do with the death of this poor creature on the trail! I am not sure I will ever be able to use my favorite latrine spot again after this, but time will tell. I can tell you that we all spent the rest of the day laughing.
Since we are sharing all our embarrassing moments, I might as well share something that Nova likes to do. Every now and then she likes me to do a tonsil exam on her. Yup, looks good in there Nova!
If you look closely around Nova's coat arm bands and on her snood you will also see some of the million white bur seed balls we were picking up on this hike. I am still picking those out of the wolf's hair a month later I can tell you that! I might should do a blooper's page of photos the way things are going lately with these innocent Ladies!
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