Q&A: What sort of wildlife are you seeing?

c) Andrew Carter, 2021

If you have a question you’d like answered, submit it in the Comments section and I will try to address it.

Here’s a question that several people have asked, but often the real question is, “Have you seen a bear, a mountain lion, or rattlesnakes?” The answer to that specific question is, “No, I have not.”

Generally, you won’t see a bear unless you are in a campsite where bears have become habituated to the opportunity to steal hiker food. That’s not likely to happen until I reach the Sierra. And in the Sierra, in order to address this, hikers are required to carry a hard plastic bear container which bears can’t open or crush. The penalty for hikers is two pounds of dead weight. Ugg!

The only time I’ve seen bears while hiking is when I’ve come quietly around a corner from down-wind such that the bear had no warning (smell or sound) before actually seeing me. Once a truly wild bear sees you, they take off.

On the mountain lion front, I don’t want to see a mountain lion unless it’s from a great distance. They are stealth animals and if you see one up close, it’s generally not a good thing.

I have seen rattlesnakes often while hiking, just not yet on this trip. I have seen four non-venomous snakes.

Rattlers definitely get the adrenaline flowing, but the rattling is their way of saying, “Back off!” Rattlesnakes only tend to strike if you don’t heed this warning or in the rare instance when one is scrambling on rocks and happens to put one’s hand near an opening where a rattler is hiding. I don’t personally know anyone who has been bitten by a rattlesnake.

So what animals have I seen? Here’s a list:

Insects — beetles, caterpillars (just two or three), butterflies (just one), grasshoppers (just one), bees, ants, and gnats. Fortunately, no mosquitos yet, although those will come. And I have only experienced gnats on part of one day. One chose to commit suicide by flying down my throat. Ack. The moral here is to breath though your nose.

I do carry non-aerosol bug spray and a bug net with me for when the bugs do get bad. That’s going to happen once I flip north. Snowy mountains are notorious in the spring and summer for mosquitos, gnats, black flies, and the like.

Reptiles — lizards, lizards, and more lizards. Also, the four non-venomous snakes mentioned above.

Birds — pheasant, quail, woodpeckers (heard and seen), owls (heard, not seen), ravens (I love their croaking), hawks (just one, amazingly), ducks flying in the desert (they must have been lost), and lots of smaller birds (some song birds, some not). On the small bird front, I’m partial to chickadees. That’s because 40 years ago when I was hiking the Appalachian Trail and I hit my first cold, rainy day, the only other animals I saw in the woods were the chickadees who kept me company while I hiked down the trail.

Here’s a raven hiking the trail.

Oh yes, I forgot. One rare white albatross.

Mammals — ground squirrels, tree squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits, coyote (heard, not seen), deer, and one small grey fox. I came around a corner and there it was perhaps 50 or 60 yards ahead of me. It took off.

I’m sure I’ve seen the droppings of other animals. They often use the trail at night to get from one place to another.

Since the trail does pass through ranch land, I have seen cattle and horses. I’ve also seen a father and son on horseback, riding the trail. (The PCT can be hiked and ridden. In fact, it’s graded its entire length to make riding easier.)

I did come across this one steer using the trail near Tehachapi.

Sadly, no one taught him about “Leave No Trace” practices.

To be honest, his mother may have left this behind, not him.

Finally, there were the remains of this one cow who committed the cardinal sin of not bringing enough water with him into the desert.

A rough lesson, I know.