(no subject)
The SB and I have been trying to get our hiking thing on. For one reason or another (but mostly heat and ticks), we haven't been out much since last spring, but we made it out last Sunday for a 2 1/2 miler, Wednesday for a 4, and then again Monday for five miles.
Usually, we see nearly no wildlife. Like, barely even any bugs or birds. The trails are fairly well used, especially by mountain bikers (I'm sure that's the wrong term now, but you probably know what I mean), which probably keeps most of the critters away. But these last few times, we saw the many-babies-totin' spider, and a good sized terrapin. Maybe because we got there earlier than usual, but this last time we saw even more. As we were pulling in Wednesday morning, we saw a deer wandering at the edge of the road and not very far down the trail, we came across this little surprise.
She seemed pretty chill. Literally. She just lay there, stretched across the path, and the only thing that she moved was her pretty little head. That she kept trained on us, but she didn't offer to move along, even after I got up the nerve to (very delicately) poke her tail with my trekking pole. Didn't even twitch. Finally, when it became obvious she wasn't going anywhere, we got up the gumption to very carefully scoot between her back end and a tree and went along our merry way, but I can definitely say I was keeping my eyes peeled for what we have come to call "the other one". Seems like any time you see one copperhead, there's another nearby, but we only saw the one this time. By the time we came back through, the day had warmed up considerably and she was long gone. Showed her pic to the local ranger and she asked, a little hesitantly, "Did you kill it?" Of course not! We were in her place. Now, if she comes into our place, we're a little less sanguine! Besides, this picture gives a better idea of her size.
Such a tiny little thing, with a bright green sprout of a tail. This may give some idea of how we got up the nerve to go around. The trail is barely one person wide, so I don't think she was more than twelve inches long. Still not to be trifled with, but not nearly as freaky as a big, lively one.
The SB's camera takes much better pictures, so if I can ever get him to upload them, I'll put those up instead. We saw another big terrapin that day, lots of beautiful butterflies, and one bright green caterpillar inching along the path. Weather's finally starting to take a cool turn, so we should be making it out to the woods even more often.
Usually, we see nearly no wildlife. Like, barely even any bugs or birds. The trails are fairly well used, especially by mountain bikers (I'm sure that's the wrong term now, but you probably know what I mean), which probably keeps most of the critters away. But these last few times, we saw the many-babies-totin' spider, and a good sized terrapin. Maybe because we got there earlier than usual, but this last time we saw even more. As we were pulling in Wednesday morning, we saw a deer wandering at the edge of the road and not very far down the trail, we came across this little surprise.
She seemed pretty chill. Literally. She just lay there, stretched across the path, and the only thing that she moved was her pretty little head. That she kept trained on us, but she didn't offer to move along, even after I got up the nerve to (very delicately) poke her tail with my trekking pole. Didn't even twitch. Finally, when it became obvious she wasn't going anywhere, we got up the gumption to very carefully scoot between her back end and a tree and went along our merry way, but I can definitely say I was keeping my eyes peeled for what we have come to call "the other one". Seems like any time you see one copperhead, there's another nearby, but we only saw the one this time. By the time we came back through, the day had warmed up considerably and she was long gone. Showed her pic to the local ranger and she asked, a little hesitantly, "Did you kill it?" Of course not! We were in her place. Now, if she comes into our place, we're a little less sanguine! Besides, this picture gives a better idea of her size.
Such a tiny little thing, with a bright green sprout of a tail. This may give some idea of how we got up the nerve to go around. The trail is barely one person wide, so I don't think she was more than twelve inches long. Still not to be trifled with, but not nearly as freaky as a big, lively one.
The SB's camera takes much better pictures, so if I can ever get him to upload them, I'll put those up instead. We saw another big terrapin that day, lots of beautiful butterflies, and one bright green caterpillar inching along the path. Weather's finally starting to take a cool turn, so we should be making it out to the woods even more often.