@benhmiller

Karen and I always carry two hiking poles. Karen carries cougar spray and has never used it.

Dangerous Animals: Unleashed Dogs

In the past six years, I have been attacked by eight dogs while hiking and snowshoeing. It took six months for my knee ligament to heal after one terrifying dog attack. None of the dog owners apologized or controlled their dogs. Now I feel afraid of strange dogs.

To fend off dogs, Karen taught me to vigorously swing my poles, criss-crossing them at my feet. Dogs back off.

"Stop swinging your poles," dog owners protest. "You'll poke his eyes out!" "That's the point," I reply, amused. "Control your dog! Grab his collar." They never do.

Disrespectful, selfish dog owners.

@behhmiller

For safety, I never hike alone.

@t1nick

Good catch. I meant "coyote." Fixed the typo. Thanks.

Gray wolves and grizzlies came to Washington from Canada.

Hike with a metal cane even a sharp one.....defend from large animals attacking you two .....if the deer all get poisoned by TrumpOLINI predators will be hungry for you

@Larry68Feminist

Cougar attacks and sightings are extremely rare.

Over 44 years of hiking over 200 miles/year, I have only seen two cougars. They were together in Olympic National Park.

Karen hikes with her dog every day. She carries cougar spray and has never used it.

I never hike alone.

@LiterateHiker true most habitat destruction/poisoning is agricultural not forestry but TrumpOLINI is escalating species extinction and animals are bound to retaliate.....Grizzlies are a good example....dams have ruined salmon runs their prime food source so people wound up inside grizzly bear bellies

@Larry68Feminist

Grizzly bears are omnivorous, meaning they eat both flora and fauna. Although they are on the top of the predator list, their diet consists mostly of berries, roots, grasses, fruit, nuts, leaves, and fish. However, they do eat large animals such as moose and elk, as well as small rodents.

Human bodies are not their normal food source.

What do Grizzly Bears Eat?

[animalstime.com]

@LiterateHiker I agree about normal observation of Griz, but for weeks/months of salmon runs Griz yearly travel to the rivers and if human dams down river greatly reduce salmon, other animals including humans are ripe for grizzlies to substitute for missing fish

@RoyMillar

Thank you!

Winter Solstice. Dusk fell in the woods at 2 p.m. as the sun dropped below mountain ridges.

@literate Hiker , Your right it was a beautiful Solstice day yesterday,Happy you enjoyed it in Nature

@Larry58Feminist

There are a few grizzly bears in North Cascade Mountains, WA. Ranchers fight against restoring wolves and grizzlies.

Historically, gray wolves were common throughout much of Washington, but were all but wiped out by humans by the 1930s. In 2008, Washington wildlife managers documented the state’s first breeding wolf pack in modern time

[wdfw.wa.gov]

@LiterateHiker what about morel mushrooms ? None in pine forests but could be in hardwood river bottoms ??

@Larry68Feminist

Morel mushroom are found in May. Professional mushroom hunters strip the woods of Morels, selling them in Seattle for big bucks.

Morels grow after wildfires. Here I'm covered in ash, hunting for Morels after the Chiwaukum Creek wildfire. We found a few. May 2015.

@LiterateHiker another example of capitalist greed....selling more morels than a family can eat

@Larry68Feminist

Morels grow are in coniferous forests, too. The most important thing is moisture. Morels are found at the base of dead trees on north-facing slopes. They proliferate after forest fires.