{"id":1292,"date":"2015-05-04T18:52:12","date_gmt":"2015-05-05T02:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mountainbikebill.com\/blog\/?p=1292"},"modified":"2018-09-09T18:56:10","modified_gmt":"2018-09-10T02:56:10","slug":"cool-critter-encounter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.mountainbikebill.com\/blog\/?p=1292","title":{"rendered":"Cool Critter Encounter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sunday I did an\u00a0MTB ride-along with\u00a0San Dieguito River Park Senior Ranger Dave Hekel<\/a>. After my recent Coast-to-Crest Trail<\/a> trip I had some questions about the park and tagging along on his Sunday patrol was an easy what to chit-chat about the park and get in a ride. \u00a0I ride Lake Hodges<\/a> quite often as of late.\u00a0\u00a0 It is right on the way home so it is in the routine post-work ride rotation.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I have seen lots of critters\u00a0out here on these trails.\u00a0 Deer, snakes, coyotes, rabbits and all kinds of\u00a0birds.\u00a0 On this ride I ended up with a critter encounter of completely different sort.<\/p>\n

\"LakeHodges-03MAY15-01\"<\/a><\/p>\n

While riding the \u201chigh road\u201d single track on the north side we came across an obviously distressed little coyote pup stumbling across the trail like a drunken sailor. After a quick look around the hillside to see if mom was anywhere nearby, I scooped this critter up.\u00a0 It was\u00a0tiny and\u00a0whopped and did not resist in the slightest to me picking it up.\u00a0 A quick scan showed that this female pup was not injured but had pretty big tick in one ear.\u00a0 Dave went up the canyon to see if there was an unattended den but could not find anything.\u00a0 We guessed that this little gal had\u00a0been away from momma for a least a full day or two.<\/p>\n

\"LakeHodges-03MAY15-02\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Talk about camouflage.\u00a0 Look how the coat is a spot on match to the hillside in the background.\u00a0\u00a0While Ranger Dave made phone calls I gave her some water.\u00a0 I\u00a0took the top off\u00a0of my water bottle and turned it upside down and used it as a small bowl. She drank quite a bit of water and it seemed to help as after about 5 minutes she would have a spat of being squirmy.\u00a0 I\u2019m thinking instincts were telling her to get away.\u00a0 I found that if you\u00a0held her\u00a0close to my chest she would\u00a0stay\u00a0 calm. (Much better than the\u00a0one-handed holds for posing her for the camera)<\/p>\n

\"LakeHodges-03MAY15-03\"<\/a>
\n(Whooped but still a cutie)<\/p>\n

While\u00a0Ranger Dave was getting all of the arrangements made\u00a0quite a few riders came by so the this pup because the star of trailside show and tell session.<\/p>\n

\"LakeHodges-03MAY15-06\"<\/a>
\n(Check out how long those claws are for its size)<\/p>\n

Soon the rangers had a\u00a0plan.\u00a0\u00a0 I rode\/walked\u00a0the\u00a0rest of\u00a0upper singletrack\u00a0with this pup nuzzled up between one hand and my chest to a meet up spot with another ranger with a truck. While Dave and I waited for the other ranger to arrive\u00a0the pup feel asleep in my hands.\u00a0 There was a point when we wondered if she had \u201cchecked out\u201d but then I could feel her\u00a0chest going in and out so things were\u00a0good.\u00a0Once the other rangers arrived we handed off the pup to them and they were off to a\u00a0nearby wildlife recovery facility.<\/p>\n

\"LakeHodges-03MAY15-07\"<\/p>\n

After that we went off to finish out the rest of the patrol.\u00a0\u00a0 We did encounter a rattlesnake on the trail and I did a slight\u00a0bump stop into the back of Dave.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Normally seeing a rattlesnake is kind of a big deal but considering that this was the 14th rattler I have seen this year (I typically only see 2-4 a year) along with the coyote pup just a little while ago, this rattler\u00a0sighting was kind of ho hum.\u00a0 It was a beautiful day but after the coyote pup and the rattler then return trip back the ranger office was\u00a0uneventful.\u00a0 This was a most excellent day to be out\u00a0 on a bike and\u00a0 reinforced to me that\u00a0your next life enriching event could be right around the next bend in the trail.<\/p>\n

More Stuff Like This<\/h3><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Wildhorse \u2013 SART<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t La Costa Tuesday<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
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<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Wednesday Alpine Stoke<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n<\/div>