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Friday, November 28, 2008

Charged by a mad javelina






The forecasted rain really hit late on Wednesday until early Thursday. By late morning the grey clouds gave way to blue skies and mild temperatures.

Kevin was still feeling sick but still managed to make a complete turkey while I steam-cleaned all the carpets and two of the vehicles. Too tired to go anywhere, we stayed home. He’s still coughing and speaking with a raspy voice and I’m still congested at times.

Today was back to normal and I couldn’t wait to walk off some turkey with the dogs. What I planned as a four-mile walk with the dogs to the green water tanks off Highway 90 turned into an almost six-mile walk from the house to Kelly Springs in Hunter Canyon. We walked along the frontage road and cross the highway via the drainage crossing that was still partially flooded from yesterday’s rains. By now the dogs recognized the area and picked up the pace; chasing each other on the soft, wet ground, through dead grasses and scratchy catclaw acacias.

Shooters were out today in full force, so I stayed in the wash along the road. We eventually made it to Kelly Springs were we rested for a while before walking back the same way, via immigrant trails back toward the wash.

A lone adult javelina charged after me near the cattle crossing off Hunter Canyon Road (Forest Road 367). Its rustling aroused my senses and when I turned around to see what was causing the noise, I panicked. Holy shit, that thing is big I thought. (And ugly too. That javelina looked like a giant head with teeth and fur) Thank goodness the dogs were off leash here as all three went after it. The javelina must not have seen the dogs because it now was startled and ran off, but was confused as to which direction to run in as the dogs were coming from all directions trying to envelope it. Sadie went after the javelina straight on. I heard her yelp behind the shrubs but couldn’t see anything.

Dogs and javalina were now out of sight. I heard barking and rustling but low-lying shrubbery concealed everything. Oh shit, I thought, one of them is going to come back with body parts missing. "SARA! SADIE! SAMMY!" I yelled a few times. All three returned with not a scrape on them shortly thereafter, like nothing had happened. The excitement was over for now. They had saved me from the evils of a mad javelina.

Three men were shooting targets on our way back, right off the trail we had come on. The dogs stopped in their tracts at the first gunshot. Even Sara, who normally walks 100’ ahead of me at any given time, retreated behind me. Only Sadie showed an interest in approaching the men, but I took the dogs on a wide berth around them as I had had enough adventure for the day.

The last fun event was Sammy rolling around in a mule deer carcass off the trail. The carcass stunk and I could smell decay on Sammy the rest of the walk home.

We got back home in three hours. Kevin was in the kitchen finishing his touches on his homemade turkey soup with grilled American cheese sandwiches.

“The dogs smell like shit!” said Kevin .

“It’s Sammy, he rolled around in a smelly deer carcass…”

Sammy got a bath within an hour.

It was a lovely walk through cool, moist trails. The sky was overcast the entire time. This hike would have been a torture in the summer, but today it was 54F when I got home at 2pm.

Kevin was still under the weather today. Shortly after Sammy’s bath he was in bed. I gave up the idea of going to Best Buy to get modem parts for Kevin’s computer; I didn’t want to deal with savage Black Friday shoppers. A Walmart employee in New York was trampled to death this morning and two shoppers in Palm Desert, CA were shot to death as well. I’ve had my excitement for the day.

http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/coronado/forest/recreation/trails/hunter_cyn_clark_spg.shtml
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/11/28/black.friday.violence/index.html
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-toystoreshooting29-2008nov29,0,5989270.story

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