A close call

During our camping trip, we took a walk in the woods every evening. We tended to keep the Duo on leash because the evening hours are when the wildlife stir. One hike was particularly eventful.

First, we saw a marmot, standing on her hind feet and whistling warnings to her family. Her swollen mammary glands show that she did, indeed, have a family under the talus slope.

She scanned everywhere, rarely looking straight at us.

Because R was going completely bonkers over the marmots, we headed away from the talus slope and into a forest that felt like old growth. Huge trees, Engleman Spruce and Subalpine Fir, surrounded us. Under the forest canopy, the wildflowers flourished despite the shade.

We spotted movement, slow, but definite movement in the deep grass and flowers. Then, the creature emerged.

The porcupine moved as slowly as a sloth. Of course, with her huge quills, she doesn't need to be able to flee. She briefly considered climbing a tree but changed her mind.

Then, she navigated the forest floor that was littered with downed trees. She particularly liked walking on logs. By this point, the leashed dogs and the Runner were far away so that the dogs wouldn't stress her out. After this photo, I joined them, wanting to leave our prickly friend in peace.

We thanked our lucky stars that the dogs had been on leash. We recalled a backpacking trip deep in the Sierra Mountains more than two decades ago when one of our dogs, Astro, got a face full of quills when we were miles into the backcountry. Our sweet Astro let us pull out the quills with pliers. When we returned to civilization, the vet checked him out and said that we'd done a good and thorough job.

We were very happy not to be pulling quills out of either dog that evening. Instead, they posed for sunset photos and simultaneously stared at marmots.