Tales from the Trail: Animal Encounters

One of my favorite parts about my work commute? The wildness along the Springwater Trail, especially early in the morning when I come through.

Granted, a lot of the trail these days is bordered by human encampment, which means that the more shy of the nonhuman critters are sometimes harder to come by. BUT there’s still a deer family — a mother and two spotted fawn — that I often see near Powell Butte. Two families of quail with their cute little baby broods, head plumes bobbing as they scatter off into the bushes. A weasel I saw one morning, and, the next day, a coyote. And, as always, the ubiquitous rabbits.

(rabbit fur’s view of my water bottle)

In fact, last week, the thing I always sort of worry about happened: I ran into a rabbit. Or rather, as we both tried to avoid each other it managed to leap nearly into my lap, skittered about between my leg and my water bottle cage, and finally vaulted off my calf back onto the trail.

Later, when I went to take a swig from my water bottle, I got a mouthful of rabbit fur. That picture is what’s left once I spit it out and tried to wipe the rest away.

Sorry, rabbit! I’m glad all we both got was a small-scale scare. (And this is what I like about bikes: if I actually do run into something, it’s very unlikely that I will actually kill it. Phew!)