Hiking the Appalachian Trail gave me a great opportunity to see a lot of animals up close. I saw lots of deer! The deer there were pretty fast. They usually ran away as soon as they saw me. However, one time when I was walking the trail, I looked up and a deer was just sitting still and starring me in the face! He was maybe 50 yards away. Then, on my last day of hiking, I saw a big buck and he was even closer! He was only 25 yards away. He sat there and looked at me for awhile. The bugs were bothering him and you could tell because he keep taking his eyes off of me to scratch. He eventually ran away and got bored with me.Also, I saw a little fawn while we were driving one day too. Deer would come up to the shelters and tents all throughout the night. They sometimes seemed unafraid of people, so that was cool.
I saw a lot of squirrels. They are bigger in Virginia than the ones here. They were always a tease. I probably saw a hundred of them. I was always hoping for a bear, but I would turn and look and it was usually a squirrel. On my last day on the trail, I saw a squirrel in the middle of the trail and I just kept getting closer to it. It finally started running from me and I began chasing it. I ended up touching his tail! That was either a slow squirrel or I had some major adrenaline pumping.
I saw all kinds of birds. I don't know the technical names for any of them. They provided natures background music in the woods. Some of the birds sounded likes snakes, monkeys, and frogs. One day, I did see a couple of wild turkeys, so that was pretty cool. The buzzards were amazing to watch when you got to the top of the mountains. They soared with their wings stretched out and they didn't have to flap much. They looked like hawks or eagles. I found myself saying, "waaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr eagle hey!" It should be said that buzzards don't even resist feeding on their own kind. I saw a buzzard with its head completely detached from its body and it looked like another buzzard had been eating it.
Next, I did see a couple of turtles. These turtles were smaller and had hard yellow shells. I saw them quickly try to hide from me.
I did in fact see a bears! Bears were tricky animals to see, because they get away fast. The first bear I saw was when I was hiking uphill one day and I heard rustling of the leaves. We were in a spot that had a lot of green plants grown up, but I did see the back of the bear's head and ears! The next bear I saw was when we were camping the second night out on the trail. I got up to go the bathroom and again I heard something moving, so I shined my flashlight out in the darkness. To my surprise, I saw these two big glowing eyes staring my direction! I am pretty sure it was a bear but it was too dark to confirm. The bear was either coming to try to get our food or eat Sean. I chased the bear off by shining my bright light. The next bear I saw, or bears I should say was when I was staying in a shelter the third to last day. We had already been sleeping for an hour or so, and I heard leaves moving in the distance. I saw TWO things moving and I saw glimpses of glowing eyes again! They wouldn't come closer to the shelter so I never got confirmation that they were two bears, but they stayed there for awhile! Finally, the best thing happened on my last day hiking. I got a full view for however long I wanted to look at him! It was indeed a bear! I was walking along the trail and bam! I heard movement and saw a bear uphill to my right. I yelled to Brian so he would look up too! My yelling startled the bear a little, but he sat down strangely enough. He slowly turned his head to me and looked at me for like 3 seconds! It was amazing. Then, he got up and began to run towards Brian's direction. It was amazing to watch the big creature run parallel in those woods. I'll never forget seeing the bear look at me, it was so cool!
Last but not least, I saw two snakes. The first snake I walked right by without noticing it. It blended in with the ground to me, but Brian and Roger were the ones who told me what I had just passed. It was a pretty small snake in my opinion. The other snake I saw was hiking up the steepest part of the trail for our trip up Three Ridge Mountain. I was hiking up these rocks, and it was really steep and I didn't think there was an end in sight. Suddenly, I saw a black mass shortly ahead of me. Most of the roots from trees stick out on the trail, and they all look like snakes. It was easy to mistake the roots for snakes, but this color could not be mistaken! Plus this snake was coiled up and sitting right in the way of the path! Immediately, I warned Brian about the snake. I probably over-exaggerated about its thickness and length, but I wanted Brian to see! The snake was not slippery looking like all the ones I had ever seen. It was faded looking and had diamond shaped prints all down its body. I took a picture of this snake coiled up and it is on facebook if you want to see it. Since it was in the path, me and Brian went along the outside on the trail (almost falling off the cliff) and avoided the snake. Next, Brian got a huge limb and got the snake to leave the path so the hikers behind us wouldn't get bitten. To our surprise, when the snake moved we saw a huge rattle on the back of its tail! The snake eventually did head up the mountain and away from the path. Seeing that rattlesnake was one of the highlights of the day for sure!
I probably left out some of the animals that I saw. For instance, I saw little orange salamanders on the trail. The animals that I did mention were the ones that stuck out in my mind. It is not every day that you get to encounter these animals. I'm sorry for the poor grammar/randomness of this post, but I just wanted to get my thoughts down.
