As I was enjoying another of my nearly everyday walks in the woods, I encountered a disturbance in the earth crossing the trail that caught my eye.
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I was surprised to see the straight line of disturbed earth crossing the trail. Even though I don't usually walk the same trail twice in consecutive days, I had just been across this spot 24 hours ago... and it wasn't there.
Click images for larger view
My first thought was that it could be a bike trail. There are some mountain bikers that use this trail occasionally. I thought maybe they had decided to take an overland route. 😉 As I looked around the area a little more though there were no other tracks to be seen other than this one 10 foot straight line. Besides the track started right in front of an old dead tree root ball and ended at a pile of sage brush.
Click images for larger view
Looking closer at the track I once again started to think bike with knobby tires but knew this couldn't be so. After looking closer at the pictures I decided these were probably little animal foot prints.
In the end I figured this was probably the work of a Golden mantled ground squirrel, similar to the one above in this older picture I took with my Nikon D3300. My guess is the little guy probably lived in the old tree root ball and had been on a quite productive foraging mission over to the sage brush. 😀
I'm not sure how many trips would be required to make the type of trail I saw but it seems like it would have to be a lot to leave that mark in just 24 hours. Perhaps it was a family affair and there were several critters making the trek out and back. Or, perhaps there is an entirely different explanation of how this disturbance occurred. What's your idea? Sasquatch? Aliens? 🤔
Please feel free to make comments or ask me any questions about this post.
Photos taken by me, @oldmans, with a Samsung F20 FE phone.
Please visit Pinmapple to see the locations of some of my other posts.
Thanks for looking and enjoy your day!
I love how you present and discuss your images. I wish other people would do something similar. I think it would make content like this more enjoyable. Anyway, have a great day!
Thank you! That is greatly apprciated.
It took me a while to get there though. When I first started it was post a picture or two and a few words then on to the next. Maybe I'm finally getting the hang of it. ;)
Oh, It was the squirrel!!
I really thought it was the aliens. I never suspected Sasquatch.
After some more thought it could have possibly been elves, fairies or wood nymphs. I would really prefer a paranormal explanation. 😉
The best story is what comes from inside. I remember how Lucy stayed behind to watch the trees dance in Narnia. CS Lewis was getting old and suffered because of illness and war but came real close to finding the heart of a child.
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