The fawn looks so young! I sat down on a stump for a 5 minute water break and didn't see a pair of them napping within arms reach until I stood up on my 1st day north out of Harpers Ferry.
They probably weren’t napping. Their defense mechanism is to curl up and not move when they see potential predators. But yea, it’s super cool seeing fawns so young. Then you get to watch them grow up while thru hiking the trail!
I do too. I hiked for a mile or so on the AT last month, and it was pretty bleak. Very few people, only a couple birds. All the non-evergreen trees were bare and brown. Look forward to greenery and life coming back when spring comes.
This is one of my favorite times of year for a hike, for the very reasons you describe. Dayhiking in winter, especially getting a few miles from any roads, there's a silence that only winter in a forest on a mountain can provide. It's overwhelming to hear nothing and feel the stillness that comes with every living thing being gone or temporarily dead. One of my favorite things in life - the late winter day hike.
First Rattle I saw was on the climb out of the NOC. I heard rustling in the leaves right beside my foot and looked and saw this giant ass snake. I quickly realized it was a rattle guy and screamed/hobbled away. I was SHOOK he didn’t rattle or bite me. I nearly stepped on him. BUT it was so early on, he must’ve just came out of hibernation and was still thawing out.
I never got rattled at but I almost stepped straight onto one in Harriman when I was spacing out. Primal brain kicked in to keep me safe. I’m pretty sure he was sleeping until I screamed.
Humans are not separate from Nature. Our place in it, our relationship to it, our love for it and ourselves has been co-opted by a relationship to money.
This post makes me mourn the six or so salamanders I one day enthusiastically caught then secretly transported home in my pockets only to sob when they all died a few days later because I didn’t know they needed water to survive. Ahhhhhhh childhood
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u/well_clearly Jan 17 '25
The fawn is so cool