Animals in and out of the Wild In case you haven’t noticed, this is a great place to see animals. I’ve been thinking about this a lot since there have been numerous bear sightings in my neighborhood during the past few weeks. We never thought that we would have a large bear rummaging through the neighborhood trash cans on our street, which is just above Lake Gregory. Nobody has called animal control or the Forest Service because it’s such a novelty, but I suppose being allowed to roam around here is not the best thing for the bear. There are a lot of good places to observe wildlife, and early morning and early evening are the best times. One of my favorite things to do with the kids is go out to the street in front of the house about 20 minutes after sundown when the sky is still brightly lit. If they look up in the sky and don’t see anything, the kids have learned that all they have to do is take a small piece of gravel, throw it up high into the air and here they come—bats swooping in from everywhere. It doesn’t hurt the bats because at first they echo-locate it as some kind of object, but as they get close they seem to realize that it’s not something they can eat. We have a few tiny bats that squeeze into a crack in the wall outside of our bedroom. They sure can make a racket. Speaking of a racket, if you’re expecting to see animals on the trail, don’t bring your young kids or grandkids with you, unless they’re just little angels from heaven who will actually be quiet for two whole minutes after you tell them to. My kids don’t fit into this category—they can’t stop yelling or trying to hear their voices echo for more than a minute at a time. One of the best places to see wildlife out here is near The Pinnacles northwest of Lake Arrowhead off of Highway 173. Go in the spring or winter and park in the parking lot across from the Rock Camp Ranger Station. Walk or ride down the adjacent road past the water treatment plant—what my son used to call the “poo-poo plant” when he was younger—and hold your nose for a while. In about a half-mile you’ll get to a creek and then start uphill. Keep your eyes open because there are a lot of deer in this area. Once I was riding my mountain bike there, and my dog Sparky (yeah, I know, but we found him at a fire station, OK?) was standing stock still ahead of me staring at something like he was trying to figure out what it was. I looked only a few feet ahead of him and there was a huge buck feeding on the bank, unaware of him. Suddenly the buck turned around, saw the dog behind him and bolted into the forest. Sparky was headed in the opposite direction in sheer terror. All I heard was “yipe, yipe, yipe” and my dog was running three feet in the air above a trail of dust. Border collies are fast, but I’ve never seen one run that fast. They’re also supposed be the smartest dogs in the world. I wonder. I found him 15 minutes later at the car, shivering with his tail between his legs. Where you find deer you will also find another animal that you will rarely see. Luckily I didn’t have my fearless herding dog with me one day when I was hiking at The Pinnacles. I was in the meadow up on top next to the largest pinnacles when I went past a thick tangle of scrub oak next to the trail. I noticed a strong odor, but didn’t think anything of it. When I passed by it again on the way back a few minutes later, the smell was unmistakable—it was that musky, sweaty, pee smell that you notice sometimes near certain cages at the zoo. I quickly walked about 50 yards ahead, with the hair standing straight on the back of my neck, then stopped and looked back. Lying on a rock inside that tangle of oak was a huge mountain lion, probably 150 pounds—obviously a male. I had passed within 30 feet of it twice. It took a huge effort to keep the pee smell from coming out of my vicinity. Perhaps the big cat had just eaten, or possibly it didn’t want to deal with a 210-pound creature carrying a big stick. Whatever the case, even though I’m not Catholic, I was crossing myself, and I’m not even sure how you’re supposed to do that. So, of course, being the idiot photojournalist-geek that I am, I crept back a little closer to the beast and took a picture. When his black-tipped tail started twirling around in the air I made Sparky’s dash look like a jog. I have talked with several people who have followed the rocky, sandy course of Mill Creek eastward from the campground in Forest Falls for a few miles. There they have seen bighorn sheep among the rocks in the streambed, which is another animal that I have tried, but failed to find in the wild. A few miles down Highway 38 toward Redlands from the Forest Falls turnoff is a wonderland for bird-watchers. At a turnoff that is marked “picknicking” there is a day-use area in an oak forest and thicket along Mill Creek. At your house, you might see 10 species of birds. In this place, you might see 50 species in one sitting. This place is the temporary home for as many as 250 different species of migratory birds in any given year. For bears, I don’t know. I’ve done a lot of backpacking in these mountains and have only heard them and seen signs of them in the wild. I guess if you want to see a bear, just come to my house on Monday night before Tuesday’s trash pickup, sit on the deck in the front for a while, and perhaps you’ll see one. |
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