Strange findings while wandering

[kmcintyre]

Not my story, but a friend of mine in Olympic Nat. Park, came across a car that had the hose from the tailpipe into the front window, etc. Yes, the person had deceased.

 

[allanb]

One of the neatest things I ever saw where two lead wild stallions fighting with each other over some territory. Several years ago, I was leading what we used to call an "adventures in Past/know and enjoy your Public lands" tour up in the Smoke Creek/Shinn Ranch country; we used to regularly (depending on weather) do these tours to show the public what was out on their "Public Lands" and how to use it and not abuse it. Anyway we are bouncing along out there and I came around a corner and low a behold right in front of me were two stallions in a face off-bluffing and snorting with each other. I stopped my rig and the vehicles behind me and everyone got out and started taking pictures. I knew that one of the herds was the resident herd ( I had seen the lead stallion { he was well know in the area and was really big and powerful-the type of horse that they make movies about] and his herd before )and it was was obvious that this was a new bunch that was was trying to move into their area. Each stallion had his second in command behind him-like ready to step in if help was needed (or probably take over), with the rest of each ones herd sort of bunched out behind them with the mares and colts all sort of watching. The boundary was the 4x4 road-you could tell by the piles of horse crap. They actually started to fight-like in the movies. In all my years I had -as had the rest of the tour- never ever seen anything like this. The challenger eventually gave up and led his family group away as the resident stallion did his victory dance! I was accused of setting it up because nothing like that ever happens when you are out there! I've been chased and challenged by horses before when I entered their territory on foot or with my dog, but this something else. Lot's of things to see out there and was so lucky to see this.

Smoke

Wonderful story Smoke. Something I would love to see.
I have Mostly sea kayaked in Wa, B.C, and Alaska for fun, the last 8 yrs. Have seen Orcas from tour boats, from shore while packing up, but only briefly at a distance, from our kayaks. Wonderful to see grey, minke and humpbacks from the boats and hear them at night.

 

[Tuff Guy 62]

Back in 88, a couple of buddies and I went out to the Mojave Desert to hunt for trilobites in the Marble Mountains east of Amboy,CA.

We drove up to a promising site to set up camp, but were a bit dismayed when we found someone had proceeded us and set up their camp in the choice spot. All their gear was about, stove, lanterns, chairs, a couple of magazines and a jar of dry roasted peanuts, but no campers.

Thinking nothing of it, we set up just over the next rise and went about our business of collecting Cambrian critters. We were there for three days & two nights. No one ever returned to the other camp site. Prior to our departure we decided to investigate. From all appearances it seemed who ever the campers were had left in a hurry, leaving a lot of their gear behind.

We all postulated on what could have spooked them out and it remains the Marble Mountains mystery to this day.

I speculate it was a Desert Pygmy Squatch that chased'em out. Got a photo of one back in 2013 in Death Valley out on the Racetrack. Got it saved on a external drive somewhere.......

 

[Tuff Guy 62]

OK I found it.

Snapped this pic of the Desert Pygmy Squatch in the parking lot at the Racetrack.

He was stealing beers from ice chests.

 

[Vintage62]

You mean the famous Marble Mountains Murders?




BTW, this is my first post. May have to modify the setup, but have to start somewhere . . .

 

[BobM]

I found this today

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Wander The West mobile app

 

[Tuff Guy 62]

You mean the famous Marble Mountains Murders?




BTW, this is my first post. May have to modify the setup, but have to start somewhere . . .

Welcome aboard Rat62!

My reference to mystery rather than murders was to downplay the speculative nature of the actual events. The story your about to hear is true, the names have been changed to protect the innocent..........

 

[Squatch]

Not driving but boating. I river fish in the Potomac quite a bit. Certain times of the year the carp are thick in my normal area. One year I saw several bright orange KOI fish traveling with the rest. I thought well they've adapted well. I didn't realize how well till I saw them in the same area for 4 years. They really stand out in 3' of gin clear water. They were quite big. That's probably why they were there. Probably outgrew someones fish pond. That also probably why the survived. Plenty of Bald Eagles and Blue Hurons in the neighborhood. I would think they could see them for miles from above. Probably too big for them to mess with.

 

[Foy]

Hard-rock mineral exploration in the Lower 48 involves a lot of re-examination of historic mining districts. A belt of metamorphosed volcanic rocks outcrops throughout the Mid Atlantic and Southeastern states, from Maryland into Alabama, and the first authenticated discovery of gold in the US, in 1799, was made near Charlotte, NC within these rocks. In the dark ages, before GPS, we had to read up on the published accounts of the workings in the professional literature, read between the lines in attempts to translate 19th century nomenclature into 1970s terms, and thus select areas to kick around whilst applying modern ore genesis models. Then the fun began: finding old mine workings covering an acre or two or three within dense forest or brush with nothing more than "approximately 2 miles northwest of Locust Grove, NC" as our coordinates. The dead of winter was actually the ideal time to bushwhack since we'd have rather more visibility due the canopy and understory being bare.

Anyway, in addition to old prospect pits, adits driven into hillsides, inclines, vertical shafts, and remnants of mill structures and occasionally some odd pieces of boilers, etc, we'd find stills. Big stills, small stills, long-abandoned stills, and sometimes stills which had produced a "run" in recent times. We'd find rudimentary low-head dams on tiny perennial spring creeks with a diversion ditch, iron pipe, or rarely wooden flumes carrying cold water to the condenser. We'd find all grades of remnants of mash cookers, but mostly foundations since any copper or iron would be long since removed for scrap value. The more modern stills always had some sort of roofing and we'd even find remnants of dark canvas tarps used as camouflage since spotting stills from the air came into the Revenuers bag of tricks by the 1950s.

When telling my father about these common discoveries, he related how his father, "Mr. Foy" to many in Eastern NC (I'm a 3rd), received many a cured ham, fresh turkeys, and pound after pound of air-dried sausage links during the holiday season. Seems that he had a real and appreciated talent for looking the other way as he routinely encountered working stills while executing his duties as a land surveyor during the 1930s.

Foy

 

[Accrete]

no strange stuff except for hair-standing-up on neck thingy when tracking some elk for photos...started feeling like I was being watched. Then I saw them....fresh big-kitty-prints. I high tailed it back to the rig and got out of there.

Thom

 

[Kolockum]

no strange stuff except for hair-standing-up on neck thingy when tracking some elk for photos...started feeling like I was being watched. Then I saw them....fresh big-kitty-prints. I high tailed it back to the rig and got out of there.

Thom

That is the worse feeling. I have doubled back and found their prints in my boot prints. Scary stuff.

I have found random chain saw art cut into old stumps, engine of a crashed airplane and an old still which is pretty rare for Washington.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

New dress code in Nevada... This is a female cottonwood

 

[BobM]

Saw this on Vashon Island in Seattle.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Wander The West mobile app

 

[flinchlock]

My new thermos!

 

[rotti]

Two story outhouse.....note to self: the second floor is the better choice.

 

[Bad Habit]

Does sort of create an urgency to get your business done and get out...

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Where's my rifle?

Riding from Canada to Mexico for the Wilderness. That takes some effort, too bad more of us are not able to do something similar.

 

[Vic Harder]

might ride faster if you turned that Rhino around...

 

[PaulT]

I was going to say he was pushing his GCWR, but that sounded weird.
Guess he had it easier in Canada, eh?
TV report said the rhino weighs 350 lbs. (only 159kg in Alberta)


Paul

 

[craig333]

Maybe its hollow and he sleeps inside? A bit odd but whatever floats your boat.