Table of Contents

Cover Page

Lizard Toads in Operation Desert Command - Part 2

Caching on the "Wildlife" Side

A 'Thump' in the Night

Regular Features

Chuckles

Credits

It seems as though some of our Utah Geocachers have had quite a few "Close Encounters of the Furry Kind" while pursuing this passion of ours.

I've seen these photos and read some of their stories in various threads on the UTAG Forums and thought it would be a good idea to bring them together in one place.

When I got permission to use the photos in my article, several people gave me more background material about their photos. So some of the material for this article will be familiar to you and some of it will be new. I believe all of it will be interesting and some of it is downright hilarious.

The following photos and stories are in no particular order whatsoever. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did...

Let's start with the photo that graces the cover of this issue.

"We saw Foxzilla, as we like to call it, while hiking along the lower Eastern edge of the San Rafael Reef. We were with our daughter and grandson. We were on our way out to place a couple of caches: GCKGK6 and GCKGK8 (Numbers two and three of our Triple Canyon Treat series).

Dylan, our grandson, was the first to spot it and said "look there's a fox." I just caught a glimps of the animal as it ran under a bush. We stood still for several minutes until he finally emerged and were able to get a good look him and take the photos. I new it wasn't a fox or raccoon, so we posted the photo on UTAG to see what we could find out."

In response to his post on the UTAG Forums, Huaso wrote,

"DeViDe, that's a Bassariscus Astutus!

My dad used to trap these, along with various other critters. They are Ringtail Cats also known as Civet Cats. They aren't really cats, but are related to raccoons. Here is a link for more information about them.

I'll wager this is a rare sighting of one because they are usually nocturnal. Neat photo!"

"My dad and I have wanted to go up to the B52 crash site for years and I noticed that there was a virtual cache at the crash site as well. We started out at 3:00am that day.

As we came upon the crash we saw the herd of Mt. Goats, they were with-in 10' of us as we sat at the cache, and seemed not to mind us being there at all. They sat there for 30 minutes or more before they decided to get up."

Not all encounters with goats are quite so pleasant and serene. Take Kolob's word for it. Here is an extract of his March 22, 2003 log for Huaso's Ridge Runner cache. Kolob wrote,

"...As I am walking along I saw something out of the corner of my eye that doesn’t quite look right. It looks like the head of a goat. I don’t remember hearing of mountain goats around here, but this is definitely a goat. Now I am really upset that my daughter has my camera, because I am close enough to get a good picture. It is surprising to me that I was able to get this close to a mountain goat, but it is still lying down and I think that maybe it feels safer holding still and hoping that I don’t see it. After watching it for a few minutes I turn back for my vehicle, hoping that I won’t disturb him any more than I already have. To my surprise, when I glance back over my shoulder, the goat is up and walking towards me. I realized then that it was a feral goat, not a mountain goat, and so it was not surprising that I could get so close. It had a purple collar on, with a carabineer hanging from it. He seemed to enjoy my company, and he trotted along beside me just like a dog. I was not fooled though. I know very little about goats, but I know that they are notorious for using their horns for more than looks, especially the billy goats, which this was.

Sure enough, pretty soon it lowered its head and charged. I was fortunate that it was not a full speed attack; and I was able to grab its horns and bring it to a stop. After a brief struggle it tried to pull away and I let go. It backed off, reared up on its back legs, gave a little hop and came after me again. Again I grabbed its horns and brought it to a stop. This happened two or three times, and I was beginning to wonder how I was going to make it off this mountain in one piece. I decided that I was going to have to start playing a little rougher, so when it came after me the next time I grabbed his horns and twisted until I had him rolled over onto his side. I held him down for a few minutes to let him think about things, and hopefully decide that he didn’t like what was happening. So far he hadn’t been able to make any real contact with me, and I don’t plan on letting him, but things are not looking good for my making it down the hill anytime soon. There are no sticks big enough to make an impression on him within reach; just a few small, brittle cedar limbs that would shatter on his head with much less force than he would get if he butted heads with another goat.

I let the goat up, and he backs away, but then comes back for another round. I grab him and wrestle him to the ground again, and this time I pick up the biggest branch I can find before I let him go. I know that it isn’t much use as a club, but maybe if I use it as a spear that he has to run through to get to me he will leave me alone. It seemed to work; either he has had an unpleasant experience with a man and a stick before, or else he decides that I’m not much competition for the nanny goats. Anyway he trotted off and I am able to make my way cautiously back down the hill, keeping a close watch behind me in case he decides to come back. In spite of all this, thanks for the cache, Kolob."

On March 31, 2003, Astounding, of St. George, wrote:

"When revisiting one of my caches in St. George that had been vandalized, I encountered an unusually friendly crow. As I approached it, it appeared oblivious to me, at most just glancing at me and dismissing me. It surprised me, so I sat down and watched. As soon as I sat down, it hopped closer and closer to me, until it perched on a rock 2-3 meters away.

Only later did I learn that this crow was raised since it was small by a family in the neighborhood."

DHobby1 and Scout Master saw these Elk on August 25, 2004 at Bear River State Park near Evanston, Wyoming.

DHobby1 said,

"Ran across these two big guys while caching just outside of Evanston Wyo. The name of the cache was The Buffalo Returns. These two magnificent fellows were just having a bite of lunch."

Scout Master shot the picture on the left of a buffalo grazing near the elk in the same park near Evanston. JeeperDad took the picture on the right of a buffalo he saw at Where the Buffalo Roam on Antelope Island on October 19, 2003.

BigBen shot this picture of bald eagles perched in a tree. About the cache where he saw them, he wrote,

"The cache, which has since been archived, was called Bald Eagle's Nest. Coords are N 40 54.499 W 111 54.676 in West Bountiful.

According to this virtual cache's owner, Taragui, the eagles show up for a few short weeks in late February to early March. I suppose they will activate the virtual again when they show up.

It was neat to see so many eagles gathered at once just in some trees on the side of road and not 5 minutes from I-15!"

And speaking of eagles...

JeeperDad came across a Golden Eagle on February 10, 2004 at the Jordan River Bends cache. Here's what he had to say...

Stopped by at lunchtime for the travelbug. As I was approaching the cache location I saw a Golden Eagle walking around in the opening near the cache. So I stopped on the trail with some bushes between me and it and got out my camera. I took a picture from pretty far off, and then thought I'd walk toward the cache with my camera up and when it takes off, I'd get another picture.

So I started slowly walking toward the cache and the eagle didn't take off, I took a couple more pictures as I got closer and then realized the Eagle was wounded in some way and couldn't or wouldn't fly.

I quickly left it alone, I didn't want to agitate it further, grabbed the bug (forgot to make a note in the log book) and then left. As I came back passed the bird, again it watched me but didn't fly away.

As soon as I got back to work, I called Wildlife Resources and gave them the coordinates to the cache. They said they would send out an officer to see if he could locate the bird.

Damenace took the following shots of a doe deer, a moose and a squirrel. I had to laugh as I was putting this together because I had just recently watched the combination live-action and animation version of the Rocky and Bullwinkle movie on DVD. (I got it out of the $5.50 bin at WalMart.) Anyway, I thought it was a hilariously funny coincidence that I watched that particular movie so recently and then to have Damenace's unusual combination of these two dis-similar animals: Moose and Squirrel.

Damenace on the Doe at Blue Lake, taken August 9, 2004:

"While out for a day of fishing in the Uintahs and after the placing of my Aiming High! cache a friend and I four wheeled into Blue Lake in the Uintahs. Upon arriving we spotted this doe some 50 yards from the truck. We parked the truck grabbed the cameras and started to move in closer. During the whole stalking process I was amazed on how she acted and how close she allowed us to get. As she would lift her head I would freeze in my tracks until she lowered her head back to the ground and continue to eat. In the photo you will see a bench in front of her, this bench is about the only thing that seperated her from me. I have never seen an a deer in the wild allow someone to get so close to them in the wild."

"Roadstr and I set out to tackle Devils Castle above Albion Basin. After clearing the camp sites we were on the trail and we had noticed that there was some people come down on the trail that had stopped and were reluctant to continue. Upon further investigation they were coming down the trail with their kids when they came across this Bull Moose. Roadstr and I continued on. After this moose had cleared the trail, he stopped in the marshy grasses and conitnued to munch away on the grasses. During the process of taking this picture I always had a back up plan in my head for a quick getaway. I either whistled or made some other type of noise to get his attentions. Well I got his attention and his picture. Did not stay around long after the shot I did not want to make him feel as if I was trying to take over his territory."

Damenace on the Award-Winning Squirrel:

"While on a weekend adventure down to Zion National Park and to, of course, do the Angel's Landing virtual cache, a friend and I took a stroll down the Narrows boardwalk arrow. At the end of the boardwalk, before you actually cross into the water, there were these squirrels everywhere. They had obviously gotten used to human interactions. I soon realized why they state to not feed the wild animals. A gentleman had laid out some sunflower seeds on the wall and the squireels went crazy for them. Of course, I had the camera all ready when this guy calmed down long enough to pose for the camera. I have other pictures of the same squirrel and my friend is petting him. On top of Angel's Landing there were squirells taking hand outs. I also have pictures of my friend holding his hand out and squirrels sitting in his hand eating trail mix."

Now, for another story of a scary encounter with one of Utah's locals, we turn to renowned cacher, Cach-U-Nuts, who tells of his June 14, 2003 meeting with this rattlesnake after doing the Grandview 2002 cache:

"Had the fright of my life as I started back down off the peak. As I walked on the narrow trail past a rocky ledge I heard that terrifying rattle of a snake. It was on top of that ledge right at eye level about 3 feet from my face! What's the first thing you do at a time like this? Of course, I grabbed my camera and took a few pictures. I yelled at the dog Tekka to keep back and hopefully she was frightened enough of it to stay away from them now. I hear Aim High is collecting snakes now so I considered taking this guy down to him but the snake did not seem to be in favor of that idea."

JeeperDad seems to always be in the right place at the right time, WITH HIS CAMERA, too. On February 11, 2004 he was at the Hole in the Rock cache (since archived?) when he and Red Wrangler found a herd of bighorn sheep near the cache. I also believe he won Doug Miller's Snapshot of the Week contest with the shot of the adult male.

Here's what he had to say:

"The coolest part of the trip was what we found all around the cache. A whole herd of Big Horn sheep. Including multiple big males, lots of females and little ones too. They were within 20 yards of the cache all around us. Luckily both Red Wrangler and I had our cameras. It was very cool to see these sheep so close."

J&L Lee posted this photo with his log at the A Determined Tree cache on September 12, 2004. His caption for the photo was "?What Is It?". He also posted the photo and posed the question on the UTAG Forums. Again, our nature expert, Huaso, answered the question:

"That one is probably the infamous Packrat, or Trade Rat, as my dad always calls them. They are also known as the Desert Woodrat.

Here are a couple of links: DesertUSA has a good write-up about them, but the better photo is at the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.

Looks like you caught him attempting to do what one did to me once - that one was setting up shop in the engine of my truck! He had shredded bark and grass and was stuffing the entire engine compartment with it...in one night! It's good I discovered him, or all that tinder may have ignited. I know a couple of people that has happened to! They are cute, but they sure keep busy." -- Huaso

I asked J&L Lee for a little more background information for the photo. What I received was worth making a separate article. Be sure to read: "A 'Thump' in the Night" by J&L Lee.

As another reminder that the wildlife in our forests REALLY ARE wild and worthy of a healthy dose of respect, I offer the following account from Olystats02, posted on the UTAG Forums on September 26, 2004.

"This morning, I had a close encounter with a bull moose in Mill Creek Canyon, east of Bountiful in the Mueller Park area.

I was making my way up the canyon to place a new cache. My plan was to hide the cache at the site of a small plane wreckage that I discovered about fifteen years ago. When I was about 1/4 mile west of the crash site, I heard some thrashing up ahead of me, to the east. It sounded pretty loud-- at first I thought it might be a big buck, or an elk. Then I heard some very loud snorting and decided to crouch down. Good decision! About 15 feet away appeared a very large bull moose, stomping through the creek.

I have seen moose in the wild several times. They are generally slow-moving animals that sort of amble along at a leisurely pace. Not this fella, he acted upset. I know moose have poor eyesight, so I don't know if he actually saw me. I have a feeling he either heard me or smelled me, and was making a scene in an attempt to root me out, or scare me away from his territory. Guess what? It worked!

I sat still for a minute or so, just to keep and eye on him, spying him through the brush. He stopped, looked around, then snorted and stomped his front hooves. I decided to turn for the south side of the canyon and find the nearest pine tree in case I needed to do some quick climbing. I moved quicky, then stopped--listening and watching. I repeated this scenario several times as I made my way up the steep hillside. The moose moved quickly up and down the streambed, continuing with his snorting. I high-tailed it further up the hillside, trying to keep the noise down, figuring the farther I got from the water, the safer I'd be.

Well, I got away from Mr. Moose, but had to bushwack my way back down the canyon through over a mile of ridiculously thick brush, mostly on steep slopes. My legs are covered with a multitude of scrapes, along with a couple of nice, long cuts which I had to bandage to stop the bleeding. I also sustained two bee stings. Fun!

I ended up placing my cache in an alternate location in Mueller Park, close to a trail. I have to admit, I was a little worried for a few minutes with Bullwinkle in the canyon. Ah, adventure!!"

Aim High! and UtahJean met another cacher on the trail recently. This particular geocacher was a little uglier and little scarier than the normal run-of-the-mill geocacher you are likely to meet. Here's their story...

"What a hoot today was while cachin' with a Utah Geocachin' Legend--Utah Jean! Jean and I were part of a search and rescue team today looking for the location of where Santa's toys rocketed to when Santa's sled crashed along the foothills ( Santa’s Gone Down (GCKZH1)) of "Happy Valley". After working with the FAA and the NTSB (geocadet was the POC for both organizations), we had pinpointed the location of where Santa's toys had come to rest. We strapped on our packs for a short hike up one of the steep hillsides in the valley.

As we zigzagged our way up, Jean started dancin' all around screamin' "Spider! Spider!" So, AH! came to the rescue and reassured Jean that this "little" ole Wolf Spider meant her no harm. Once I got her calmed down, we both got out our cameras as he posed for a couple of pics. It was a somewhat chilly today and he had to be prodded a bit to change his modeling position.

Quite a charming little guy, but when you get right up in his face, boy is he one ugly dude! But, he's probably thinking the same about us! Had to snap one more pic about 2 inches from him so placed my trusty MAGELLAN GPS (Jean's trusty GARMIN wasn't being too trusty today--heard her yell a few expletives at the pathetic thing) on a piece of sagebrush and it fell and rolled right into the path of Mr. Spider and that definitely lit a fire under his little butt as he almost jumped right into Jean's lap!

What a fun day!! Remember to always take your camera with you because ya just don't know what beautiful animal, furry little creature, or friendly little spider is going to put a show on for you. It truly is amazing to see some of the little wonders that all have a small niche in this wonderful world we live in. Cache on...Aim High!"

And finally, I leave you with a few photos that Aim High! took of a hawk he saw at the Sportsman's Expo back in March 2004.

Now, wasn't that fun?