Seeing something else.

Posted by: kevonionia

Seeing something else. - 08/20/07 08:58 PM

Wanted to share a few pix of a recent obsession of mine while hiking. And as a disclaimer, I want to attest to the fact I’ve not been sampling wild mushrooms picked off-trail.

As a preface, I remember growing up in Texas and in the summer seeing all kinds of animal shapes in the clouds overhead (as did many other kids.) I even naively thought about taking photos and publishing a book about them. Never did.

This new, but related obsession started a few years ago. I usually make these sightings near the end of a long day of hiking, when I start to see shapes in the plants and trees on the forest trails. And with a digital camera, I’ve found I’ve now got enough gigabytes to waste a few frames to record some of them.

This first one was spotted back in ’04 when we did the Berg Lake hike up at Mt. Robson (north of Banff). We’d taken some novices backpacking and were on a long 12-mile hike from the lake back to the car when I spotted what looked like a bear made of moss and a rock. Gary, the one with the bear spray, agreed to pose next to the "creature" (and actually said he took a lichen to it):



In ’06, I found this weathered-wood lizard transformed from an old snag on the Wonderland Trail around Rainier:



And we just got back from the Little Beaver/Big Beaver loop at North Cascades NP where I spotted two more of these fantasy mammals. The first is not a silverback, but a greenback gorilla sprawled over a rock near the end of Day 1:



The second, from Day 2, is something of a hybrid: a unicorn crossed with a Clydesdale with a front hoof up like a Lipizzaner stallion. Someone else might see something else (like a dog -- a horned rottweiler trying to "shake hands"):



Anyone else have this weird obsession? Is it attributable to the endorphins produced from a long day of backpacking? Should I seek help? <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />
Posted by: midnightsun03

Re: Seeing something else. - 08/21/07 11:56 AM

On your last photo I'm seeing a puffin.

These are really awsome... keep it up! No therapy needed... unless you're looking for a "prescription" to keep on hiking...

MNS
Posted by: Ender

Re: Seeing something else. - 08/22/07 06:38 AM

I don't see the first one at all, the second I do sorta see the lizard, the third looks like a giant cat draped over the rock to me, and the fourth really looks like a dog.

These are fun! Keep it up <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
Posted by: dkramalc

Re: Seeing something else. - 08/22/07 03:59 PM

I've had a similar experience..but slightly different. I was dayhiking by myself at Pt. Reyes one foggy day and thought I saw a guy up ahead with both arms raised in the air. Odd, I thought. I got a little closer and thought "no, you ninny, it's a dead tree with a couple of branches sticking up". Wrong again - it was a big old tule elk with a huge rack of antlers, the frontrunner in a group of about 20 who slowly passed by me in the mist. It was a truly ethereal experience.
Posted by: kevonionia

Re: Seeing something else. - 05/09/08 11:05 AM

Saw a few things on the trail that were something else on a trip hiking in Northern California last week (5/08):

A dancing court jester taken on the Woodward Trail in Point Reyes NS:



An angry, bloody alien near the Point Reyes lighthouse:



Rabbit, from behind, Vista Trail, Sugarloaf Ridge SP, Sonoma, CA:

Posted by: Wolfeye

Re: Seeing something else. - 05/09/08 11:21 AM

This picture is of a mountain range near Metlakatla, AK. The picture's a little small, but can you guess which president it is?
Posted by: kevonionia

Re: Seeing something else. - 05/09/08 11:30 AM

I'd say George Washington. I didn't know he smoked. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />
Posted by: totempole99

Re: Seeing something else. - 05/09/08 11:45 AM

The second picture - An abominable snowman

The third picture- A howling wolf
Posted by: kevonionia

Re: Seeing something else. - 05/09/08 11:49 AM

Okay, but a bloody abomiable snowman. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />
Posted by: urbansix

Re: Seeing something else. - 05/10/08 04:25 AM

We used to play a game like this when I was a kid hiking in Switzerland. There, you are not so much in true wilderness, rather more like countryside - farms and villages. We would spot "creatures" in the formations of trees in the fields or across the valley. I remember one of the best ones was a giant lizard with his tail nestled up against a church.
Posted by: chaz

Re: Seeing something else. - 05/10/08 11:49 AM

The minds eye. Trippy
Posted by: hackleback

Re: Seeing something else. - 05/10/08 01:53 PM

"An angry, bloody alien near the Point Reyes lighthouse: "

If you can't see this one, I would wonder if you have been hitting the mushrooms.

Take some kids hiking and point out stuff like this- most will think that it is way-cool.
Posted by: lv2fsh

Re: Seeing something else. - 05/11/08 02:29 AM



The bug


The family
Posted by: chaz

Re: Seeing something else. - 05/11/08 02:39 PM

To me the bug looks like a bull dog with its toung sticking out.
Posted by: patterns

Re: Seeing something else. - 05/12/08 08:50 AM

clinton... you can tell in the picture he didn't inhale <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

toooo easy
Posted by: hootyhoo

Re: Seeing something else. - 05/28/08 06:02 PM

I saw this one --
It had one indention that made an eye and of course the mouth was there, but previous traveler made the other eye and the brows. It got a chuckle out of me.


Posted by: 12Step

Re: Seeing something else. - 06/22/08 09:08 AM




I have no idea what this animal would be, but it still looks wild.



Tom
Posted by: rootball

Re: Seeing something else. - 06/23/08 12:46 PM

12step - it looks like the thing from Alien.
Posted by: Tango61

Re: Seeing something else. - 06/24/08 07:20 PM


It looks like one of the creatures from the movie "Hades"boy.
Posted by: 12Step

Re: Seeing something else. - 06/25/08 04:06 AM

For a couple years I was curious to what was on this palm tree and I finally given the answer. The growth on that tree is called a Strangling Fig.


http://waynesword.palomar.edu/ploct99.htm


That "creature" on that palm tree will more than likely kill that tree.


Tom
Posted by: kevonionia

Re: Seeing something else. - 07/28/08 06:46 PM

A few pix of creatures from the Colorado River Trail up to Little Yellowstone Canyon in RMNP last month.


Horned snake.


Sad turtle(head).


Scotty dog goblin in sheet. (okay, that's stretchin' it.)


Natural "wood" wheelbarrow. (I thought it was a wheelbarrow off the trail, but it was just three strategically placed snag limbs holding in a load of avalanche debris.)
Posted by: midnightsun03

Re: Seeing something else. - 07/29/08 12:50 PM

LOL... I totally see the Scotty Dog goblin! Didn't see the snake, the others are pretty cool (I like the "wheelbarrow").

MNS
Posted by: MountainMinstrel

Re: Seeing something else. - 08/16/08 05:51 PM

Ok, I guess this thread was on my mind on my Yosemite trip from White Wolf to Pate Valley, Glen Aulin, Ten Lakes Basin, and back to White Wolf.

First was the bulldog

Then a whale.


Next a footprint in rocks. I moved the little toe about an inch, but otherwise this is not set up.


And a Lobster


ken
Posted by: kevonionia

Re: Seeing something else. - 08/17/08 07:07 AM

ken:

Great pix. There's got to be a Sasquatch connection with that footprint, though. Looks like there's a bunch of us that are having Sasquatch visiting our campsite with what Jimshaw calls "Bigfoot's Best," <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> or its the endorphines.<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />
Posted by: MountainMinstrel

Re: Seeing something else. - 08/18/08 03:55 PM

It could just be the "medicine" <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />
Posted by: nakota

Re: Seeing something else. - 10/09/08 08:03 PM

awesome thread! i loved all the pics everyone posted, good stuff! here's a few of mine -

an alligator head! (solo overnight kayaking trip on the Hocking River)



clearly a leprechaun lair <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> (overnight kayaking trip on Hocking River)



...and last butt not least..i hope this is ok to post <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> (hiking in southern ohio)



i have a few more but not on this computer, so i'll have to upload them at a later date <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
Posted by: scottyb

Re: Seeing something else. - 10/10/08 04:31 AM

Snapping Turtle

Posted by: AussieBushwalker

Re: Seeing something else. - 10/10/08 10:31 PM

This is a natural burl on a Sydney Reg Gum (angophora costata) in the Royal National Park.




Can you see Mr Hippo?

Cheers,
Michael.
Posted by: kevonionia

Re: Seeing something else. - 10/28/08 12:54 AM

Chipmunk about to be eaten by a giant, one-toothed catfish. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

(Hendy Woods State Park, Anderson Valley, CA, 10/22/08)

Posted by: dkramalc

Re: Seeing something else. - 10/28/08 07:55 AM

Ah, Hendy Woods - one of my favorite picnic spots as a kid (I grew up in Cloverdale)! I loved wandering into the grove by myself...it seemed so big then!
Posted by: kevonionia

Re: Seeing something else. - 10/29/08 08:22 PM

dk:
Quote:
Ah, Hendy Woods - one of my favorite picnic spots as a kid (I grew up in Cloverdale)! I loved wandering into the grove by myself...it seemed so big then!


What a spot to grow up in! Anderson Valley (& Cloverdale) is an incredible, isolated place. A local told us the first paved road came into Anderson Valley in the '50s -- now they've got a WI-FI hot spot at the Hendy Woods Visitor's Center -- oh, well, it's still a somewhat-isolated spot in today's world.

dk, did you ever visit the Hermit's Huts at Hendy? Now here is a guy who did some ultralight living from the '50s to the early '80s, hiding as a hermit in wood huts in the redwoods (Hendy Woods) up behind the tiny town of Philo.

We had heard about the hermit while hiking in Hendy (enough of the alliterations) from a retired schoolteacher from Sea Ranch, who said the hermit had fled from the KGB, although I'm not sure that's completely accurate.


In the 2nd hut of Petrov the Hendy Hermit.

The huts -- or maintained reproductions -- are a short hike from the road and have a small informative plaque nearby. The hermit was Petrov Zailenkov, born in about 1924 and died in August of 1981. He is believed to have jumped a Russian trawler in the 1950s, finally ending up in the redwoods for almost 2 decades in the isolated Anderson Valley, where he lived until he died of cancer (in a hospital in Ukiah).


Board about Petrov near his first hermit hut.

Petrov avoided people, always afraid of being sent back to Russia. He did befriend a few hikers and campers, and stories about him appeared in area and San Francisco papers when he died. What a beautiful place to have been a hermit.

Posted by: dkramalc

Re: Seeing something else. - 11/01/08 01:41 PM

No, I heard about the hermit from a newspaper article my parents saved for me after the guy died. What an interesting character he must have been...

Cloverdale when I grew up was less isolated - Highway 101 ran right up the main drag in town. Years after I left, they rerouted the freeway; better for travelers and quality of life, worse for the local businesses that thrived on the tourist traffic. I remember having a hard time getting uptown on holiday weekends, especially summertime, when there was a huge backup of cars in one direction or another (the one stoplight in town slowed them all down!).
Posted by: kevonionia

Re: Seeing something else. - 07/23/09 03:48 AM

Couple of new sightings:

Bearded rasta lion (with his dreadlocks in a cap, ala Peter Tosh ):


(Lost Creek Wilderness, Wigwam Trail, CO, 7/09)

A rising stallion (or that demonic horse sculpture as you approach the tent-terminal at Denver Int'l Airport -- without the glowing red eyes):


(Golden Gate Canyon SP, Mule Deer Trai, CO, 7/09)
Posted by: phat

Re: Seeing something else. - 07/23/09 01:59 PM


Turtle!



(Limestone Lakes, Height of the Rockies Provincial Park, British Columbia, Canada)