Today I stepped on a garter snake at Lost Lake. The air was a chilly forty degrees so the cold blooded critter was barely coherently aware of the thunderous foot steps of a human descending upon it as I stepped on the tip of his tail. He quickly curled back in pain and then retreated down the bank into the lake water.
It reminded me of the time on the Gunflint Trail. I learned the definition of the word "yelp" by the means of stepping on a wolf paw. I was headed down the steep shoreline of Iron Lake. Ambivalent to my surroundings I was running down the portage trail; jumping down each steep terrace to the next. One moment I'm a child on a jungle gym and the next I'm stopped dead in my tracks leaning over a gray wolf! I'm not ashamed to admit that is it wasn't the wolf with the loudest screeching yelp! The wolf scattered off with it's tail between it's legs; leaving me hoarse and checking my pants!
It was also like the time near Duncan Lake on a spur trail along the Border Route when Amy was talking away when she walked into the butt of a young female moose. We were in a swamp. In an instant the routine hike went from a discussion where we were changing the world to complete silence. Before I knew it we had walked backwards a hundred or so steps over cobble stream bottoms while the moose is still staring at us chomping it's cud alarmed but clearly not frightened . Thankfully there was no calf between us. That same moose walked through our camp that night. Evidently our tent wasn't far enough off the trail. This time it was the cow that was startled when it realized that humans were close by and jumped into the lake.
I guess it goes to show that any single one of life's steps can throw a curve ball at you. It's a good reason to take every step deliberately and with reverence for the unknown that may come your way...
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