An Early Morning Adventure

Today I'm going to bring you a genuine old style Everyday Adventurer post. You know, from back when things were a little more crazy and fun around here. I'm going to tell you what happened on my latest journey through the magical forest I call Carpenter Lake Nature Preserve. Strap yourselves in; you're in for a good ride!

I got there very early in the morning this time, and I immediately knew that this day was going to be special. This was the first day I had to wear my jacket again, and I could see my breath in the air because it was so cold. The many birds in the park were all chirping loudly; every one of them! The sun was already up, but the light was still kind of dim. And there was a nice early morning mist that permeated everything.

As I rounded the first corner, that concealed the parking lot, I heard crashing noises coming from the trees. It was the squirrels! They were very actively gathering nuts and acorns for the upcoming cold months. They were chewing off the shells and dropping them to the forest floor. Like I said, this created a tremendous amount of racket.

When I made my way into the forest I was greeted by my first black squirrel of the day. The light was still too dim to get many decent pictures, but I did get at least one ofthis little forest ninja. As I walked deeper into the forest I found out that the black squirrels were running around practically everywhere. They're still very difficult to capture on camera though. Oh well!

After awhile I began to get used to the various loud and continuous forest noises around me. It was an obviously very busy morning for the little critters of the forest. The thing I did begin to notice was that my hands were becoming cold, and I had to switch my camera from hand to hand to keep myself warm.

I also noticed that the trees are beginning to become weaker. They are also making the transition to their winter selves. Several of the trees have been falling lately more than they have since last winter ended. Their warm weather strength is leaving them. Even a few of the smaller trees have succumbed to weakness. What a shame.

As I made my way to the back of the park I continued to hear the continuous crashing of the crazily scurrying squirrels dropping their nut castoffs everywhere. But then as I was entering the back of the park towards the end of the forest the crashing got very much louder and more urgent sounding. Very quickly it began to sound different and much more violent than any squirrel!

I wasn't at all expecting what I saw next. You see, I had been joking recently with Sharkbytes about seeing a Sasquatch in the forest, and then later on I watched a TV show about those creatures. So can you imagine what I saw crashing through the forest right towards me?

That's right! I saw at least three big brown animalish shapes running through the trees right in my direction! How afraid would you be in that situation right then? I was every bit as frightened as you think I might have been!

It was then, after only milliseconds, that I realized what I was seeing! It was no murderous group of Sasquatches at all! It was a small herd of three deer that had come from getting a drink of water at the lake. As soon as they saw me they turned to the left and ran into the forest.

I followed them for a little way, and they typically tried to warn me off. I have long ago figured out that most deer are all talk and no action. They're full of empty threats, so I wasn't deterred from following closer. The thing that did stop me though was my sense of sympathy. I felt sorry for them so I turned and left them in peace.

Now since this story is running a little long, I want to jump forward past a few other notable events. Don't worry, I'll make sure you'll get to read about them in the near future. But there was one event that happened as I was leaving the park, and I want you to know about it.

I was about to leave the forest when the squirrels seemed to become even more agitated! I looked off to my left through the trees and I saw an animal with an unusual amount of white fur. It was about the size of a large dog. When I got a little closer look I thought maybe it was a juvenile deer, but it was just a little too small for that.

Then I thought maybe it was a skunk. Ginnymo shows some incredible pictures and videos of skunks with a lot of white fur on her blog. But this animal was a little bit too big to be a skunk. Then I thought maybe I was seeing some sort of canine critter such as a dog or even a fox. I'm not afraid of any animal so I went through the brambles to take a look.

When I got there the animal was completely gone! That made me sure it wasn't a dog. A dog would not have disappeared so thoroughly. Was it a fox? Did I see some sort of spirit creature or something? Do any of you have a solution to this strange mystery? Give me your comments, your theories, or anything in the comments section of this post. I really am confused by this very very strange sighting I had. This has been one of the strangest adventures I've had so far!