Smell on trail (no - not me!)

[HikerBob]

While coming down the 19 Mile Brook trail last Friday I walked into a strong aroma best described as 'damp dog' It was pungent, but not unpleasant, and in a few paces I walked out of it. I checked around me and after a few more paces, behind me, but could not see any possible cause.

A hiker I met earlier had mentioned a Moose grazing on the trail some hours before. I know there was a thread somewhere on a similar topic but can't find it.

Comments? Ideas?

Bob

 

[NH_Mtn_Hiker]

Black Bear!

They have a very distinct musky, musty, sour milk smell.

Enjoy your future hikes,
Bob

 

[peak_bgr]

Was it almost a sweet smell?

 

[1ADAM12]

One word SASQUATCH

 

[HikerBob]

It was a definite damp, musky animal smell. Kind of like you get in a stable.

However, I like the sasquatch theory best

I think THIS is a bigfoot print - note the three toe prints ahead of the heel print...

I used to worry about bears, but from all I've learned Moose pose a greater potential risk for a bad encounter. I stress potential, not unavoidable. Managing wildlife encounters by being aware of ones surroundings and knowing how to handle situations seems the best way to be prepared.

Bob

 

[ChrisB]

Moose Juice?

Might have been Moose juice...

When in rut, these critters can scent a pretty large area with a very pungent spray.

I recall being on Spaulding (ME) just above the leanto in late Sept and walking along a stretch of trail that had been scented.

Speaking of strong bad smells...

We did Sandwich a few weeks back and at the Algonquin trailhead there is a large dead moose in the process of decomposing. Something had been feeding on the carcas and it was down to bare bones in places. One of the strongest stenches I've ever come across in the wood.s Literally took your breath away.

cb

 

[1ADAM12]

It was a definite damp, musky animal smell. Kind of like you get in a stable.

However, I like the sasquatch theory best

I think THIS is a bigfoot print - note the three toe prints ahead of the heel print...

I used to worry about bears, but from all I've learned Moose pose a greater potential risk for a bad encounter. I stress potential, not unavoidable. Managing wildlife encounters by being aware of ones surroundings and knowing how to handle situations seems the best way to be prepared.

Bob

That almost does look like a "Big Foot" print. ALmost like a moose track with some extra toes or something.....Definately a nice shot and I like how you campared it with your foot I like to believe there is something else out there besides us

 

[jjmcgo]

Thirty years ago, my wife and I were less than a mile (30 minute walk over hard snow) north of Waterville Valley in late January when we hit an area about 30-40 yards long where the smell made us gag. We figured bears were hibernating, moose weren't rutting and it wasn't decomposition. Didn't think animal urine would stink up that big an area in cold weather.
Probably Sasquatch.

 

[bogorchis]

Bear!

Sounds like bear! My hubby met up with a bear at the intersection of the AT and the side trail up to Sugarloaf in Maine. He was eating a peanut butter sandwich, and he sure hoped that the bear wouldn't want it!! She ambled away, and he said that she smelled awful!

 

[jjmcgo]

That was my guess at the moment, and my fear. I later met up with one near the Delaware Water Gap and it turned out as non-confrontational as advertised. I think that black bears, except those used to human food sources, only attack when cornered or someone gets between them and their babies. I saw another one on the PA side of the river that was crouching, and watching me before I saw him, bolt away with an incredible leap and good speed. He was about 3 feet high when I first saw him and seemed about 9 feet long fully extended. It was pretty impressive. Had he come my way, he'd have arrived in seconds. They're fast. A few years ago I hung out with a couple of animal-control officers as they tried to track a 2 1/2-year old male through the suburbs north of Trenton. They said he was probably chased out of Stokes State Forest by elder males as he approached sexual maturity. A German shepherd treed him and they hit the bear with a dart and drove him back to Stokes. I didn't see it but some people eating at a Stewart's Root Beer drive-in watched him come down a suburban street, bolt across Route 1 and hurdle the divider. Bears in suburbia are becoming more and more prevalent in New Jersey.
"Duck!"
"No, it's a bear."