Читать книгу Afoot & Afield: Atlanta. 108 Spectacular Outings in North-Central Georgia онлайн

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Animals

If you’ve never spooked a flock of wild turkey, you’d be surprised by the noise, as they explode from the trees like a gun blast. And if you have never watched deer grazing in an open field, you would be humbled by the peacefulness of that moment. Georgia trails provide excellent opportunities to observe birds, large mammals, reptiles, and other wildlife, whether you’re exploring remote mountain trails or shepherding a child down a nature trail.

MAMMALS

At 2 a.m. one September night in the Cohutta Wilderness, I heard a gruff snort outside my tent. With the flick of a lantern switch, I could see the head and shoulders of a black bear on the other side of the mesh. Fortunately, my early-morning visitor merely shuffled off. It was a heart-pounding moment to be sure, but also one of my favorites—nothing gets your head buzzing and heart racing like seeing a mammal in the wilderness. The forests of Georgia are the stomping grounds not only of black bears but also white-tailed deer, several species of bats, squirrels, mice, tiny shrews, raccoons, skunks, red foxes, and coyotes. I once saw an armadillo slip into a hole at the base of a tree while I was hiking a bottomland trail on Pine Mountain. And I faced the charge of an opossum while walking a path in northeast Georgia. (I took its hissing as a warning to not poach its dinner—a dead snake it had just dropped at the edge of the trail.) While an encounter with a large mammal (or short, stocky opossum) gets the adrenaline going, remember that you should view them with caution but not necessarily as a threat. In my encounters with black bears I’ve found that if I call out to warn them of my presence and stand still for a few minutes, they will simply move on.