Coyote in the Fog

Today's morning walk proved very interesting. We started at the usual 6am at our usual park. The thick fog blocked out any light from the moon. The dogs just would not settle in to the walking routine. We spent more time than usual untangling leashes.

We were still in the park section when I heard what I thought was music coming from the distance on my right toward the parking lot. Niña was barking like crazy. I was a little spooked. It was difficult to hear, but we figured out it was actually coyotes howling from some where on the other side of the tree line on the other side of the park.

While we were stopped figuring out where the noise was coming from, I spotted movement in the fog. It was just far enough away that you could only make out the dark outline, but there is no doubt in my mind it was a coyote. And he wasn't going away. I picked up both of my dogs. I believe he was still trying to figure out how to get to us. He'd been following for some time. Niña had been barking behind me for a while. I was a bad mother oblivous to her child's rowdy behavior. I'd just been pulling her along. It was very spooky because Adrianne and I had been talking, Niña had been barking and the noise did not deter the creature from following us.

We were in a bit of a stand-off. He was to the right and slightly behind us and not leaving. The woods were to our left. At first we started to go back up the sidewalk, but that put us between the coyote and woods. Finally I started to the right across the field, dogs in my arms, toward the light of the parking lot. Adrianne and her dogs came too. And the coyote disappeared out of our sight. I don't know where he went, but with the fog and the dark, we couldn't see him. I kept looking back to see if he was following still, but he wasn't.

We decided to walk in the lighted areas. All seemed to be going well, Niña was quiet and we continued talking. We came to another area, near the cars, where the sidewalk goes close to a section of woods, Niña started barking and I heard twigs cracking in the underbrush. My heart skipped a beat, we both dragged our dogs across the open area away from the noise and I said, "That's it. I'm done."

I generally worry about being confronted by people, but today I realized that animals are probably a bigger concern. We've seen critters before, but this was different. This animal was menacing. He was after the dogs. It was spooky.