Dear Deer

One of my absolute favourite things about hiking in this area is that there's always a chance I might come across a deer or two along the way. On one hike last year, a doe and her fawn bounded across the trail about twenty feet in front of me—gorgeous! Unfortunately, I had no such luck last Sunday when I did a short hike at Hidden Villa, although I did discover some tracks (see above). So I know they're out there, which means I'll be heading up that way again before too long. Fingers crossed!

I did, however, have one “wild”life sighting on this last outing, although I'm not entirely sure what it is:

I assume it's some kind of slug, since it's a rather sluggy looking creature, but it's a lot bigger than the ones that take such pleasure in defoliating my flowerbeds every spring. Whatever it is, it's kind of gross, although still cool in an “as long as I don't have to touch it” sort of way. Ahhh, the vagaries of nature. :)

There are also some animals I'm more than happy to miss:

Now that would be an adventure!

(I love the way they advise you to speak in a loud voice if one of these beauties actually happens to cross your path. Uh, yeah, that's not gonna be a problem. They'll be hearing me in Russia!)

Comments

[Toni]

I do believe that is a banana slug, and I believe they're the official mascot of a university - UC Santa Cruz, perhaps? I used to know a guy who went there and he gave me a Banana Slugs t-shirt, haha.

[Elizabeth]

Thanks, Toni.

Funnily enough, I was doing a hike this past weekend in Armstrong Woods, and there were interpretive signs along the beginning of the trail. One of them showed a picture of a banana slug and, sure enough, it was the same critter as the one I encountered the previous weekend.

I personally can't imagine choosing this particular life form as my school's mascot, but there are a lot of things done in college that I can't imagine doing. :)

[Toni]

Well, the whole deal was that this university didn't give out grades, so I think it's a whole "look how different we are!" kind of vibe. The t-shirt was hilarious, and I always got funny comments about it when I wore it. Back in college. When we were doing all those things we might not do today, like wear a banana slug t-shirt. (Ok, I still would, but maybe I'm a bad example!).

[Daphne Howland]

(Hi, Elizabeth!)

In fact, I think UC-Santa Cruz was one of the first universities to change their Native American-inspired name. That's when they chose the unlikely-to-be-controversial "Banana Slugs."