The Hungry Coyote

This misadventure was a winter car camping trip to Joshua Tree National Monument (now National Park). It was mid-January and I was feeling a bit cooped up. Not wanting to trudge through snow, I thought a visit to Joshua Tree would do the trick.

There was a storm coming into the area but it didn’t look like much so off I went. I arrived at Jumbo Rocks Campground, one of the largest sites in the park. There was only one vehicle there so my arrival doubled the number of cars. They were at one end of the campground and I picked a camp at the other end.

After a two and a half hour drive, I decided to take a walk before setting up camp. Walking the entire parameter of Jumbo Rocks would allow me to stretch my legs so off I went. It's a long walk around Jumbo Rocks and I was about a quarter of the way around when I saw something coming in my direction. It was a coyote. I was traveling counter clockwise around the campground and he was going clockwise.

I've had many coyote encounters before and all were quite peaceful. I've always shown respect for the coyote and they've shown the same for me. This encounter was one of the closest I've had. We passed about twenty feet from each other. As we passed, I glanced over my right shoulder just to keep him honest. He glanced over his right shoulder just to keep me honest. I had a walk to finish and he had lunch to catch so we both continued on our respective journeys.

As I continued my walk, I soon noticed the temperature was dropping – really, really dropping. In less than an hour, the temperature had plummeted about twenty–five degrees Fahrenheit. It was the steepest temperature gradient I have ever experienced in the middle of the day. (That night, the temperature dropped to twenty degrees inside my tent and it snowed all night.) I decided to cut my walk short and quickly set up camp.

A cold wind was picking up so I chose a tight spot between two large boulders to pitch my tent, hoping to reduce the wind chill. That increasing wind required me to tie down the tent. While pounding the tent pegs with a rock, I began to notice just how tight a spot I had chosen. There was only a foot or so between the boulder and my tent. With my back flat against the rock, I had barely any room to work. That's when I noticed movement coming around the boulder.

He was moving fast – just a tawny blur! I still had a rock in my hand but my position was so awkward I had no time to bring my arm up to block him. He was leaping straight for my throat! I didn't see my life flash before my eyes but knew I was dead. In several days the rangers would find my body with my throat torn out!

Up he leaped. I couldn't react at all, then suddenly he was passed me landing on the other side of the tent. It wasn't the coyote after all. It was a German shepherd from the other camp. He had come over to say howdy and see what I was doing! He didn't understand why I had collapsed on top of the tent holding my chest and gasping for breath. Stupid dog!