The following is a write up of one part of what I experienced as part of the Fall Nesra Expedition in the Adirondack mountains. We got to the actual expedition base camp a little after 2:00 in the afternoon, and camp was set up after that. Having set up the rest of the evening was largely uneventful except for a suspected beaver slap in the pond that we were camped at. No beaver was actually seen but there were signs of beaver presence anyway. The morning brought discovery of an interesting impression a short distance behind our tents. Improvising, some Ultracal 30 gypsum cement was used to dust the impression and highlight it as well as we could for photos. Erosion and lack of print detail made it such that we decided not to cast it. If I remember right the measurements were 14 inches long by 5 inches wide (exact dimensions to be confirmed later in official expedition writeup.)
After breakfast another researcher and I hiked along the rim of the pond which allowed us to get about halfway around before the trail broke up into swampy wetlands. We briefly explored a swampy clearing before heading back to camp. This also gave me a chance to test out my new helmet camera set up which performed pretty well as it has on three previously hikes. WIth a full charge it seems capable of (optimistically) 5 hours of recording. Had the battery run out I had brought along a 12 volt battery and a modified car adapter set up to allow for recharging in the field. The alternative would have been lugging in a heavier inverter, while the battery fit easily enough in my backpack. The major limitation of the helmet cam is that it doesn't do night vision without help, so that is something we'll be working on.
I'll let the expedition report tell the larger version of the story as the intent of this field report was to be more of an individual account, so we fast forward to after dinner. It was beginning to get dark and to rain as two of us set off to stake out a spot about a hundred meters from camp to try and see if we could observe anything coming around to check out the campsite. The position we were staked out placed us on a hillside behind where the impression had been found. Things were not to be however, a complete lack of moon light proved to limit video equipment with nightshot capacity, and the continual background noise of the rain hindered my bionic ear's capabilities as well. After about a n hour we grew a bit frustrated and went to camp.
A short while later we were sitting under a tarp as the rain was still going off and on, and the fire had been weakened by the rainfall. The lantern we had had run out of fuel as well as if the set the scene for what was going to happen next. We began to hear from the other side of the pond what sounded like thunder at first. I found this odd, as after hearing it twice or so, I looked up at the sky to see nothing both stars. The clouds and broken up and taken the rain with it. But still the "thunder" continued. It began to seemingly get louder, or closer though and we noticed it had an almost rhythm to it. It took on a similarity to growling, as described by Chris, Mike and Corey who were getting up to check out what it was. After a minute or two it definitely seemed like it was getting closer and we were all off our seats and listening, trying to figure out what it was and where exactly it was now. What I just described is what everyone heard and experienced, but by now, Mike, Chris and Corey were heading a little ways down the trail to see if they could identify our apparent visitor.
What happened next what not so much something I initially heard as much as felt over my shoulder. I would liken it to when you feel something in your space, leading me to ask to Chuck who was still nearby, "What was that....?. Whatever it was, hopped up and ran off into the darkness from what seemed not more than twenty feet away, and did so with a loudness I would equate with a galloping horse. It seemed big, heavy and fast. The oddness of this is all the more, given the timing. Three of us have wandered away to check out am aggressive sounding noise from the opposite direction and something big manages to sneak up to practically the edge of the camp.
So what was it? I honestly don't know. We had planned our expedition at the darkest portion of the moon phase and it was about as dark as it could be. Later discussions about this have me realzing that Chris, Mike and Corey were not in a good position to see or hear it, although Mike and Chris claim they saw something small nearby, estimating it to be the size of a rodent. Chuck likened what we heard to be closer to the size of at least a large dog. Having been closest to whatever it was when it bolted, I think Chuck's estimate is conservative. I know the ground was covered in twigs and leaves and that would make a stealthy approach harder in my opinion. Could it have been a mountain lion? I tend to doubt it being a bear, or a deer, and it was loud enough to likely rule out anything smaller.
So bottom line, what was it? And what was it intending when it was being so damn sneaky....?
