It was too big for a cat, and black panthers don't live around here. Then I saw his brother:
At this point, I began looking around for mama bear. I began by very carefully searching the woods behind me, because I definitely did not want to be between mama and those cubs.
Fortunately, mama was right behind the second cub, and had not noticed me yet. I snapped a picture of the second cub and she heard the camera go click, so I got a good photo of her face. The forest was dark under the solid canopy of trees, and the zoom was all the way out, so my handheld shot is not in sharp focus. Oh, and I didn't want to get any closer.
At this point, I didn't want her to think I was a threat, so I began to whistle cheerfully while slowly moving off at a 90-degree angle from her. As soon as I began whistling, she mumbled something to the kids, and they all three took off down the mountain away from me.
The Shenandoah Mountain Trail is in the Ramsay's Draft Wilderness Area of the Geo. Washington National Forest, west of Churchville. I took US Route 250 to the top of the mountain, parked at the Confederate Breastworks, and after a quick loop around the interpretive trail around the remains of Fort Edward Johnson, I began hiking the Shenandoah Mountain Trail. This trail runs along the tip top tippy top summit of Shenandoah Mountain. It is surprisingly easy and relatively level with gentle ups and downs, for about two and a half miles.
I turned around about a half-mile past this junction with Road Hollow Trail. My sprained ankle made the going quite slow.
I found a fresh squirrel tail (the blood was still bright red), but alas, no other sign of its owner. I have to wonder if he sacrificed his tail like a Florida aneole (although I don't think squirrels re-grow theirs), or if the tail was rejected by the predator as being the untasty part of the dinner.
Here is a YouTube link to someone else's short video of the Confederate Breastworks historical site. The interpretive trail offers are really good experience about the role the trenches played in the Civil War in the Spring of 1862. Fort Edward Johnson was built by volunteers from Sumter County, Georgia. The letters of Private Pryor, who later became sheriff of Sumter County, form the basis for the trail's story. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Is093SAmHkk