Coyote

Hiking today in Castle Rock State Park, we saw a coyote.

Maybe he saw us first – we heard a rustle in some bushes and were expecting either a human or a deer, when a grey/brown coyote stepped out and looked right at us. I’ve seen non-deer in the wild before: elk, bison, beavers, dolphins, and more black bears than you can shake a small child at, but this felt different. Did the Coyote Stories I read for a long-ago Trickster In Literature class actually sink in? Or was it just the thrill of looking a predator in the eye?

I don’t know – but the rest of the day was different after crossing his path. The place felt more special, like the mountain held some sort of power which we had accidentally peeked in on. Of course, we also became hyper-sensitive to every creak of the wind in the trees, waiting for the next coyote.

No, there are no pictures. I had no interest in taking my eye off of the handsome gentleman as the wife and I backed slowly up the trail in a different direction than we had planned. He seemed to walk with us for a few strides, and then we lost sight of him.