Do you ever have one of those days where you find yourself Googling strange topics? That was me the other day when I Googled: "what to do when cow chasing you."
Let me back up a little bit. Several years ago, my husband and I, along with James and his wife, were training to hike Yosemite's Half Dome. Those days, we were doing a hike pretty much every weekend, and Fremont's Mission Peak Regional Preserve was a great hike for our training (it's 4 miles up and has a 2,100 feet elevation change). We ended up doing Half Dome that year. (Actually, the gals skipped the cable portion but otherwise did everything else, so that's still over a 14 mile hike.) Then the following year, we all hiked 8.5 miles on Yosemite's Panorama Trail (the guys actually hiked more that day). Then 2 years ago, we hiked 9.4 miles on Yosemite's Upper Yosemite Falls trail.
The last couple of years have been kind of hectic, so we haven't been able to do as much hiking even though I wanted to because hiking really keeps me in shape. (Though I did hike Mission Peak by moonlight with some friends on a cold night in late 2009.) So this year, my husband and I agreed to try to get back into our hiking habit.
Fremont's Mission Peak is a great hike in that it's challenging (did I mention the 2,100 feet elevation change?) and offers sweeping views of the San Francisco Bay Area.
My husband wanted to get up early and climb Mission Peak like the "good old days" in less than 3 hours -- and before breakfast.We I didn't want to push ourselves too hard on the first hike after such a long hiatus, so I suggested we take our dog with us on the hike since Mission Peak allows dogs off leash. It seemed like a great idea to me because as soon as the dog would get tired (and he gets hot and tired pretty quickly!), we'd turn back.
Our dog did fine on the hike (though he did get tired really early on, and his excessive panting made me look like a terrible dog owner....even with the constant stops for water). We started hiking back down, and that's where we ran into the trouble. You see, Mission Peak is fenced in and has cows that graze. For the most part, the cows stay away from the trail areas and people, but every now and then you find one of them trying to cross the path.
As we made our way back down, we encountered a female cow with a young calf. (For those wondering, technically, the proper name for it is "cow" instead of "heifer" because it had a calf.) This would have been fine...had the cow (and its calf) not been standing near the only path down. So...we waited (from a safe distance) for them to cross the path. From where we stood about 10 to 20 feet away, our dog had already gone into a stance as if he was afraid or at least submissive.
We waited for both the cow and its calf to cross the path and watched as other hikers descended ahead of us without any issue (while we waited). When the cow got to the other side of the path, we started forward...with trepidation. My husband went first and then me with our dog on the leash (in an effort to be extra careful). The cow had its back to us. My husband passed the cow and its calf with no issue, and I was right behind him with our dog on the opposite side of me (away from the cows). When the dog and I got right up next to the female cow (there was still about 5-10 feet between me and the cow), that's when it started to turn and come after us.
And that's also when I screamed like a little girl.
My husband grabbed the dog's leash from me, and we ran! Well, my husband and I ran, and the dog had a hard time running because he was so tired (and confused about the situation), but we got away as fast as we could.
When we were almost outside the park, we met another woman who said the cows had chased her the previous week and that it scared her (too).
After getting back home, we were able to laugh about the situation. I told my husband that I better Google what to do in case it happens again. So...in case you were wondering, here's what I found online: Yahoo! Answers: What do you do if a cow is chasing you?
I've bookmarked it for future reference, but I'm hoping that was the 2nd -- and last -- time a cow chases me. (Oh, I didn't mention that wasn't my first crazy cow encounter? Well...that's a story for another day.)
Let me back up a little bit. Several years ago, my husband and I, along with James and his wife, were training to hike Yosemite's Half Dome. Those days, we were doing a hike pretty much every weekend, and Fremont's Mission Peak Regional Preserve was a great hike for our training (it's 4 miles up and has a 2,100 feet elevation change). We ended up doing Half Dome that year. (Actually, the gals skipped the cable portion but otherwise did everything else, so that's still over a 14 mile hike.) Then the following year, we all hiked 8.5 miles on Yosemite's Panorama Trail (the guys actually hiked more that day). Then 2 years ago, we hiked 9.4 miles on Yosemite's Upper Yosemite Falls trail.
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| Paragliders at Mission Peak (click photo to view larger) |
Fremont's Mission Peak is a great hike in that it's challenging (did I mention the 2,100 feet elevation change?) and offers sweeping views of the San Francisco Bay Area.
My husband wanted to get up early and climb Mission Peak like the "good old days" in less than 3 hours -- and before breakfast.
 |
| Grazing cattle at Mission Peak (click photo to view larger) |
As we made our way back down, we encountered a female cow with a young calf. (For those wondering, technically, the proper name for it is "cow" instead of "heifer" because it had a calf.) This would have been fine...had the cow (and its calf) not been standing near the only path down. So...we waited (from a safe distance) for them to cross the path. From where we stood about 10 to 20 feet away, our dog had already gone into a stance as if he was afraid or at least submissive.
We waited for both the cow and its calf to cross the path and watched as other hikers descended ahead of us without any issue (while we waited). When the cow got to the other side of the path, we started forward...with trepidation. My husband went first and then me with our dog on the leash (in an effort to be extra careful). The cow had its back to us. My husband passed the cow and its calf with no issue, and I was right behind him with our dog on the opposite side of me (away from the cows). When the dog and I got right up next to the female cow (there was still about 5-10 feet between me and the cow), that's when it started to turn and come after us.
And that's also when I screamed like a little girl.
My husband grabbed the dog's leash from me, and we ran! Well, my husband and I ran, and the dog had a hard time running because he was so tired (and confused about the situation), but we got away as fast as we could.
When we were almost outside the park, we met another woman who said the cows had chased her the previous week and that it scared her (too).
After getting back home, we were able to laugh about the situation. I told my husband that I better Google what to do in case it happens again. So...in case you were wondering, here's what I found online: Yahoo! Answers: What do you do if a cow is chasing you?
I've bookmarked it for future reference, but I'm hoping that was the 2nd -- and last -- time a cow chases me. (Oh, I didn't mention that wasn't my first crazy cow encounter? Well...that's a story for another day.)
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