One of the best things about hiking is that you never know what you are going to see. One day it is llamas and the next an unexpected encounter with a snapping turtle on the way home from a hike.

This one was doing a rather pathetic job of crossing a busy road and was right at the top of a bend in the road. With the rush hour traffic approaching it was only a matter of time before it was food for crows. Lucky for me I saw it. And, the nature person inside of my brain screamed, “TURTLE! TURTLE! TURTLE!”

So, I swerved into the next driveway and hopped out. A man and his wife were looking at the snapper but when the guy tried to pick it up with a shovel to move it, the lethargic snapping turtle transformed into a hissing snapping menace reminiscent of a really mad alligator. (Not that I have ever personally met a really mad alligator but I’d expect a really mad alligator to act like that.)

Because I like to live on the edge–I know a few insane people who go noodling*–I’d gleaned from their bizarre conversations that the best way to get a snapping turtle without getting near that razor sharp beak of a mouth was to grab it by its tail.

So I did!

Boy, that turtle was NOT happy. And, did a fair amount of stretching and twisting and hissing and snapping. But when your backbone is fused to your shell you really can’t bend so much.

Now, the snapping turtle, me, and the man and wife attracted the attention of another neighbor. I asked if I could release the turtle in their yard where there is a small creek. They all shrugged, so I took that as a collective yes.

Which was a good answer because the turtle was getting heavier since I had to hold it up off the ground and way from my body at arm’s length for fear of it latching onto my calf while I was trying to take pictures of it. Because you must always take pictures of things like this–so you have evidence.

I got the snapper as close to the ground as I could, dropped it and ran carefully set the turtle free and hopped back before it could get latch onto my toe.

We stared at each other for a few minutes and, of course, I took lots of pictures.

This went on for a while…

When I left, the turtle was pretending to be a rock.

I thought he did an excellent job of mimicking the rocks. I think he might have a future in acting. At least that role is a lot better than smooshed on the road.

What great surprises have you had on the trail. Comment on this post on Facebook 6060cincyhikes!

 

*Noodling is the fine art of catching turtles or catfish by using YOUR HAND as bait. “As in, I stuck my hand underwater along the edge on the bank and noodled (wiggled it along) until something bit on it and then I pulled dat der critter out. Let’s eat!” If you think I’m making this up, just go google noodling for snapping turtles. I’ll wait….Ha, you thought I was making it up.