A walk with the trickster

My breath is a fog before me. The forest is frosted and beautiful in the gray light of dawn. Each leaf and twig encased in delicate crystal. I scarcely notice the growing numbness of my finger tips. There is something a little magical about mornings like this.

I check the trail for what has passed in the night. A large buck following does passed through and paused to graze with them. A solitary raccoon wandered across on his way to the creek in the bottom to the north. Bobcat searching for a meal patrolled his realm. A pack of coyotes on the hunt crisscrossed the trail. No wonder they follow their leader. His track is huge. It is almost twice the size of a regular coyote print. I see where they have left the trail to disappear into the wooded bottom.

I follow them. I want to see him. I don’t mean him any harm. I just want a glimpse of him. I want to see if he is the grand old man of the woods or the young king, fierce and proud. It is also a test of skills. I want to match wits with him.

Slowly and silently I follow the trail. Upturned leaves mark the packs passage on the forest floor. A strand of gray fur snagged on rough bark. He has picked a beautiful kingdom. The sun is rising now and melting the frost. Gentle pitter patters of cold drops bounce off my hat and rustle the leaves.

I pause at a stand of young magnolias. I have followed them for a mile now and I’m close. The babble of the stream masks my sounds. Slowly I crouch down behind a sapling. Paws on the leaves reach my ears. A grey ghost appears from behind a tree. Ears alert and nose twitching. I’m upwind my friend, you won’t smell me. But, another circles behind me and howls. They are off again and so am I.

We travel a winding path through the forest. I catch glimpses of his subjects but never him. He is leading and they are watching the rear. He is leading them, and me. Now we start to curve. I know what he is doing. He’s circling back on me, attempting to get behind me. I wait, I listen. He’s heading back toward where I first saw the tracks.

I take my leave of them for the moment. Going back the way I come so that I might intercept them on the trail. I’m back tracking the back tracker. Smug and confident I approach the trail. Kneeing down behind a thorn bush I hear them just ahead. I ease forward just in time to see bushy grey tails disappear into the forest on the other side of the trial.

But wait, something is different here. There is something on the trail that was not there before. I smell it from five feet away. The message is clear. A fresh pile of coyote poop lying squarely in the middle of my boot track. The ears of my mind hear canine laughter from the woods. I laugh aloud with them and bow to the king. You have won my friend. I could not trick the trickster. But, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Somehow I feel that he looks forward to my next attempt with good hearted mocking.