June 15 2011: Killer Deer or a case of Mistaken Identity?--on the Blue Ridge Parkway

This is my craziest outdoor experience I've ever had!

On Wednesday the 15th of June, my wife, cocker spaniel, and I arrived at the Peaks of Otter Campground, Milepost 85, on the Virginia Blue Ridge Parkway. We found a level campground site and parked our RV on Loop "T'. The campground is lush with quite a forest canopy and ferns and grasses everywhere. The deer here are quite used to people and generally don't run away when approached.

After dinner, about 8:30pm--just about sunset--I began walking my 28 lb golden red cocker spaniel (Murphy) around the RV campground. By the time we were walking along the upper loop light was gone; I spied a large, dark, stationary object ahead, on the right edge of the road by the leaves. My first reaction was that I had encountered a bear, but when I turned on my flashlight and pointed it at the object, I saw a large young female deer.

She was undeterred by the flashlight, so we slowly walked towards her, on the left side of the road. Her eyes followed us continually, until we were alongside of her. Murphy tugged at the leash to get closer, but I was wary of getting within the distance of her hooves. She didn't flinch or move.

I continued walking past her, but I kept my head turned towards her as I felt a little unsettled by this event. After she had followed us with her eyes and head for an arc of 180 degrees, I finally turned my back to her and continued walking Murphy.

Suddenly, I hear thundering hooves on the paved roadway, and the female deer rushes past us, dashing into the woods, and getting ahead of us--she then turns around and faces us! I've never experienced anything like this and am scared as to what this deer's intentions are.

I turn my flashlight onto her face and just watch her watching us, for about 30 seconds. I decide that this is not the time to continue walking this looppast here and instead take a left turn and head down a small path to the lower loop, all the while facing her and pointing my flashlight in her face.

When I get half way down the small path, the deer has not followed us any further--and I hear the voice of a fellow female camper who had observed all of this, asking me if the deer had won? I replied 'yes' and returned to my RV.

Below is the picture of my 28 lb cocker spaniel Murphy--do you think that I had encountered a killer deer, or do you think that the female deer thought that Murphy was a tiny fawn?

Blue Ridge Parkway Mid-Sept 2009

My wife and I pointed our RV down the Blue Ridge Parkway, starting at MP Zero, Rockfish Gap/ Afton Mountain in Va., just past the end of Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah National Park, and heading south.

We camped at a succession of National Park campgrounds: Otter Creek, Peaks of Otter, and Roanoke Mountain. We thoroughly enjoyed the regional cooking served up at the Otter Creek restaurant and the lodge at the Peaks of Otter.

Below the Peaks of Otter put prior to Roanoke Mountain, we watched the Broad-Wing Hawk migration at Harvey's Knob, a well known hawk observatory in the area. We saw over a hundred broad wing hawks in an hour, starting at noon. The sky was too hazy to get a really good photograph of the swirling hawks. We did look for hawks at the Afton Mountain hawk watch site, but none were evident at that time.

The weather was balmy, 60 - 70 by day, and the 50's at night, requiring the furnace to turn on.

In the extreme uphill climb from the James River Visitor's Center--the lowest point on the Parkway to the Peaks of Otter via Apple Orchard Mountain (highest point on Parkway in Va.), we met a couple named Bob and Christina from the Research Triangle area of NC who were biking from Front Royal (start of Skyline Drive) in Va. to Mt Mitchell in NC, the highest point in North Carolina, a distance of 480 miles. We were able to provide them with some extra water as they steadily biked uphill.

This is a view of Otter Creek, passing under the Parkway

At Otter Creek Lake, we found two butterflies very attracted to a piece of apparently white bread.

Nearby, we found another, different butterfly
This dragonfly presented itself above the water's edge

This unusual butterfly was just sitting on the side of a nearby structure

While walking around Abbot Lake (Peaks of Otter Lodge), a very curious deer came over to see me. Her ears perked up when I spoke to her.

Near the Peaks of Otter, we discovered some thistle in bloom, attracting both bees and butterflies

On the fringe of Abbot Lake, I found these plants growing at the water's edge

The spiders were quite active at the Otter Creek Campground

An interesting pair of stumps

Some wildflowers at Otter Creek

A small collection of wildflowers not far from the creek

Along the Otter Creek Trail, I spied a spider's web

Some person(s) with a sense of humor stacked rocks on top of each other in Otter Creek. This recurred over a distance of half a mile

The Parkway offers up a fascinating variety of lichens and ferns, particularly north and south of Otter Creek.

More lichen with yellow wildflowers

This is a view of the James River Water Gap, with the James River Face Wilderness in the mountains there--along with the Appalachian Trail

This bridge underpass is accessible from the James River Visitor's Center. The US Highway passes overhead; this path will take you to a set of old locks

A short trail from the Visitor's Center passes by these rocks on the way to a view of the Water Gap

Just outside the Visitor's Center, some of the stone were deliberately set to resemble a buffaloe

Before the advent of the railroads and their progress to the Blue Ridge Mountains from Richmond, the James and Kanawha Canal paralleled the James River. This is one of the lock control mechanisms

This is a more complete view of a lock

These wildflowers were just above the locks

Adjacent wildflowers

A set of pretty yellow wildflowers, with the mountains by Buchanan in the background. James River bottom land in the foreground

Wildflowers seen on the Parkway

A view from the north of the Peaks of Otter

I see this flowering plant up on Skyline Drive, too

Bob and Christina, on their way to Mt Mitchell in NC

We stopped at an overlook called Thunder Ridge. These wildflowers were on the walkway to the overlook

This wildflowere really caught my attention, with the white and yellow together

A caterpillar enjoying this plant

More wildflowers enroute to overlook

While registering at the Peaks of Otter Campground, this deer came over to see us. When my wife talked to her--for several minutes--her ears perked up!

While walking along the lake (Abbot) trail, I saw these berries growing along the path

View of the lodge rooms, which all face Abbot Lake and Sharp Top Mountain. The tall mountain behind is called Mourning Hill

Sharp Top rising above Abbot Lake

At dusk and using ISO 6400 handheld, I captured this thistle on the Lake Trail

One more deer browsing along the Lake Trail; she was watching me carefully