So we camp out in the woods most weekends now. I take my long run on Saturdays. We go off county dirt roads that are near boat docks...no wussy electric/water sites but we do have a camper so I can shower after my run. Anyway- my story is headed out at 7am to try and beat the heat. On my warm up walk I decided I had 12 miles coming and should make one last attempt at a pit stop so I would go down to the next boat landing to use the out house.

I noticed on my walk in some pretty clear paws tracks heading out in the dirt that I thought possibly could be a wolf since it looked kind of a like a dogs but fairly large and longer nails. No more am I thinking about that as I turn the curve where I can see down to the dock and a large dog/wolf is laying on the big rock and stands up. He was about 200 feet out ahead of me. I was just staring trying to reason if this really was a wolf or just someones dog. It definitely looked like a wolf but I'm no expert so it had possibility to be just a larger husky type dog. Then it came off the rock and started to walk toward me. I had to yell a few times to get it to stop advancing. At this point I was still contemplating just going down there trying to convince myself it was someone's dog but I couldn't see around the curve to the campsite area. Then it proceeded to advance a few steps again- I yelled a few more times to get it to stop. This is now when I decided to retreat slowly backwards while picking up a few sizable rocks in case I needed to throw them to scare it.

This is what kind of stubborn person I am- I was not going to be derailed from my 12 miles. So I walked backwards til I was out back on the main dirt road and knowing it was just a mile or 2 to the paved road where at least there were houses every so often I went on with my mission. I only wore one earbud so I could hear, carried the rocks with me for a ways (until I heard a truck coming and I didn't want them to think I was nuts running with stones in my hands or that I might throw one at them so that's when I dropped my archaic weapons), and checked behind me a few times.

While the encounter definitely solved any need of using the restroom since my entire body was clenched in fear- I enjoyed my run and reminded myself that out of town I really needed to start grabbing my pepper spray. Others have told me when running on rural roads of crossing bears, etc. Just curious if anyone else wants to share their 'wildlife' experiences and of course give any pointers on how to handle such things.

I don't think I got carried away- I understand animals normally do not want to encounter us either BUT when they do I think I can never underestimate them since they could have young ones with them or could be injured- anything that might make them act aggressive. I certainly wouldn't turn and run either but yelling or throwing rocks and slowly moving backwards while watching them is what I understand to be a good approach. Sure my hubby is teasing me saying it was just a dog since people were tenting down there- but it never barked (which I found strange for a dog) and with my yelling I never saw any people come out. If it was a quiet morning who says a wolf might not be lounging by the lake ignoring the tents especially if no one was up making noise. By the time it was coming my way the second time I really didn't give two hoots if it was a dog- it was large and no owner near by so I err on the side of safety.

Let me know what you've survived - or heard/learned from others. Thanks for sharing- stay safe runners!