# Turtle madness



## joelbolden (Jun 10, 2021)

I was hiking yesterday along what is called the Spring Creek Canyon trail. The cliffs at that point are around 100 feet high and very steep; although trees and plants grow all the up for a distance before it gets truly vertical and pure rock. I heard, and then saw what I thought was a rock bouncing down the cliffside; until it landed about 15 feet away. To my surprise it was a female Snapping Turtle that had apparently decided to take a quick shortcut back to the creek after laying her eggs. How she got up there, or where she came from was a mystery since the land at the top of the cliffs are mostly cultivated/developed with no visible water around. After staring at me for a bit and moving to face me, she then started crawling past me towards the creek; which was only about 30 feet away.  Whether she deliberately stepped off










 that cliff or somehow slipped is a mystery I'll never solve, but I can give testimony on the durability of snapping turtle shells, not to mention the turtles themselves. The pic I included of the slope doesn't do it justice as my 55-300 lens couldn't provide a view of the entire height of it.


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## jeffashman (Jun 10, 2021)

Nice set! Maybe they fly?


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## K9Kirk (Jun 10, 2021)

Nice set. Just so long as the don't land anywhere near my toes.


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## Dean_Gretsch (Jun 11, 2021)

Scary beast! I found a baby years ago about the size of a US quarter.


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