Flagstaff Arizona

Mountain Biking Adventures

“Squirrel Tales” or “Close Encounters of the Squirrel Kind”

Close encounters of the squirrel kind. Ever had one? You know, cute little grey-haired bugger standing at the side of the road/trail—contemplating the best moment to dart in front of your car or bike?

Some locals refer to them as “Suicidal Squirrels” and hence the inspiration for our new blog, SuicidalSquirrels.net.


My Squirrel Encounter

On a beautiful fall day, bike-riding down Oldham Trail towards Buffalo Park--a stretch of trail I'd ridden dozens of times without incident, I had a “squirrel encounter”.

There seemed to be an unusual amount of squirrel activity that day, dozens scurrying about, looking for food, mating or doing whatever Abert’s Squirrels do. “How cute”, I thought to myself.

Then they appeared, a group (gang) of four squirrels standing next to the trail, no more than 50 feet ahead. Riding pretty fast, there was no time to hit the brakes, surely the squirrels would spook and scatter before I approached.

No such luck. At what seemed like the worst possible moment, the first three squirrels darted in front of the bike—no casualties. The fourth however, did not cross the path of the bike, but instead turned at the last moment and began running alongside the bike!

I wait for the bump, thump, squish or whatever sound a squirrel makes when it’s run over by a speeding mountain bike. To my surprise, all I feel is the squirrel’s tail brushing against the rear wheel. We ride like this, side by side, for what seems like an eternity (actually about 25 feet) and finally the little bugger darts off the trail and runs away.

Whew! It’s a miracle we both survive. The only evidence of the event is a few tufts of squirrel hair stuck in the spokes.

After sharing this story with friends and doing a little research on the internet, turns out squirrel encounters are fairly common—and sometimes dangerous, not only for squirrels but for people too!

It seems squirrels aren’t the simple-minded, indecisive little creatures we all thought. Apparently, when they scamper in front of your bike (or car as the case may be), what they are really doing is challenging you, their way of saying “stay off my turf”. The fact that many squirrels do not survive these encounters just proves how brave and defiant they are.

And you thought they were cute.

So tell us your “Squirrel Tales”. Share any incident or encounter you have with the local squirrel gangs and we will happily publish it so long as your story is true and does not involve the intentional harm of any squirrel.


How to Respond to a Squirrel Encounter

(From http://www.chainreaction.com/squirrels.htm)

On the road, do not panic!  If you're concerned that a squirrel is about to zip right in front of you, and you're traveling at a rate of speed that doesn't allow you to safely stop in time, your safest course of action, for both you and the squirrel, is to ride a straight line.  Don't swerve or make any other sudden maneuver, as that might cause you to crash, and, truth is, squirrel behavior is completely unpredictable.  They dart here and there, and by swerving, you could be moving into its path as likely as away from it.

Off-road, simple common sense can save both cyclists and squirrels, specifically, don't ride at unsafe speeds.  This is particularly true off-road, where you might consider that you're on their turf, and the natural order of things doesn't take into account a mountain bike flying through at 30 miles per hour.  Most places where off-road cycling is legal have speed limits, and paying attention to them is likely to be safer, and even more enjoyable, for all concerned.

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Comments

[enlightened_explorer]

Just before winter-the squirrels seem to be most active and sometimes
blindly aggressive.

They are competing for the last stores of food they use for winter. That
makes them

very territorial and downright nasty.

Glad you're healing.

John Rogers

[Suzanne]

Squirrel took me and my road bike down on Snowbowl Road 3 weeks ago - just ran right out on the blind turns above milepost 3. Ambulance, x-rays and MRI's, couple days in the hospital with a pelvic fracture and a dislocated shoulder, home in a wheelchair. Everybody wants to give me advice about not swerving to save the f*#@ing squirrel next time, but on skinny tires you're goin' down if you hit 'em. I do not know what became of the squirrel, though I thought I heard laughter from the forest as I was being duck-taped to the backboard, and when I went back to the scene of the ambush to exorcise my demons, I found tiny notches carved on a tree there - one of them fresh.

[Tia010]

Hi,
Very interesting article!
Thanks for sharing your encounter and glad nobody was hurt!

Tia,

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[The Enlightened Explorer (John Rogers)]

Oh my gosh--that is an amazing (and scary) story. I know squirrels are a bit crazy but that is beyond normal squirrel behavior. I wonder if that squirrel was rabid or something? They also get highly territorial and confrontational this time of year. Thanks for sharing your encounter and glad nobody was hurt!

John Rogers

[Nikki]

I had a recent squirrel attack. I was on my porch with my two year old daughter and I live across from a large dirt field (with no grass). The second we were about to sit down a squirrel comes barreling across the dirt field and lunged at my daughter. My porch is high so it didnt make it and fell short of the porch. I pulled her into the house. I called for my fiance. He went outside. The squirrel had gotten up and climbed up the side of my front door onto my mailbox trying to get in my house. My fiance threw a rock trying to scare it not to hurt it and it turned to him and jumped at him. He climbed ontop of our car. Then the squirrel turned his attention towards our dog that was barking in the backyard. I heard a yelp from my dog and the squirrel came back to the front porch and I let my dog in. The squirrel went back to the front of the house. I went for some peanuts hoping the squirrel was only hungry. I threw them and the squirrel tried to come in my house ignoring the nuts. He then again climbed up the side of the door, trying to get at the screen. It was shaking its tail and making wierd noises. It then got down and went to the bottom of the door scratching at it. We called ppl to come and dispose of the squirrel.. I never had met a squirrel that had reacted this way. It was seriously so crazy but at the same time frightening.