Close Encounter

Today, my wife and I came really close - closer than ever before - to a real disaster. We took our mountain bikes up to Shasta Lake, our usual ride. It's a fairly steep climb, followed by a gentle gliding descent down to Vista Point, and finally ending at Shasta Dam. From there, the loop continues up a gentle climb for a ways, followed by a gentle down hill portion back to our house.

It's usually a fun ride. On this ride, we stopped along the way to snap a photo. Using the 10 second self timer on our camera, we rigged up a makeshift tripod (actually a unipod) from a piece of old manzanita and some rocks. Carefully, we balanced the camera on the top of the stick, I set the timer and we both scurried to the other side of the road. Once the photo was taken, we retrieved the camera and completed our ride.

It wasn't until we got home and uploaded the photo into our computer that we realize just how close we had come to, well, who knows what would have happened? Apparently, while we were posing for the picture, a cyclops took that opportunity to attempt an ambush. The camera shutter snapped and I ran back across the road to retrieve the camera. When I turned around, I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. Apparently, the cyclops had ducked back behind the hill. 

It is so rare that you see one of these things. I didn't even know that there were cyclopses in our area. There certainly aren't any signs warning people to, "Beware of Cyclopses." Personally, I didn't think they existed, but the proof is in the picture. He probably didn't realize how close he was to a tasty meal. Having only one eye, we figure that his depth perception is a bit off. 

We got lucky this time. Next time, we will be more vigilant.