Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with woods

What might one see hiking in the woods at night that looks like glowing eyes?

weston — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 18:31:52 -0800

What might one see hiking in the woods at night that looks like glowing eyes? A couple of years ago I was part of a hiking party of three to some hot springs in Utah (Diamond Fork). We started late and took a trail we didn't know well. Two hours into the hike, not only were we not finding our destination, but the woods were getting denser and darker, blocking the moonlight, and we were getting progressively more spooked. About 1 am, we stopped to discuss turning around and giving up. This was when a random flashlight probe into the nearby trees revealed... two spark-ish points light that looked for all the world like eyes.

We held the beam there for a moment and asked amongst ourselves to see if everybody thought the same thing. Each of us confirmed this.

Now, at this point, we were pretty much thinking/hoping it might be reflections of dew, or maybe some woodland creature like an owl or a deer. When we moved the flashlight beam away for a bit to test the reflection theory... the points of light remained.

We moved the beam back. The points were still there. We stared for a bit and again asked each other for visual confirmation, getting increasingly nervous. Then they were gone.

We decided to get back as quickly as possible.

Any ideas what we might have seen?

(While I appreciate the fact that the human mind has a large capacity to play tricks on itself, I'm particularly interested in other explanations.)

Ideas for a garden in the woods?

priested — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 09:41:56 -0800

Ideas for backyard garden on heavily wooded lot? Just bought a house in the mountains. Not a super large lot (about a third of an acre). The back half of the lot (past the fenced area of our backyard) is heavily wooded on a downward slope to a run-off that is dry 99% of the time. From the fence to the run-off is about 30 yards or so.

I'm interested in ideas that would accentuate this area but also lead to enjoying it more. I don't necessarily want to tear down the fence, but I do want to do something more than putting a picnic table out there. Any ideas? Has anyone ever done a water feature in a heavily wooded area?

Help me inspire my dad to build a cabin.

R_Nebblesworth — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 09:06:07 -0800

I'd like to encourage my dad to build a cabin on land he's owned for years, what cabin/outdoorsy house design book should I get him for Christmas? He has had a few acres up in the Black Hills of South Dakota for more than a decade and has always talked about building a little house or cabin there. Now he's starting to get the time and resources to build one, and I'd like to get him a book on design that might provide some inspiration and maybe a gentle nudge in the direction of actually doing it. Recommendations?

Woods, woods all around and not a trail to hike?

daisyace — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 09:44:15 -0800

Do you know of any nice trails very close to Milton, NH? Or a good way to find them without great web access? I'm currently in Milton, NH, right on the border with Maine, for a week's vacation. I'd like to go walking on pretty trails in the woods for a couple of hours, as short of a drive away as possible. I've visited the trails at the New Hampshire Farm Museum, which may or may not be the same as Jones Forest. On the web, I see a couple of places that are very small, and other places that are much bigger, but considerably farther. Jennings Forest is listed on the state parks site, but I don't know if it has much in the way of trails. I don't have great web access. Any ideas where I should go? I've called some of the NH state forestry and parks numbers (I didn't try Maine yet), with no luck.

What to bring to live in the woods?

assasinatdbeauty — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 10:05:34 -0800

Less obvious things to bring when going to live in the woods for a month or two? Next year i'll be going to live in the woods for one to two months, most likely in the north west of the united states. I wanted input on things to bring that i might not have thought of, i have the basics under control. I'll be there with another person but we don't want to rely on each other to bring things we didn't, we want to be essentially self sufficient. I'm looking to keep packing as light as possible, so i don't want to bring anything bulky or things that require a lot of time and construction.

where can I find greenery in Philadelphia?

bluenausea — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 10:07:06 -0800

[Philly filter] Where's the fair part of Fairmont Park? Can anyone point me towards the pretty parts of Fairmont Park? By pretty I mean NOT next to four-lane Kelly Drive or through Lemon hill type suburban wastelands. I really miss having a nice dirt path through the woods to run on. Do such places exist in Fairmont Park/philadelphia-at-large? The park website claims so, but their maps confuse and upset me. Help?

Extra gratitude if you can identify someplace within running/biking distance of the Art Museum, but I'm fine hopping on the SEPTA too.

Thanks..

Trespassing hunters

Baby_Balrog — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 14:26:47 -0800

How to deal with trespassing hunters. Before I begin - please let me state that I am not "anti-hunting" - I have hunted. However, my mom's property extends in a 14-acre rectangle back into the woods, and we've done a good job preserving it as a natural space. It includes a large field surrounded by dense forests where deer like to hang out. My mom loves her deer and feeds them, so there are many deer. Unfortunately, the property is difficult to monitor because it is pretty rugged terrain. Recently, the adjacent 10-acre parcel was split into half-acre lots and sold to to a bunch of other Michiganders, many of whom love to hunt and are pleased to have a nice big forest behind their houses in which to do so. Illegally. Today, we walked the property and found evidence of two treeblinds. We placed additional signs that said, "No Hunting. Premises Monitored. Violators will be Prosecuted."

I don't want people hunting out there because my mom's house has a bunch of windows that face the woods. Also, recently two hunters went tromping through the back yard to recover a kill that had run up by the house. It freaked her out and she called the police, but she's afraid of "making a fuss" because where we live people can get a little... retaliatory. And I can't really enlist the neighbors because I think some of the neighbors are the biggest offenders.

This whole situation vexes me. Frankly, I don't want people shooting guns in the woods behind my mom's house. My mom abhors deer-hunting. The signs don't seem to be stopping them. Ideas?

Documentary About Living In the Woods

A Long and Troublesome Lameness — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 17:34:08 -0800

Several years ago I saw a documentary on PBS about a guy who moved to the woods (Alaska, I think) and built a log cabin. He also built all of his furnishings right down to cups and dishes. The film showed him designing and constructing all of this. He lived there for most of the rest of his life. Does anyone know the name of this piece?

Photos from A Walk in the Woods?

jclovebrew — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 13:07:22 -0800

Did Bill Bryson and/or Stephen Katz take any photos during their Walk in the Woods? Are they online anywhere? I'd love to see them.

Please help me identify a deep-woods mystery novel.

tangerine — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 12:53:37 -0800

Please help me identify a deep-woods mystery novel. There's a passage I'd love to read again, but I can't remember the book it's from. It was a mystery novel. I think I read it in the early or mid-90s.

The detective, a woman, is out in the woods with an expert tracker. The passage describes a technique the expert calls "tracking with the heart" -- recognizing discrepancies in your own heartbeat as the first signal that you've subliminally spotted something significant.

Help me find a table!

Asbestos McPinto — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 12:02:38 -0800

Looking for unique furniture in the Pacific NW. My SO and I are in the market for a dining room table/chairs and I don't want it to be a run of the mill piece. I am looking for things like salvaged/entombed wood, antiques anything that can make it more one of a kind and less assembly line.

I am in based Portland but I am totally willing to travel to view furniture in Seattle or even Bosie, if need be.

I have gone to ECO PDX and liked what I saw but the tables were mostly too large as I am looking for something that can seat between 4 and 8 folks.
Thanks!

Earl Woods quote

Cosine — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 09:02:38 -0800

Earl Woods filter: Does anyone have a link to that really strange quote by Earl Woods all about how Tiger was the chosen one and would change mankind? Google failing me.

We need advice about having sex in the woods.

Anonymous — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 14:06:46 -0800

What do we need to know before trying to have sex in the woods? We are planning on taking a series of two and three day hikes for our honeymoon in September. We are looking at parks around the Vancouver/Seattle area, but have not chosen routes yet. We are both experienced hikers, but neither of us has a lot of experience within the United States or Canada. In addition, neither of us have had outdoor nookie before. Is there anything we could do to make the experience more comfortable? Safe? Is it a bad idea to seek a little privacy and camp a short distance off of the path and away from crowded campgrounds? We will have a two person tent, sleeping bags, a bit of mosquito netting, bug spray...and many little towels. Is there anything else that is absolutely necessary? Do you know any games or activities we could try?

I’m a little worried that we will be breaking some sort of outdoor sex law. Other than keeping quiet and avoiding families is there anything else we can do? Should we chuck the whole thing and spend our honeymoon indoors?

Also, please let us know about any spectacular and/or non-crowded trails in the area.

Porn in the woods.

mr.marx — Wed, 03 Aug 2005 13:01:38 -0800

Porn in the woods. Did you, as a kid, find porn in the woods? I did, and I have noticed this is a worldwide phenomena. Why the porn in the woods? Where does the porn in the woods come from? Yes, this is a serious question.