A creepy encounter: My home trails are connected to the trailhead by a mile and a half of straight, rails-to-trails doubletrack through a forest. At night, it looks like an endless dark tunnel through the trees. So, I was finishing up a night ride and heading out. Up ahead, I see a pair of glowing eyes really low to the ground. I'm thinking maybe raccoon, they were about that low. As I got closer, they started to rise up, and up, and up. They seemed to nearly reach the height of a person. Just as this thing was starting to get into range of my spotlight, it turned around and bolted through the trees. All I could make out of it's body was that it was big and covered with short, brown hair. I'm guessing it was a deer, browsing on something on the trail and looking up at me when I got close. Or maybe a chupacabra, either one.
A scary encounter: The trail system also has wild hogs. On a ride last spring I came across three or four tiny little piglets on the trail. They decided to hide from me by running to the edge of the trail, burying their faces in the grass, and squealing bloody murder. I turned around and got out of there before mama came to the rescue.
A surreal encounter: On one of my last night rides this spring, just after sunset, I kept coming across doves just sitting in the middle of the trail. They'd take off only when I got close to them. Must have seen 5 or 6 of them, I lost count. Strange because I rarely see doves at all. I was wondering if they were some sort of omen, or maybe I had accidentally wandered onto the set of a John Woo film. I kept an eye out for slow-motion gunfights. If something exploded behind me I was ready to keep on riding without looking back or flinching.