Whole Lotta Poopin' Goin' On

UPDATE 3/4/15: Mary Katherine Ray of Trapfree New Mexico thinks the berry-laden scats are from coyotes. She said coyotes eat a lot of juniper berries in the winter. Ms. Ray is New Mexico's leading advocate for banning traps on public lands. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to help support her efforts.




It was about 20 miles south of Silver City, New Mexico on highway 90 that I chanced upon the Continental Divide Trail trailhead. I stopped at the part in the Burro Mountains in the Carson National Forest between Silver City and Lordsburg. The small blue symbol in the lower right of the image below is the "brand."

It was heavily littered with scats. I'm not an authority, but judging from the formative remains, I'm surmisaling they're bear...small bear, but bear nonetheless.

And while I'm demonstrating the manly quality of conjecture, I'll further postulate that this one (below) is cat. 

I like to think the frequency was the animals' way of teasing the hikers. It certainly put me on alert.

And it went on for over half a mile. As Jerry Lee Lewis was wont to say, "A whole lotta poopin' goin' on!"