Tall Dark Stranger…Friend or Foe?

My hero, Fernando.

*(You can see his protective gaze in this pic)

This morning I walked my dogs as usual: through the forest before dawn. We never see human beings at that hour in the dark forest. Our friends have strictly been in deer form: sometimes large herds of does and other times, smaller herds of bucks.

But this morning was different.

As I was walking my dogs I noticed a tall man walking towards us on the path. Instantly, I felt it unusual and tried to size the situation up before we met.

He was approaching fast so I knew there was no way to avoid our meeting. As he came closer I noted that he was a very tall and fit man, big braod shoulders and at least 6’6″ (I know this as my nephew is 6’4″ and he seemed much bigger than him). He was dresses all in black (a fitted outfit a runner might wear with a black skull cap). He could have passed for a cat burglar.
I could not make out his face at all as it was too dark outside. As he approached my dogs went ballistic. Fernando led the attack. Fernando has always been super aggressive towards strange men when he’s on leash (he’s very protective of me). Pablo is only aggressive toward other dogs but seeing Fernando go into attack mode made him bark too. As the man passed by, I had to hold them back as they lunged and Fernando let forth with really aggressive barking. I used their Dogstra vibration collars and instructed them to heel. He passed by me and then turned around a few feet away and spoke to me in the dark. 

He said, “Are you the ones who live up in the cabin at the top on the mountain?” I knew he meant the park ranger’s cabin.

I said, “No. But I’d like to be.”

He then said, “Oh, I saw the badge on your jacket and thought that it was a park security badge.”

My dogs and I continued on our walk, away, in the opposite direction that he was walking.

I was not afraid during our interaction. Yet…in retrospect, things don’t add up.

A stranger, a huge male, should not stop and talk to a woman alone in the forest, in the dark. And I know from past experience when a stranger stops and attempts to engage one in conversation when they are in a vulnerable position (isolated) it is usually for devious reasons (I’ve had a few close calls in the past). Secondly, the fact that he noticed a badge on my jacket and asked me about it: it was VERY dark. I could not make out any of his facial features. He had to be REALLY looking to notice something on my shoulder that looked like a badge. And why ask me about it? He wanted to know if I was some sort of security official or police person: because if I was, I might have a weapon on me or state of the art communication equipment.

I am so thankful for my aggressive beasts! Fernando wanted to kill the guy and Pablo was there to bark along and attack if need be–together they can be very intimidating. Also, I am thankful that the Dogstra remote control looks like some sort of state-of-the-art communication equipment.

I don’t like what happened. He should not have stopped me to ask me if I lived on the mountain and about the badge on my jacket.

Why do two-legged beasts always have to go and spoil perfectly wonderful wilderness?