I had a re-supply box waiting at Colossal Cave, a hiker-friendly business that is typically open for public cave tours of the local and (you guessed it) colossal cave.
Although they were closed due to COVID-19, they still had a system in place for hikers to pick up their boxes.
It was a very cool facility, at first I didn’t even notice the building which was built into the side of a mountain and blended in perfectly with the surrounding landscape.
The entrance to the cave was off a stone patio – which surprised me. I am not used to seeing cave or mine entrances that are built up and so easily accessible.
The owner greeted us from a distance and said we were welcome to spend some time there resting and getting organized. Gratefully Vance and I sat down in chairs close to the cave entrance and got ready for lunch.
I thanked my past-self profusely for sending freeze dried pineapple, and it felt like Christmas morning as I opened up a brand new jar of crunchy peanut butter.
Within 60 seconds of opening that jar I nearly dropped it in surprise as one of the strangest looking animals I’ve ever seen came running out of the cave. Followed by another, and another, and another…..
“I didn’t know raccoons that looked like that!” Vance exclaimed.
Well that’s because they weren’t raccoons, but he wasn’t far off. Coatimundis, sometimes shortened to Coaties, are a member of the family Procyonidae – the same family raccoons are in.
We watched in disbelief as six coaties (a group is called a band) came bounding out of the cave and starting sniffing hopefully towards my jar of peanut butter. But it didn’t stop there. More bands kept coming out in groups of four and five, so many that if they had decided to unite forces they could have overtaken both Vance and I and made off with the jar of peanut butter along with a weeks worth of food.
I counted 27 coaties in total. I sat there stunned. I knew about coaties, and had been really hoping to see one, but I wasn’t aware that they lived in caves and traveled in packs.
Vance and I kept a VERY close eye on our peanut butter after that, and decided it was best to start moving on before any of these critters realized they outnumbered us 27 to 2.
IMPORTANT: Please remember to always be respectful of wildlife. These Coaties had clearly been fed by people before, and had very little fear of humans. Although I was excited to see one, I was sad to see their behavior so dramatically changed. It would have been much more meaningful to see one foraging naturally, not begging for peanut butter.
To learn more, check out the Leave No Trace Principle “Respect Wildlife”, you can find that here!