I was hiking a trail in the Gran Paradiso in Italy a number of years ago and as I rounded one corner I stumbled onto a colony of them. One gave out the warning whistle just as I first saw them. Don't know who was more startled; them or me. Don't know why they didn't know I was coming before I rounded that corner either; there was a bit of a hill that blocked our mutual view, but surely they should have heard me.

squishy wrote:

Woodzy wrote:On top of Wheeler Peak (New Mexico), we kept feeding this one marmot little rocks. We would bend down and act like it was food. The marmot would then take it right from our hands and go nibble on it and realize it was a rock and then toss it out. It was very funny to watch so we did that about five times and he never learned.

That's sad dude...very sad...It's not the Curry Village pizza deck...

Sad that we were giving them rocks or sad that they were so accustomed to getting food from people?

squishy wrote:

Woodzy wrote:On top of Wheeler Peak (New Mexico), we kept feeding this one marmot little rocks. We would bend down and act like it was food. The marmot would then take it right from our hands and go nibble on it and realize it was a rock and then toss it out. It was very funny to watch so we did that about five times and he never learned.

That's sad dude...very sad...It's not the Curry Village pizza deck...

Agreed. I hope he was talking about a memory when he was about 5 years old since that's the level of maturity it shows.

Wow, thanks for the compliment. Your a real nice guy...

Silly marmots, rocks are for stoning people

They have seriously infested a lot of the central oregon golf courses. I lived on a course in Redmond for a couple years and would watch them out my front windows grazing on the 15th hole, really got a kick out of it.

While hiking in Sequoia National Park ...

Set my pack down for 10 seconds. Here comes a marmot chewing a hole in my pack.

Then, I see the shadow of a bird. A hawk suddenly swoops down and kills the marmot.

(Pretty cool. In my next life, I'll probably be a damned marmot, for crying out loud ...)

lcarreau wrote:(In my next life, I'll probably be a damned marmot, for crying out loud ...)

In a dirndl.

Arthur Digbee wrote:

lcarreau wrote:(In my next life, I'll probably be a damned marmot, for crying out loud ...)

In a dirndl.

Ja!

Where can I find an outfit like that?!

This is what happens when you leave your hiking poles on the ground on Granite Peak, MT. The marmots chewed up the rubber grips on Jeff's poles to get at the salt from sweaty hands:

Ze wrote:they're annoying and obese (especially on Half Dome), but cute

Likewise on a Teton ledge, where you thought you were all alone

One of my neighbors up here at St. Mary's Glacier, lives at the back of the sub-division, has had the wires chewed up in 4 different vehicles, and some of his overnight guests cars too. He finally built a garage. Now they have a porcipine chewing on their house and deck posts.

Fred and I were camped in Glacier NP. The marmots were so hungry for salt, that they chewed off the top of one of my boots I had set in the sun to dry and nearly chewed through the shoulder strap of Fred's pack before we caught them at it. We had to throw rocks at them to keep them away and keep everything stashed in the tent and then guard that.