midnight intruder

Last night Papa and I went camping at China Camp near San Rafael.  Our mini Aussie was snuggled up in the tent with us and we were fast asleep by 10:00 pm.  Then at 2:30 am he jolted awake!

Dash sat straight up all of a sudden, and of course since he was sleeping on the bottom half of my sleeping bag, I was snapped out of my slumber too.  His eyes were large and darting back and forth.  Then it seemed like he focused in on one direction.  I strained my ears to hear what he was hearing, but there was just silence.

Grrrrrr..... What?!?  Dash was growling into the darkness.  He never growls at anything!  Papa woke up at this point and asked what was going on.  We both tried to listen carefully for the footsteps of raccoons, or something, anything recognizable.  Grrrr.....  Our mini Aussie was protecting us from something out there, but not knowing what was the creepiest part.

Then I heard it!  A very faint grunt.  Or sort of like a snort?  It was coming from the exact direction Dash was staring at.  After a few seconds of silence, another loud snuff.  I was straining to hear the creature's footsteps, but it was silent.  This made me think it was a mountain lion or a bobcat, since cats can slink along pretty quietly.  At this point Papa had heard it too.

All three of us were sitting in the dark focusing on this one direction.  Dash kept growling.  Then I thought I heard the creature start growling back!  It was a quick, short growl at first.  Then it sounded like it was really growling back at Dash, taking a breath then growling again.  Holy moly what is out there?!?

Oh wait.  Methodical growling sounds, with breaths in between, from a fixed location, and no footstep sounds....  "Someone is snoring." Papa concluded.  LOL!!!  Yup.  After listening for a few more seconds, it was just someone snoring.  Thanks for saving us, Dash!