Two years ago I went for a trail run through the Fifth of July Peak area above the Chiwawa River. As I traversed the trail just below Carne Mountain, I was confronted by an enormous bull porcupine; peerless, fearless, and leashless. He crawled down from his tree and began advancing at a menacing pace of a third of a mile per hour or so, maintaining full eye contact, all the while snorting aggressively like an deflating bagpipe.
As anyone who's been charged by a 40 pound rodent can tell you, I was terrified as I stumbled backwards to escape the onslaught. Had been carrying the trusty Desert Eagle I'd been thinking about impulse buying, I could have blown his quills over half of Entiat County. Instead, I had only my instincts for protection.
Finally, it dawned on me; I began to walk away from him.
I still wake up nights thinking about what might have happened had I tripped, hit my head on a rock, and been rendered unconscious during that desperate moment.