Ruth

In December 2019 visitors to the Diamond Creek MTB Trails started to encounter a small, timid porcupine near the trailhead kiosk.
It seems some folks started to feed her because she became increasingly less timid.

The first time I met her was a clear sunny day when Trails and I had enjoyed a walk down Rollin’ Coal and up Dozer’s Demize. With blue skies overhead we looked out over the inlet at a snow storm over Augustine.

By now the porcupine was less timid, and getting curious. She cautiously approached me when I stopped to talk to her. I put a rather uninterested Trails in the car and went back to check out the cute little creature.

She inched down a limb of “her” tree, picked up a spruce cone, and nibbled on it. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better than that she discarded the cone and made her way down to the snowy ground.

Around this time Lance Williamson had joined me after his run, he crouched down and started talking to her, while rubbing his outstretched fingers together. She waddled right over to him and started sniffing his fingers. Lance and I were practically melting because of her adorableness.

She looked towards my laughter, stood up on her hind legs and started walking towards me. Lance, “No way! She’s walking on two legs!” That startled her and she spun 180° and put up her stubby quills, not for long though, she soon recovered her composure and headed towards me.

While I hung out with her she went for a walk over to the kiosk. She was using the space under the bench as a midden and maybe a shelter. While I watched her she seemed to just go in to use the space as a litter box.

Someone had made a poster to warn trail users with dogs about the presence of a porcupine – misgendering her in naming the structure “Mr Porky’s Porcupine Porch”.

Fast forward a couple of weeks to Feb 1st and Trails and I were back at the trailhead, this time to snowshoe. Trails was still in the car and I was sitting on the driver seat with the door open, switching footwear, when this happened:

Meanwhile, Trails is hanging out on the backseat, looking over my shoulder and whimpering a little. Porcupine is unfazed, she now explores the taste of my pant leg and decides it’s not to her liking. Then she tries to climb up into the car. There are zero traces of timidity left. I consider whether I could take her home and how Mr Sinatra would feel about that.

A car drives up and Jenn Bando gets out, I warn her of the porcupine’s presence so she doesn’t let Miso and Kiva out right away. Jenn comes over to chat and as I walk towards her the porcupine follows. Both of us have our cameras out for photos.

The porcupine comes right over to me and places her front paws on my boot. Then all of a sudden she climbs right up my leg.

She didn’t use her claws really, it was more like she was hugging around my leg and shimmying like up a tree trunk. She stayed there a couple of minutes, second guessing herself about the potential to eat my pant leg. And then inched back down to the ground.

A couple days later I saw Park Ranger Jason Okuly and he told me the porcupine had been transported to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center.

Last weekend Bando sent me the update that AWCC have named her Ruth – they are naming all their animals after candy bars at the moment. They estimate she is a year old. By all accounts she is acclimating to her new home, they say they have never met a porcupine this friendly.

I miss her!