Folks on Twitter wanted to hear more about the time I chased a fox on unicycle across a Missouri prairie, so here's the full story!

It was the late 1990s. I had moved to Columbia, Missouri after completing my bachelor's degree. Previously, I'd been into juggling a lot, and I'd started getting into unicycling while working on my bachelor's, but in Columbia I hadn't found other jugglers to pass clubs with, so I turned more to unicycling, and especially off-road unicycling. I discovered a great set of challenging single-track mountain bike trails in the Three Creeks Conservation Area, south of the city, where I frequently went to practice dodging and climbing on one wheel. Few people ever seemed to be there (and this still seems to be the case, based on online reviews I've found), but it was a beautiful bit of country. The parking lot was on a bit of a ridge that descended on either side through rough, craggy, winding gullies that connected to seasonal streambeds. There were a couple creek crossings where you were basically plowing through a field of grapefruit-sized rocks. I don't think I ever made it across them while actually riding the unicycle — too unstable.

http://www.singletracks.com/mountai.....ap.php?id=3672

Here's the trailhead. I'd usually descend through a trail that headed off east (right) of the parking lot, into that little square of wooded area (switch to satellite view) then down to the slopes and streams south of the parking lot. I'd work my way to a river that flowed year-round to the south-west of the parking lot, then ascend to the fields on the ridge above and back. In satellite mode, you can see the gravel maintenance road that traverses the string of fields following the ridge back to the parking lot.

Here's where the fox story starts!

One day late in summer, I was making my way back along the gravel road back to my car. The prairie grass was tall, and the road cut a trough through it. I was bookin' along, focused on getting back to the car, when suddenly a red fox pops out of the grass in front of me, on the right side of the trail. He (perhaps she) had been running and was totally unaware of my presence. I surprised him, to say the least, and he immediately turned to run away from me, down the trail. Since I was already moving in that direction, and since riding a unicycle means maintaining momentum or falling off, I naturally ended up chasing after him.

Sadly, the chase did not last for more than a few seconds. The fox wised up, realizing that continuing down the trail was not the best way to escape me, and with a flick of his tail, darted back into the grass on the right side of the road and disappeared.

Sadder still, it was too quick to even think of getting a photo. These days, if I were to get back into off-road unicycling, and if I had one of those helmet-mounted video cameras (like GoPro) rolling, I could have caught a few frames, but back then, there was no chance of preserving the moment other than in memory.

Yesterday's fox-sighting moment, which revived my unicycling fox chase memory, was a bit more prolonged. It was a cold (single digits above 0 Fahrenheit) snowy morning, perfect for biking to work because very few other people were on the bike trails and the snow meant I could finally put my studded tires to proper use. I was passing through a tiny bit of prairie near the Fort Snelling historic site, and I spied a red fox standing casually along the edge of the trail ahead of me. He (again, perhaps she) seemed puzzled, but hardly concerned. As I got closer, he trotted through the winter grass to a parking lot a dozen feet beyond, then turned to watch me pass by. I couldn't help but keep looking back as I passed. It was a nice healthy, fluffy red fox, with a light-colored face.

It's too bad I haven't had more such encounters more often than once every 15 years or so!