Mountain Critter

As previously mentioned, I just returned from a wonderfully long vacation at the Mountain House. My friend K and I arrived there after working all day and a 5+ hour drive, around midnight. The area was pitch black, and the blasted motion-sensor light wasn't working, so we were trying to get out of the car, pull out whatever bags were needed until morning, and get into the house in the dark. Fortunately I had a small flashlight in the car, so we put that to use. K stopped and whispered loudly "There's something moving in the bushes", indicating the long row of day lillies in front of the porch. I pointed the flashlight that way, and the rustling noise stopped, but we couldn't see anything. So we continued getting into the house, and K got up onto the porch first and again whispered "I'm telling you, there's something moving in there". Fearing it was a snake, racoon or skunk (or even worse), I ran up onto the porch and then shone the flashlight around the area behind me. To our surprise we saw ----- a box turtle???? I had no idea they lived on the top of mountains - I always assumed they lived near streams and lakes. Who knew! The thing was pretty good sized - about the size of a large saucer or luncheon plate. While we watched, it reached the edge of a landscape timber and rolled under the porch with a THUD! So much for fierce mountain creatures!