Usually when we write about wildlife encounters on the trail, we're covering stories of bear attacks or defensive moose, but a group of Washington hikers recently got the surprise of their lives when they came across a giant octopus just off the trail.
"What is this thing doing right here?" asks Micah Moehller,in a video he shared to Reddit, which you can view below.
Moehller reveals he was hiking Clark's Point, a coastal hike in a wooded peninsula in Bellingham when he came across the extraordinary scene of a Giant Pacific octopus swimming in a shallow tide pool.
Different angle of the octopus I saw in bellingham bay! from r/Bellingham
Moehller says there are train tracks nearby that separate the ocean from the pool and he thinks the octopus must have swum through a pipe that runs underneath the tracks to reach this inland area.
According to the Seattle Aquarium, Giant Pacific octopuses can weigh from 40 to 100lb (that's 18 - 45kg) and grow up to 14 feet long. They live in dens and do most of their hunting at night, so a sighting like this is extremely rare and another great example of why it's always worth getting out on a hike – you truly never know what you might see.
If you do come across any amazing creatures on the trail, follow the example of these hikers and stay back, admiring it from afar. Check out our guide to wildlife safety for more tips.
