Pffffbt

Raven Rock is harmless as far as wildlife is concerned. The deer are adjusted to people, and aren't too skittish, although nothing like what they've got out in Mt. Morrow SP near Uwharrie, I've walked right up to a doe, literally close enough to reach out and touch it before it spooked.

If it makes it any better, over the last few years I've ran at least 200 miles up in Raven Rock, and I've only seen that one little baby snake - just a blacksnake too, not even a poisonous one. The weirdest encounter I've had up there was down on Campbell Creek Loop with a stray hound dog that was following a couple with a rottweiler puppy around. I asked if it was theirs since it was off-leash, and they didn't claim it, in fact kinda angrily stated that and then mentioned it had the runs - so I did what anyone with a soft spot for dopey looking hound dogs would do. I took the lace out of my right running shoe, and tied it around the dog's collar, to walk it the 4 miles back to the ranger station. After a mile or so, I ran into a much nicer couple who let me use a piece of string to leash the dog, so I could put my shoelace back in - they also gave me some alcohol prep pads to clean up some bloody roadrash I got turning my roadbike around before the run (doing a brick that day). I walked the dog up the rest of the way to the ranger station, and when I dropped the dog off the ranger told me he knew who the dog belonged to, it was an old man who had died. The man's son was supposed to be taking care of the dog. Kinda sad, hopefully the caretaker didn't just dump off his dead dad's dog.