Just tonight I was out walking, and I caught a whiff of an odd smell that I had smelled a few years ago and couldn't identify then either. I live in the Pacific NW, in typical NW forest. It is a cloying odor like sesame oil with tones of lime zest. It is not everywhere, but hangs about like an invisible cloud. And it is not in one place, as though it was some animal marking or musk, but is noticable here and there and further on. It gets on the dogs, and on my scarf. Is it perhaps some mushroom blooming spores into the atmosphere? Has anyone else noticed such a smell? (Eeek -- it's on the cat, too!) It's not hideous like skunk, but it's weird to have one's animals perfumed with sesame.

-- snoozy (allen@oz.net), January 16, 2001

Answers

Snoozy could you be smelling "mountain misery"? It looks like a low ground cover with fern looking stems. Very pungent smells at certain times of the year caused by heavy oils that get all over the animals. sierra foothills are covered with this stuff. Just a guess....Kirk

-- Kirk Davis (kirkay@yahoo.com), January 16, 2001.

I haven't seen any mountain misery up here in the Pacific Northwest. I miss that smell.

Snoozy, by typical NW forest do you mean a lot of decomposition, fungi and ferns? All of these put out kind of an earthy, musky smell. Ferns add a bit of a green tanginess. Take a walk in the woods sniffing and and rubbing different things until you find the one you are looking for. Go low so you can find what the dogs are finding.

This time of year, we and our animals get kind of an algae smell to us if we go out for very long.

-- Laura (gsend@hotmail.com), January 17, 2001.

Snoozy: Do you perhaps live in North Kitsap County? I hate to presume, but if you do, it's the mill in Port Townsend. I noticed it today, doing chores. Here, then not, and then here again. In this foggy weather, no wind, it is cloying. It is one of those smells you just can't identify, or describe, although you did better than anyone I ever heard. I learned what it was when a little kid and we would smell it, ask what it was, Mom didn't know, and tell us to ask Daddy. Daddy knew.Of course, it was much stronger in those days, with no pollution laws, and much more often. Almost always smell it in foggy weather, though. If that is not a possiblity for your location, could be a buck goat in the neighborhood, although most are losing their "scent" as breeding season is drawing to a close. Hope this helps....and if you are in North Kitsap, e-mail me, would love to talk! Kathie

-- Kathie in Western Washington (twinrosefarm@worldnet.att.net), January 17, 2001.

Your description surely sounds like the odors from a modern paper making plant (wood fiber reduction). Of course, if you lean towards the esoteric, it could be Sasquatch.

-- JLS in NW AZ (stalkingbull007@AOL.com), January 17, 2001.

If it was Bigfoot then the dogs would be barking and freaking out plus they supposedly smell more like skunk. But a good idea :)

Ted

-- Ted Hart (tedhart71@hotmail.com), January 17, 2001.

Without a doubt the smell of "Sasquatch" will gag a maggot. This is a repugnant odor to repel any close associations.

However: As in all species when in heat or seeking a mate the odor makes a 180 degree turn. I would be very cautions in the situation you are describing. (Of course this is just based on personal experiences, from observing goatladies I have known.)

Check out this web site and let the webmaster know of the locality of this "sniffing."

http://www.angelfire.com/wa/sasquatchsearch/

Or; if not the paper mill then it is probably a city, or city dump (land fill).

-- JR (jr3star@earthlink.net), January 17, 2001.

Poplar buds have a distinctive scent when they bud out, and are covered with a sticky sap. I don't know if it's a sesame smell, but it is unusual, and the smell can waft a good distance from the trees.

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), January 17, 2001.

When I get a whiff of pulp mill, I usually check the youngest kids' pants.

Maybe the low tide smell? I could smell the Puget Sound clear in Missoula with a direct west wind.

-- Laura (gsend@hotmail.com), January 17, 2001.

Wow! I saw this title & living in central Ky, with the 'Cornbread Mafia'right here, my 1st thought was - get out of the woods! Carefully! & watch out for booby traps! I've been shot at 3 times now in the past few years while out turkey hunting, & I finally realized that I was smelling something strong & kinda 'skunky' every time just prior to the gunshots! What a world what a world,ennit? Sparrowhawk

-- Sparrowhawk (sparrowkiak@yahoo.com), January 18, 2001.

And the copperheads & rattlesnakes.Another Kentuckian.Stay outta the pot field,for heaven's sake!!!!!

-- sharon wt (wildflower@ekyol.com), January 18, 2001.

Thanks, y'all, but I'm sure it is not pulp mill -- that is way more sewagey (enjoy the subtle differences in Tacoma , Everett & Port Townsend vintages...) And there are no dumps of any sort close by. No poplar trees on my property, though there are some Lombardy poplars down the road, nowhere near these sesame miasms. Sasquatch...hmmn...no, I think the doggies would go ballistic -- they enjoy going on red alert for simple squirrels.

-- snoozy (allen@oz.net), January 18, 2001.

Of course, your first thought of it being fungi is probably correct. There are many stinkhorns and "brain" fungi that put out some pretty strong smells. (something dead) Many of the other mushrooms have interesting scents too.

Over the years, I have been surprised a few times when I've found pitcher plants in the woods. They put out quite a smell, too. Could it possibly be the skunk cabbage beginning to bloom? It has almost a perfumy smell right before the skunk smell hits you in the face.

-- Laura (gsend@hotmail.com), January 18, 2001.