Erethizon dorsatum
The 2nd largest rodent in North America.

The pinyons are prey to the porcupines. They eat the inner bark of trees and as evidenced by the trunk scarring, they adore the pinyons here! I do have a picture of a porcupine in a pinyon from close to 10 pm one summer night. He was noisy, that’s how we found him. The picture, however, is on my missing portable hard drive…. sigh

How to know you’ve been visited by a porcupine.:

Well, there’s the smooth scat seen in the feature photo. Tree bark though, is easier to spot and the sign doesn’t get washed away or…. stepped in.