pantherophis22's Identifications

So, funny thing. I almost got a ticket for this observation. I was on a run, taking a lot of photos, when I happened to see something out on an island. I called over a fellow hiker, and he seemed similary baffled as to what it was. Yet, there was one solution to finding out what this was. If I were to go along the river another mile, cross a bridge, and come down the trail on the other side, I would be able to identify this strange creature.
So, I ran. Earlier in my observations from the day, you can see that I suddenly stopped taking new photos pretty much immediately, because I was probably keeping up 6:45 mile for most of this part of my run. If you're wondering why I suddenly picked up my pace so much, it's because it was starting to get dark, and if I were to go this extra 2ish miles, I would also have to go back, and then another 4 miles after that. It also just so happens that my school (where I would be running back to is in a not so nice part of the city; I saw a guy very cleary high on some hard drugs less than a block from my school, and another student got mugged in the student parking lot.)
Anyways, after a lot more running, and some minor knee pain, I arrived at the corpse. (Just realising that I was risking getting mugged with my camera over a dog corpse.) However, the knowledge that this was in fact a dogs corpse was not really helping me with the fact that I was now many miles from school with the light quickly fading. So, I made the obvious choice, I ran on the railway, because I was sure it would link up with where I had to go............
Welp, it just so happens that my luck is terrible, because waiting for me was a cop. I was called over, got a metaphorical wrist slap, and a warning put into the filebook. I'm guessing I got away a lot more easliy because I seemed like a complete nerd with my camera full of plant photos, and my short shorts. Then, I just booked it back to school, and collapsed up with some of the Science Olympiad people.
All told, the following was achieved:
-A ten mile run
-MANY, MANY photos
-disappointment with my own judgement
-A mildly entertaining story