First, a note to remember the events of 9 years ago today: the bombing at the World Trade Center in New York. Although at the time we thought maybe that tragedy was the beginning of the end of life as we know it, we are so thankful to God that He has instead continued to bless us with peace. May He be near the families and loved ones of those who perished in that horrible disaster.
After an exciting morning chasing and watching our neighborhood bear, we finally made it to the park for our last beautiful day of hiking. With beautiful blue skies and warm sunny weather, we had a wonderful morning. We came back through Gardiner, and took an amazing drive on a dirty dusty dead-end road that had only about 10 houses…waaay in the boondocks. We saw some beautiful ranches and scenery, and were quite intrigued by the thought of living way out there. We came back to a scant remnant meal (cleaned out the frig), Levi did some fishing, and we all did some pre-packing. Then we loaded up and went back to Gardiner for pizza and groceries. Back to the cabin for baths and showers, Bibletime, a few dvds, beds.
As soon as we drove out the driveway this morning, we saw cars parked beside the road and cameras set up – sure signs of bear. Sure enough, he was walking through the meadow just south of the cabins toward the river. We turned around, of course, and watched him a long time. At one point we lost sight of him for awhile so got in the van to leave again, but as we were driving north we spotted him and so turned around for yet more bear-watching. It took a long time for us to leave, but we finally broke away and just left the crowd of observers – 10-15 people who were also watching.
Walking through the meadow toward the river.
Swimming the river (I guess sometimes he does like to swim (?)).
At the top of the bank.
Coming to a fence, he tried to go down the bank instead…
…but changed his mind and went back to the top…
…where he ambled along…
…until he got to the apple trees again!
He loitered there for awhile, and we finally went on our way. We don’t know how long he was there or where he went next; that’s the last we ever saw of him.
The audience.
Finally we made it to the Petrified Tree which was also the trailhead we were planning to take.
Before we started our walk, we lunched beside the van.
Jesse’s self-photo. Nice. Reeeaaal nice.
Ready to go.
BEAUTIFUL day…notice some short sleeves and some jackets – indications of perfect weather: not too hot, not too cold.
To the right of the picture, Kate and Jacob found some deep mud – thankfully they didn’t step into it because even with their longest sticks, they never touched solid bottom. Quicksand(?), we wondered.
Time for a break to savor the scene.
You can’t tell in this picture, but this log extended out over the water a ways. Thankfully no one got wet.
I did a lot of playing (practicing) with my camera on this hike so have quite a few solo shots…some I love, some aren’t so great.
Who does Jesse look like?
Back at the cabin.
To town for pizza – in an alley beside the restaurant was a mama black bear and her cub.
The police officer on duty there said this wasn’t unusual, but he didn’t know what another onlooker told Levi, that the bear was attracted by garbage in the backyard. The homeowner quickly picked it up before law enforcement got there, or they would have got fined. They don’t call it Bear Country for nothing; bears are everywhere. I asked a local clerk (gift shop) how children play safely outside, and she told me that it’s not normally an issue; bears only come around often at this time of year, when they are seriously foraging for food which is getting scarce in the mountains but can still be plentiful closer to civilization (especially when people leave their garbage out). It’s quite interesting – bear-proof trash cans everywhere, virtually NO litter, and there is no such thing as trash pick-up. All trash is taken to a central spot where there are 6 or so huge green trash boxes enclosed in a 10 foot high chain link fence, obviously designed to be bear-proof.
So…I didn’t do a final count, but I know we saw quite a few bears, that’s for sure!
That’s it.
p.s. – an email from Aunt Sarah gave us a welcome report on the homefront:
Harvest is going strong around here. Trucks and semis are wrapped around the elevator every evening when I come home from work. You'll be happy to know that as of late this morning, there was no sign of harvest in the fields surrounding your farm. It looks like you'll still get in on harvest this year! And the tetherball has returned to ground level, though Rascal is still bored stiff without you. I told her to hang in there . . . you'll be home in just a few more days. She was excited to hear that!
No comments:
Post a Comment