Bears

The thing I love best about living in my town is the bears. It is "common" for me to see them while out hiking, driving or even in my own yard. They add such a wonderful sense of wilderness to even the simplest of hikes close to home. Every time I lay my eyes on one I think....How lucky am I? How blessed has my day just become? Seeing animals in the wild opens my sense of wonder back up to the the way I felt as a young child. Yesterday while out for my daily hike with Petey this young boy of about 3 years old came running right towards me. Petey was ahead of me on the trail and must have caught his scent in the swamp and took off to investigate. I heard what sounded like something large crashing through the brush, and it was making a coughing noise. I thought OMG it's Petey and he must be badly hurt, why would he be making that noise? I looked in the bushes and there was a bear coming right at me...and he was making a grunting noise. He stopped about 3 feet from me, looked me in the eye, turned around and up the tree he went. He was not about to tangle with Petey nor I. He only wanted to get away from us. I took a minute to snap a couple of pictures, and then left the poor scared boy alone. What a thrill. No matter what, every time I go to the woods, I'm never sorry for the time invested, braving the weather be it rain, heat or snow, dealing with bug bites....one sighting of a bear makes all the time worth while. Can't wait to get out there again!!