We went on a nice canoe trip over the weekend (more on that later) and towards the end of the trip, I looked up and saw what seemed to be a large, black bag in a tree.
I asked, "What's that in the tree?" (I had already been told there was a bear in a tree earlier in the day but the idylls of a weekend at camp must have gently washed that fact from my mind.)
Bernadette said, "That must be the bear." She was kind enough to leave off "idiot" since she knew I had heard about it.
We were sort of excited to see it, but The Boy remained lukewarm on the subject. Sometimes I think if he can't play with it, have it fetch him something, or snack on it, an object's value drops drastically in his book.
We paddled past, stared at fuzzy bear butt for a while, and I suspect we would have hurried back to our landing point so we could get back to camp and look at the bear up close and from the front, but the previous four hours of our trip had disabused us of the notion that there was such a thing as "hurry" when you're in a canoe.
Once we did get back to camp, (it took another hour make the roughly two mile journey) we hopped in the truck and went down to take a look. Here's what we saw (click to embiggen):
She's about 30 feet off the ground and doesn't look at all comfortable, but there she is. The bear was asleep as far as we could tell. What you can't really see in this picture are the two cubs that were with her in the tree. This is also probably the reason that she can sleep so well in this position.... kids.
Bernadette called the game commission to make sure the bear would be able to make it down and she was assured that bears can get themselves out of positions like this. She was gone the next morning. We didn't check for ourselves, but the rest of the valley already had and passed the news to us.
37 comments:
What the?!?!? You're back!!!! :)))))
And -WOW- I can't believe you saw a bear hanging out ASLEEP 30 feet up a tree! That is one excellent canoe trip. The most excitement I ever got on a canoe trip was a hellacious hail storm that almost killed us and then a subsequent fog that made canoeing more like a Stephen King experience than a "pleasant family outing." Hurm.
I love you just re-enter Blogland, with no fanfare... probably a lot like W re-entered Texas ;)
I was driving Ryan to school one day last year when I saw something black out of the corner of my eye in the pasture we were passing. Assuming it was a cow, I didn't look too closely... at first... when I did, I realized it was a black bear! It was cool. Mostly because he was stuck behind the fence and I was in the car.
Welcome back, old friend... you've been missed!
That is simply incredible. That little image of that mama bear with her cubs gave ME a fuzzy bear butt kind of feeling. :-)
Your post was at the top of the list in my blogger dashboard when I checked in this morning. How nice to see you writing.
Hope all is well.
;-)
It's you!!! You're here!! You've been very missed!!
Welcome back!
It's really you, right?
I'm just thinking of all that's happened since last I read your blog. These are not necessarily in order of importance. Let's see...
We have a new president.
I bought two new pair of Coach shoes - one for winter one for spring.
I finally had occasion to say, "I'll will TURN THIS CAR AROUND" which is something I've waiting my whole adult life to say.
Captain Phil Harris of the Corneila Marie (tell me you watch Deadliest Catch) almost died and broke my heart.
And the number of children in my family has quite doubled.
So...you know. It's been OK.
Glad to see you;)
Glad to see you back Jim.
And I agree, only a parent can sleep sitting up. In a tree. With an audience.
Awesome to see you posting. Welcome back!
So nice to hear from you! Perhaps I should send some lions and tigers your way to keep it going?
HOLY MOLY!!! I did a double take at my reader when I saw you on there. I was like, "Who, wha...?"
Welcome back!
welcome back to the life of an addict. bears are scary but i still always want to cuddle them.
Great to see you! The bear story's great...photos and everything. That was nice of Bernadette to call the game commission. As I was reading and looking at the pictures, I too wondered if that bear [and her cubs!] would be able to make it down.
Glad you had a nice canoe trip with the family, Jim. :-)
A perfect way to start the summer. :)
Welcome back.
He's baaaaaack!!!!!
Personally, I thought perhaps a bear had eaten you! Welcome back!!
Hi Jim,
That's cool...we were in Gatlinburg last weekend and saw a black bear, too, about 75 yards off the road through the national park. A bunch of cars pulled off to take a look and some pictures. Not as cool as your sighting, though!
Hope you are well. I've been thinking about you from time to time and wondering...often when running.
Glad to hear of a fun trip!
Hey... nice to see you back!!! And i'm sorry but camping in the woods knowing there is a cub bear with a Mama bear right around the corner... would FREAK me out!!!
Now I know why these last months have been so blah. No Heinous.
I thought I was having computer problems when it opened to this gray screen background. Nice to read you again! Never seen a bear in person myself. I imagine it to be one of those experiences you don't forget.
Eeek! You're back! We've missed you.
PS Oh, and that's a really cool picture of a bear. Just thought I'd let you know before I forget.;)
We are so happy you're back.
My youngest boy treed a young black bear back on our farm. I think the 2 year old bear was more afraid of a 8 year than the 8 year was of him.
Those dreams where you're falling are bad enough without falling out of an actual tree, what a strange place to sleep!
Good to see you back around and all that sappy stuff.
That was such a cool way to drop in... Happy to see your camping trip.
They make a hella noise when they do fall down.
*carefully acting like I'm not surprised*
Very classy. I love the starting back in without a parade!
And the bear is great. We came upon a mom and two cubs in California. Scared me to death.
Welcome back.
Glad to see you back. I hope that all is well and that you had a great family camping trip.
Holy crap. I would have freaked out. And if need be, I would have thrown a child at it for food while I boated away as fast as possible.
Welcome back! Welcome back! Welcome back!!!
Great to see you have returned. You were very missed. I hope you have a marvelous Summer. =]
Great to see you again!!
We had bears come right through our darn campsite one year. Bears scare the bejeebers out of me. Not sure why...
Last year, we had a momma moose and her baby come right through our site, literally 10 feet from my face. Yeah, a bit scary, but what an experience!!
I miss PA in the summer. In the winter however, that's usually when my mom hits a bear with her car... ya really. Nice to hear you're alive and kicking
Doth mine eyes deceive me?!?!
I missed you!
Hi!!
Awesome picture and a little scary.
omg--you're back! w/out fanfare (like what were you gonna do? take out an ad and say, hey, i'm back to blogging?) wow. i'm...speechless. which is more than i can say if i were to see a bear even remotely that close. i'd scream. like a girl.
Yay!!! You're back!!! The bear thing interesting too but... YOU'RE BACK! I almost didn't believe my eyes. Yay. I hope all is well now.
Jesus that bears got some climbing skilz, know if we can just teach them to run a chain saw.....
Climbing gear hurts my ankles. lol
Foster Wise
I feel like I am late to the party, but welcome back. Nice post as well. Again, welcome back.
Wait...
Are you pretending like everything's frikkin' NORMAL??!!
Aww, Jim...it's like revisiting youth seeing you here again. Welcome back. Since you've been gone I died, came back to life, and look different. And that's the serious bit. Want the fun bits? Bribe me, cheapo....
And best comment? Susan for thinking to throw kids at the bear and run like shit....
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