Bear Camp, 2009

So, we are gluttons for punishment. Physical punishment. We have this bright idea to go back to where Pat about killed himself hunting bears last year (in case you forgot that story, it's here) to try our hand at it again this year. We have one big difference: Me.
Sometimes I think God puts words into my mouth and I later wonder why on earth I would say such silly things. I did such a thing this summer when I pronounced that we should go to his high bear camp. I tried to eat my words, but Pat held me to it a couple weeks ago when we headed up. He has so much more confidence in me than I do. We hiked the first third on a gravel road with the rickshaw from Julie and Chris's visit to help carry our camp. We left the rickshaw and the camp at our stopping point where we continued on a horse trail another third up into the mountains to a lake. (By the way, a "third" is just shy of 2 miles according to my GPS.) Once we got to the lake, the real work began where Pat cleared a trail for me and the dogs to come up behind. O.K., the dogs didn't need a trail, but I sure did. I kept telling Pat that I didn't think I would be able to do a hunt up here. This was tough, and I was about spent by the time we made it to the lake. Then we cleared the ridge and I understood.

I was energized and convinced that it was worth it to make this trip again. This is perfect bear habitat! In fact, as we were hiking up, we watched a brown bear boar watch us, and we saw a black sow and two cubs go up the opposite ridge. Definitely bear territory. I was surprisingly not remotely fearful of the brownie. He was kinda funny; trying to hide behind a shrub that was clearly not hiding him while watching us!
This weekend we plan on returning now that we have a bit of a camp set up. Pat went up this last weekend and dropped off some supplies. We plan on spending some time up here, so it should be "fun." Did I mention we are traveling light and not taking a tent? A tarp is all we need, I've been told. Actually, I've already done the tentless camping and it went just fine, though it wasn't this cool at night, but I'm sure it will be just fine! We are planning to stay until Monday, but if we are fortunate, we will be back with a black bear before then.
Yeah, that lake down there? On the other side of it is the "2/3's of the way back to the car" point (that's almost 4 miles to go). I look a little less than enthused, but it really was a good trip!
We cannot go without seeing bear poo. This pile was fascinating to us as it contained not only the typical berry mass, but also two different kinds of plastic bags! Hmmm...!
I have no pictures for our decent. It began to rain and remember that bag with the rickshaw we left? We had neglected to properly cover our gear and consequently it was wet. By this point we had walked through miles of chest-high grass and brush through a light rain and we were soaked to the soles. Literally. The water soaked our pants, ran down our legs and into our waterproof shoes where it was kept quite securely. We decided against camping that night and proceeded to exit the woods, making it home by midnight that night.
We are supposed to have better weather this weekend!