We hiked the Faulty Trail in the Sandia Mountains this morning, and at the very end, I saw a bear! I'd gone ahead of Tripp and Sebastian because the terrain was difficult, and Tripp was wearing Baz on his back. We were attempting to reach a spring that is supposed to be surrounded by beautiful travertine rock. It seems the bear(s) had the same idea! I went ahead to see how far it was, and if it was worth it. I didn't get far- only about 75 feet, when I saw, and heard, movement about 200 feet ahead. At first I thought it was a person. You know how your brain takes awhile to register things sometimes? My brain went through this whole process. "There's someone there. But they are moving very strangely, and up in a tree. Gorilla! No, wait, bear! RUN!!!" It seriously took my brain about 5-10 seconds to finally realize what it was seeing! So I got a good look. Definitely a bear. Not a very big one, either, maybe 150 lbs, and I heard more movement off to the left. Figured there were two bears. One could be a mama. Time to go. The adrenaline was pumping as we called our dogs, which were both off-leash, frolicking after squirrels (thank GOODNESS they didn't see the bears!), and headed back down the trail, glancing behind us constantly for about 1/2 mile. Whew! I was so psyched, though! After a few minutes and the fear wore off, I wished I had watched a few more seconds. But, we figured that people who did watch a few more seconds probably ended up dead; like those people you hear about who try to photograph dangerous wild animals, and the last photo on their camera is of the animal just a few feet away.
Just as we got back to the campground next to where we had left our car, Sebastian, walking by now, said, "There's a big snake!" Sure enough, I looked back, and there is a 3 foot snake about 2 feet from him, sunbathing! Tripp and the dogs had walked right past it and not noticed! I grabbed Baz and plunked him down a safe distance away, and then realized that it was not a rattlesnake, but probably a non-venomous bullsnake. Beautiful, actually!
What a successful hike! Bears are SO much better than any travertine spring could have been! I am still so psyched.
1 comment:
Yeah Yeah, you saw a bear -they are wonderful to see but look where you live.
I am more impressed by the rattlesnake in ???. Great looking snake - I hope you were able to catch and release it.
Now, I see your bear, and yesterday I was able to raise you one
Coyote!
Ah, but note my raise is a coyote, eating our tree's apples in our Metro Chicago yard! Jeez and I thought they were strictly carnivourous.
SO - top that if you can!
Good fun - Uncle Bill
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