bear!!!

so i guess you can say our lucks ran out and we saw a bear!  we've been hiking every weekend.  and this past weekend we were out both saturday and sunday after lucys nap.  saturday we did a fun hike out at walker ranch where nate had gone biking with his friend before.  it was a trail that winded down to a raging stream.  quite beautiful.  lucy kept pointing and saying "water, water, get in the water!"  since we had let her in a small stream last week she figured she could get into every stream.  umm this one was a big fast. 

sunday we hiked green mountain via ranger trail up to the summit.  that was an intense hike!  later on i find out through my hiking book that nate took us on the most strenuous route up to the top, of course!  but the summit was beautiful.  i kept lamenting about not bringing my camera and only had my iphone. the views up there were phenomenal.  you can see the entire range up there in all directions.  the line of mountains all the way north.  and the snowcapped mountains to the west.  and to the east and below boulder looked like a tiny little ant farm.  there were quite a few people on the summit.  everyone quietly enjoying the splendor and majestic view, feeling proud of their accomplishment to the top and contemplating life.  and then you have lucy screeching and whining spoiling it all. =(  one day she'll get it i hope.  i guess we can't blame her.  we didn't let her out of the carrier the entire 2+ hours we were hiking.  it was too dangerous to let her out at the top.  a few times my legs felt a bit like jello when i stopped to look out at the views.

ok ok so the bear part,  it happened on the way back down.  we were near the trailhead and walking along singing the one little owl song that lucy often demands us sing when we are hiking.  nate stopped ahead of me and said, "bear!" i'm not sure i believed him until i turned and looked to my left and there it was not more then 20ft above us.  i forgot all the things the signs at the trailheads say not to do.  i don't even think i stopped to look at it like nate and lucy were.  i just picked up my pace and kept going.  we started walking really fast and i turned and looked behind me and the bear had made it down onto the trail behind us and was staring after us!  thats when i really freaked out!  it was ON THE TRAIL!  all i could think was that it was going to start lumbering down the trail towards us.  the trail veered a little and we were out of view from the bear and this is when we started running.  we knew your not suppose to run from a bear but there was a bathroom up ahead that we could run into and hide.  i don't know what we would've done if the bathrooms weren't just ahead.  my heart was pounding so fast when we made it to the bathroom that all i could do was laugh.  the adrenaline made me laugh at the whole situation.  it wasn't funny but i was laughing.  i didn't want to stay in the bathroom while nate wanted to just hide out.  i told him we'll never know if the bear comes right outside if we stay in here.  so nate and lucy stayed behind in the bathroom while brave 'ole me stepped outside to look up the trail for the bear.  yea i would've been bear dinner while nate and lucy made their getaway.  i had to talk nate into booking it to the car.  when he finally decided to leave i'd never seen him run so fast!  of course they left me way behind, it's ok i'll just hang out back here and play with the bears.  hello!?!  from the bathroom and trailhead to our car was further then i remembered and it was all up hill.  i don't know how nate made it up there with lucy on his back so quickly.  lucy dropped her pacifier and nate ignored it and kept going.  nate said lucy was yelling "stop running! stop running!" i look up the trail and all i see is lucy being bounced around in the carrier and her pacifier rolling back down towards me. all i could do was laugh, i was scared but couldn't stop laughing. 

so that was our exciting first bear encounter and hopefully our last.  our friend said we really are lucky, she's been hiking out here for 11 years and last year was the first time she saw a bear.  we're going to have to figure some stuff out, either hike the more populated trails or not during dawn or dusk when bears are most active.  and i don't EVER WANT TO SEE A MOUNTAIN LION!

this was on saturday the day before our bear encounter and i remember looking at the water and saying "this would be a great spot for a bear to catch fish."

grr! you can't even see the snow capped mountains! i'm bringing my camera next time!