Bear Bonding

Early this morning, I ran into my colleague, Catherine, on Mount Sanitas, a local, heavily used trail on the edge of Boulder. After a pleasant greeting, she smiled and pointed down the trail at the black bear meandering around a few hundred yards below us. As she continued up the trail and I considered my options, bear between me an my car, down at the trailhead.

I leashed my lab and stood there, exhilarated and nervous, stopping a few passing runners. We decided to slowly walk down the trail together — the bear appeared far enough away and was heading along a nearby ridge. We stopped, shocked, as the bear suddenly started trotting towards an unsuspecting hiker. Then, though, the bear seemed to loose interest and wandered off.

The rangers showed up, about then and made it to my car and drove home. No great climax. I've heard all of the stories about sweet and cuddly black bears but I've also been told some pretty scary stuff. This is my third bear encounter and it feels like enough to me.

The moral of the story, I suppose, is: respect, respect, respect wildlife!