Thar's a Bar in that Thar Tree a Yonder!

Sunday, after a longish 5 hour drive from Cape Disappointment, WA to the Hoh River Rainforest Campground in Olympic NP I was ready for a nice stretch of the legs. So off I go on the two mile Spruce loop trail from the campground following the rambunctious, glacier fed Hoh River and wound my merry way amongst moss covered foliage thru the rainforest.

Nearing the end of the walk I came across a young couple staring up into the nearby trees and clicking off photos faster than a paparrazi chasing Sean Penn. I was a little put off in that they were blocking the trail, it just seemed very inconsiderate to me - yep, I know, I'm getting old - when they quickly said to me 'you know, there's a bear in that tree over there'.

I said, no way! Get right the hell out of town!

Sure enough, there he/she was - a black bear, too small to be a cub but I think still small enough to be considered a juvenile. The little huge guy was about 50 feet up a big fat tree some 60 yards away from us just ripping the shit out of the tree bark, eating and having a grand old time. Every couple of minutes a big chunk of tree bark would come crashing down and he didn't have a care in the world.



That black mass in the middle of the photo is one happy, carefree bear. He's looking right at us although I understand bears have crappy eyesight but their sense of smell is a whole other story. I'm sure he knew we were there 'cause we were a bit upwind of him.
Spectacular creature.

So me and the guy start cracking some bear jokes - you know, the Disneyland Bear Country Jamboree one liners and 'hey, Yogi I bet he has someone's pic a nic basket up there', stuff like that. Talk about juvenile.

Then I say to him, hey man, we ain't gonna be laughin' so hard if that guy comes scamperin' down the tree and charges us. That's when the gal says 'say, wonder where his/her mother is?'.
Check please, do you guys validate for parking? I snapped a couple of bad photos, hung out for a few more minutes and then split.

Truth be told I could have beaten the gal in a foot race - short legs, I would have easily outpaced her. And, based on my brief introduction to this couple, I'm fairly certain her guy pal would have ditched her too.

But, this being my first bear sighting of the trip was really exciting. Actually, I was thrilled beyond belief. There's something exhilirating about seeing such a large animal up close in the wild (their turf, not mine) knowing that thing could maul you sideways from Sunday without breaking a sweat or giving a damn.

I was breathless.

We have a few more days of exploration in this magnificent Park. This place really has it all from rainforests to glaciers to beaches with arches and seastacks, all crammed into 1 Million, yes that's million with an M, acres. Oh, it also includes over 600 offshore islands - God do I love this country!

We'll post more as items of interest come up, thanks for reading.

As always, your intrepid observer will remain ever vigilant.