Biebs and the Bear: A Story About G-d

Haha, that title is kinda ridiculous, but I worked really hard on it so don't judge.

Two days ago I woke up earlier than usual with the intention of taking my usual hike to the pool. I've never been very specific as to how I get to the pool so let me break it down for yall. Usually people drive up to the lodge and it's about a 5 minute drive. Because I don't have a car but I don't feel like waiting around for them (particularly because they don't get up till 1 when the clouds are already coming out) I hike there. The Tonahutu Trail goes for maybe half a mile before there is a turn off with some overgrown path that leads to the shut down lodge. It's sort of a roundabout way of getting to the pool because it actually takes you in the opposite direction first, but I enjoy being outside anyway and it's good exercise and only takes about an hour.

So it's 9:00 AM in the morning when I reached the trailhead for the Tonahutu Trail and I start thinking, "I have my whole day ahead of me and who really cares if I get a tan? Should I maybe just stay on this trail for the whole 4 miles and try and make it to Granite Falls?" I didn't have my camera or my phone on me and I was a little afraid that I would be disappointed if I spent my day going out there and seeing this beautiful thing just to forget it the next day. On the other hand, I want to pack in as many experiences as possible while I'm out here and I didn't want to regret spending a day at the pool when I could have gone exploring. I decided that I would stay on the trail and that I alone would notice if my tan doesn't make me look like a golden goddess when I go home.

About 2 minutes after I made my decision that I would pass the turn off for the lodge and keep going on the trail, I heard a rustling sound. No, lie. I heard branches breaking. It sounded larger than the tiny scurrying animals I usually hear when I'm on the trail. An elk? Maybe even a moose? The cracking branches sounded more like a person was messing around off the track so I glanced over to my right. And there it was. About 25 feet away from me through the few trees the beetles haven't killed off I saw a black bear. He wasn't enormous, not quite as big as a moose. Or maybe he was, I'm not really sure, because the moment I realized what I was looking at was also the moment my brain went, "Well ef me if this bear sees you because you don't have your phone and you're effed." Granted I always tell people (Cat specifically because she's an out doorsy person) when I go on my walks through the woods, and this particular trail isn't very far from humanity, but I also realized at this moment that I never want to be without my cell phone again. Actually, I wasn't nearly as panicked now as the time when I saw the four moose. Moose are about 10 times more likely to attack someone than a bear is. The bears really don't care about you at all. I think the reason I was startled as I was was because I'd never really expected to see a bear while I was out here and especially not while I was hiking. Many residents of the town have been telling us all summer that they've lived here for many years and never even seen one bear and the ones who have seen them where when the bears were looking through dumpsters for food. This bear was out in the daytime looking for whatever in the woods and I was there too. How incredibly lucky I was to witness this! Of course, that didn't cross my mind until a little bit later.

So anyway, I see the bear and remember that the advice we were given for coming across a bear in the woods is to make yourself seem as large as possible. It never really crossed my mind until this point how freaking stupid that would make me feel. I was pretty certain the bear had zero interest in me because it hadn't stopped at all, it just kept walking parallel to the trail I was on in the direction from where I was coming from. I decided not to draw any more attention to myself by yelling or anything, but I stuck my arms out to my sides and hoped that the sweatshirt I was wearing made me large enough. About 10 seconds later I was very surprised to see 2 boys about my age coming in my direction on the trail. I excitedly told them I had just seen a bear and pointed it out to them. Having passed the view on to someone else, I hightailed it passed them and continued on the trail. Needless to say I felt fulfilled enough to skip out on the full hiking excursion and did go to the pool instead where I spent a lovely few hours listening to 2 15 year olds talk about getting drunk. One other cool thing, though, is that when I reached the pool and opened the gate there was a snake lying across the cement. I haven't really been able to figure out what it was but my BEST guess at this point is that it was young western terrestrial garter snake.

Here's the G-d part. I always wanted to believe that there was more reason for my coming out here to work than just the money and the job. I know there were many reasons I could use like getting away from the city or trying to be independent from my friends for the summer, but I don't think I whole-heartedly believed that any of those were special reasons for coming out here. I think the reason I did decide to come out here really was only because it was the only theater job I found. How sad it would have been if I left here feeling the same way because the truth of the matter is I didn't LOVE this job. Don't get me wrong, I am proud of the work that I've done and it's not everyday you find work where you don't have to come in until the day is over, but the people I worked for bummed me out and the rest of the company was just very negative at the time. However, the bear experience, along with many other experiences I've had out here, has given me reason to wonder if maybe there WAS another reason for me coming out here. I'm learning that I really really really enjoy being out in the wilderness, climbing these mountains and seeing these things, and maybe when I graduate I don't have to jump right into the theater world. Maybe I want to be a trailguide. Maybe I want to travel and go backpacking across Europe. I don't know. What I can say is that I'm so very very thankful to have had these experiences while I'm out here. I don't know where I stand on all my religious beliefs and I'm even less certain about how I feel about the concept of there being a G-d who hears us and what not, but I must say I feel a little blessed to have had such a unique experience that many locals have not even had. So I thanked G-d that day. And it didn't feel silly. It felt very fulfilling.

As promised, I've stolen a few pictures from our hike up to Sky Pond and put them in this post. I will be stealing more pictures and putting them on my shutterfly at some point, but for now I hope these will do.