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Saturday, June 28, 2014

Wonderful Summer Day

After my little meltdown yesterday about the abuse of our forest, I had a great day today. The area where I ride my mountain bike with Shyla is almost never visited by anyone but us and our neighbors so most of our rides are in solitude.

Shyla and I headed up high, first thing this morning. It was chilly and windy at our elevation, and we saw fresh snow under a blanket of clouds on the highest peaks of the Continental Divide.
I felt free and relaxed so we lingered in our favorite spot and played fetch for a while. Don't worry - it's really not steep on where I was throwing her toy.
On top of Hug Hill, there's a lone tall flower, called a "Wall Flower", that's been blooming for the past ten days or so. I noticed that the wind was stripping off its petals so I wanted one more photo of Shyla with it. It's been stunningly beautiful this year.
I have to admit that the small signs of the passing of summer make me a tiny bit sad. On days like today, I'd love to have time stand still.

But, there are still Columbines waiting to bloom and lots of summer days ahead of us. This barely open flower/bud was in my garden this morning. I've never had much talent for growing plants but Columbines seem to be an exception. My garden's Columbines are taking off, with dozens of blossoms open right now.

After I left Shyla at home at the end of our ride, I went to check a trail camera that is on a heavily used animal corridor (a place where I never take Shyla). The bear traffic, in general, is waning because bear mating season is winding down.

However, our female yearling cub visited a bear tree. The "bear tree" is really just the remainder of a small pine sapling that the bears have rubbed almost to death over many years. It has a few small branches sticking out from a 4' tall trunk. But, it also has lots of bear fur stuck to its slender trunk.

Our yearling, who the Runner dubbed "Molly", sniffed the tree to find out which bears have been nearby.
I don't think that her mother, Cinnamom, has been to this tree recently. I'm sure that Molly and her mom are sorting out which parts of Cinnamom's territory will be shared with Molly. Reaching this agreement is apparently not an easy process. When Molly breaks her mom's rules, her mom will probably track her down and chase her into a tree to show her that she's in an "off-limits" area.
After sniffing the tree, the sweet yearling departed. I think she's looking really good for a yearling. Her confidence is outstanding compared to other yearlings who I've watched via trail camera. Most of them rarely visit bear-marking trees in their first summer as a solo bear.
So, after yesterday's rant about the overuse and abuse of the forest on summer weekends, I ended up having a wonderful day in the forest today. I didn't see another person, I had a blast with Shyla, and I even captured photos of a bear! A good day...

18 comments:

  1. Good to hear that today was a better day. It's nice to have spots that seem to be only yours. MOM and I have spots like that too.
    Blessings,
    Goose

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  2. Ma must have missed yesterday's postie, so she went back to see it, and WOWS! I swear, peep can be such pigs!! Okay, that is an insult to pigs, cause piggies are clean and respectful creatures, which those animals are NOT! Sorry abouts them.
    I am, howevers, glads today is a better day, and Ma hopes your migraines are betters!
    Kisses,
    Ruby ♥

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  3. i hope you get lots more of those!

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  4. Better days are always a good thing!

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  5. Wonderful post! Loved Shyla and the wallflower, the bear, and the Columbine. Glad it was such a good day.

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  6. Lovely pictures of a lovely day. Glad you are feeling better. You change the things you can, you take a deep breath and move forward.

    We always enjoy your wildlife camera.
    Thanks,
    Wyatt and Family

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  7. Sounds like a lovely day. I love to see how you observe and learn about the animals through your trail cameras - when I see the animals with their unwieldy collars I often think that they should ditch the collars and ask you about the animal behaviour! Do you have any contact with those wildlife organisations/authorities? Would they be interested in your trail camera photography?
    Melon

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  8. Fresh air and cute bears can help one forget the day to day troubles!

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  9. Very nice Pictures of Molly, so she is still alone. Hope she manage that, only one year ....Its very exciting to follow your documentation of the bears, lions and Bobcats you have around you.
    We have to have permission to put up trial cameras. If you put it on someones land and they find it. You could be set to trial and as a hunter you can loose your rifle license.
    Of course you can put it far in to the forest but you never know who walks there....and maybe find the camera

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  10. You sure do have the most beautiful spots to play fetch, Shyla! Love the gorgeous flowers!

    Love ya lots♥
    Mitch and Molly

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  11. I learn a lot about bears from you, KB - thanks :)

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  12. Glad you had a wonderful day. Life really can make one grumpy.
    What a lovely bear!
    Did you hear the story out of BC I think. A young bear came crashing through a skylight into a family birthday party. Fortunately for the people the food distracted the bear. Unfortunately for the bear, this story didn't have a happy ending. Balancing the needs of all those on the planet can be so hard.

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  13. Love those trail cameras. We think the creatures like to entertain you by giving a little show
    Lily & Edward

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  14. I'm glad you are having a better day. People drive me nuts too. And again, the shots of the bear are great.

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  15. Glad to hear today was better for you. Love the bear pictures as always.

    Cindy

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  16. When you have a good day you make it a good day for many of us! Your "rant" however is not unfounded....it seems we are under attack from many directions, a corrupt water company wanting to destroy our area for years building an unnecessary expansion, the USFS's desire to decimate the forests we love to promote healthy forests ( how the hell does that work) and the seasonal morons you pointed out ....being stressed about this beautiful place makes no sense to me, but I also think that those who trespass so insensitively have no idea who they are dealing with. Cheers to you and all the good days ahead.

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  17. The wildness of it is very restorative!

    Your Pals,

    Murphy & Stanley

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  18. Hi Y'all!

    Love hiking in solitude and not worrying about meeting anyone.

    Y'all come by now,
    Hawk aka BrownDog

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