The perils of solo travel
Tuesday, November 4th, 2008Are there bears in Oregon?
Until this thought, I was quite enjoying my solo adventuring, especially the walk around Trillium Lake. Hiking with other people usually means chatting as we go, lovely, but I never see the wildlife. On this excursion though, I watched otters gambolling by the water and a deer prancing through a meadow. I stood completely still for an eternity waiting for an owl to turn his head to the camera for me. I twirled beneath a canopy of cedar, trying to see where the tap-tap sound of a woodpecker originated. I had not a care in the world. At least, until I started thinking about bears. Because if I was going quietly enough to hear the woodpecker’s tap, I was probably going quietly enough to surprise a bear. My solution was to start singing. Unfortunately the only song I could think of was that children’s song “We’re going on a Bear Hunt”, not great for the nerves. I have to assume it did the trick because I didn’t see a bear. I didn’t see any more wildlife either, so had to go back to taking photos of landscapes instead.
