bear valley

Holy crap what a day yesterday was! Who knew that after worrying that I had nothing to talk about that I would have such an experience to share.

So...I am training for a half marathon in a few months in Aspen (which I'm quite nervous about since I'm still struggling to run just a few miles here), so I've been trying my best to start being as active as possible so I won't have a heart attack come September. So yesterday I decided I'd go for a hike up Jud Wiebe, which flattens out if you take a turn near the top, which is where I figured I'd be able to run for awhile. So that I did. And then I was feeling ambitious so I decided to go the short distance left to the very top. As I rounded the corner, I saw what I thought was a huge dog rounding the corner, which at first made me excited, until I realized - I was face to face with a bear! On all fours it was over waist-high (which for me, with my short legs, one may think is not that big, but it really was)! It was walking toward me on the trail!

Now, I should preface this by saying that there have been rumors around town that a bear has been lurking close to town, at one point one was seen ravaging a dead deer on the valley floor, and the other night we saw a helicopter hovering over town shining its spotlights onto the surrounding mountains, a la South Central LA, which we figured was out looking for the bear. So I had in the back of my head that bears have been around, but little did I know that I would come to see one up close and personal. After seeing it and experiencing a brief heart attack (and thinking what a great story to share on my blog), I tried as calmly as I could to turn around and then walked at a very very brisk pace back toward where I started. And don't you worry I told everyone on my way down about it. I may have sounded a bit crazy, now that I think about it. But whatever.

Thinking my bear experience had peaked and that all was settled, Kelley, Wayne and I went later during the day for a drive to hike another trail about 30 minutes away (where this picture is - note Charlotte in the bottom right hand corner running at top speed. No, that's not a rabbit). While walking, we passed a lady along the way, said our hellos, then continued on. Once we returned back to the car, that same lady was there in the parking lot, saying that she had run into a bear on the trail and tried to yell to us that it was there. She was about as freaked out as I had been earlier in the day. So perhaps the bears are stalking me (like mosquitoes do), or more likely there's just an influx of bears in the area. We're thinking it's because of all the lingering snow due to the cold spring so they are trying to find their food at a lower level down where us humans are living. Either way, I'm sort of freaked out and am heading today to buy some bear spray.