“If You Go Out In the Woods Today”

I am terrified and fascinated by bears.  If I sleep in a tent at a campground where there could be bears (and it’s been a few years since I’ve slept in a tent), I don’t sleep until the sun comes up.  I hear every noise – every squirrel scurrying up a tree, every coyote howling way off in the distance miles away (but it sounds like it’s right outside my tent!), the pine trees rustling in the wind.  I hear it all.  But even though my heart was pounding for hours on end and I only slept a few hours at most, I sort of loved it!

On this trip to Jasper, I camped with my parents in their trailer, and I slept well every night! We did a lot of day trips and spotted bears four separate times.  I was able to take pictures three of the four times.  It’s been awhile since I’ve seen bears so close and it was one of the highlights of the trip for me.