Friday, August 7, 2009

Bear Sighting

Well, not through my eyes, but that's what the ranger said. She said, "are you going to be ok alone up there? There have been bear sightings in the area." Of course! I will be fine! Her words didn't echo in my brain over and over until I realized I was the ONLY camper in a tent, alone on the bluff.

Max and I decided to go to Vega State Park in Colorado since it was off of the beaten path a bit. We didn't have cell reception so no "lifeline" was available to us. We can do it. Easy. Right? Of course, we'll be fine!

What a view we had! We hiked into the site since it was a ways away. After a few trips back and forth we decided to relax. It was a beautiful day. I painted a bit, Max kept an eye out for chipmonks. Life is good.

We decided to take a drive and tour the area for a while. The town is about 15 miles away so we didn't think it was a big deal. All of a sudden, a storm hit. Wind. Rain. More rain. Good thing I forgot to put my rain top on the tent. Sigh.

We arrived to a soaked site. Everything secured inside of the tent was soaked in pools of water. Lucky for us, it stopped raining right when we returned. As we dried everything out, I heard noises. Of course my head was ringing with, "are you going to be ok? There have been bear sightings in the area." Damn ranger.

The noises I heard were coming from deer. Prancing around, huffing, eating berries. What am I so afraid of? Max and I are going to be fine. Just fine...

We decided to go to bed early.

Of course the wind and rain picked up again. Max went to sleep right away. My brain started creating stories with evey sound I heard. Could it be the bear? Is he coming to get me? Ok, so I didn't sleep that much. Of course, Max was rested and ready to start the day in the morning.

All is well. We woke up to a beautiful morning. Maybe the ranger made the whole bear story up. It's quite possible since she looked at my license plate and said, "why am I being nice to you? You're from California."

Welcome to colorful Colorado.