Bears!

It took 2 months for me to see a bear! Two months!
I have come to discover that the woods aren't as 'wild' and active as Disney cartoons and the Discovery Channel would have you believe. Most days we see a few chipmunks, squirrels, frogs, lizards, and birds while hiking and hear them around camp at night. On a good day we'll see a deer or two, maybe a turtle or snake and hear some owls and/or woodpeckers, but it's pretty rare to see a bear.

Hiking into Damascus the trail registers, and shelter logs were filled with comments about bear sightings. Multiple hikers even reported seeing numerous bears in a day. Want to know how many I saw?!

NONE

And to really rub it in, one apparently descended a tree, crossed the trail, and disappeared into the woods on the other side just after I passed the tree. Another hiker saw me turn the corner and then watched the bear perform this illusive act! I'm told that if I would have turned around, I would have seen it!

BUMMER

I did eventually see one though! About a week ago, when I was having lunch with Onkelz a bear walked by while we were eating lunch (about 30 yards from our lunch spot). He just walked by rummaging in the leaves, totally unaware of our presence!

IT WAS SO COOL!