Posted by Kath on October 26, 2008, at 20:25:01
In reply to Re: That's great, posted by Sigismund on October 24, 2008, at 22:55:10
> The ones mentioned in North America were the Grand Canyon, one in Areponuchi in Mexico and The Bruce Peninsular in Ontario: 'Explore forests to spot bears, orchids and red squirrels'. It sounds a bit cold for orchids to grow in Ontario?
~ ~ ~ They start up there in June, I believe. We've only seen yellow ones up there. I've seen pink ones up at Killbear (Parry Sound) in late June, but they're past their prime & dried up. I guess orchids don't need huge heat & humidity. It surprises me also. On the Bruce Penn. it probably would be in the 70's around then. ~ ~ ~
What's the line on squirrels? Red is good and grey is bad? You see any bears Kath?
~ ~ ~WOW - so Bruce peninsula was one of the 3! We've certainly seen orchids & I didn't even know red squirrels are an oddity? Maybe I'm confusing them with the lots of brownish ones I see. Lots of black & gray ones visit my bird feeders. Grr - I guess they have to eat even if they don't have wings!
Bears! Hmmm. Well, I'm always AFRAID we might see one LOL. My husband saw one, on one of his Bruce Trail walks on the Bruce Penninsula - I think it was on the "White Bluff" trail. It was away across a big field. A family with small children just happened to arrive at that point (we often see nobody else)....the kids were all excited & took off across the field towards said bear! NOT a good idea, which my husband quickly told the parents.Nope. I've only seen a bear 2 times (& that's 2 too many for me). Once in British Columbia in a forest near where we lived. Saw it off in the bush; quickly backed away, eventually turned & went right back where we had come from.
The other story turned out okay, but was WAYYYY scarier. It was in Northern Ontario - in a town called Marathon. Former husband, our daughter & I were stranded there while waiting for brake parts for the huge truck we were moving ourselves back from BC to Ontario in. We were staying at a motel in Marathon. The motel was a longish one-storey-building with sidewalk along the front & the doors opened right off the sidewalk. One day I was walking along sidewalk, back to our unit, which was about 3rd from the end of the building, where there was grass; bushes etc.
When I was about about 15 large strides (about 37 feet - I just measured!) from the end of the building, what started to walk around the end of the building & looked straight at me???? Oh My - a quite large black bear! It stopped. I stopped.
WHAT TO DO?? I would have to walk TOWARDS the bear to get to my door! To get anywhere safe in the other direction, it was VERY far, so I instantly knew that was not a choice.
SO - I walked about 1 third of the way towards the bear, had to unlock the door, and was safely inside our motel unit! OH MY GOD.
It was like a nightmare, only real. When I told the motel owners about it (we got to know them & they were really nice to us) they said that bear frequently visited their garbage container.OH - I forgot about seeing bears 4 times up at Killbear a few years ago. The one time of those that was interesting - I was on my campsite & looking at the road about 10 large strides away. I saw a VERY large dog walking along then realized it had a yellow plastic tag on its ear...at that point it glanced up at me (giving me the chance to realize it was a bear), then carried on walking along. That was the very best experience, because it made me realize that even though I was mortally scared of bears, I didn't necessarily need to be.
The instructions on encountering a black bear are, move away slowly so as not to corner it & ALSO to yell REALLY loud in a deep voice & be as agressive as possible - also to put your hands above your head to look as big & tall as possible!! Oh Yeah. Easy, right? to holler at this potentially killing machine!
When I camp at Killbear alone, I always used to mentally rehearse yelling, "HEY - get the **** out of here - I paid for this campsite - you have the whole park to live in!"Bet you wished you didn't ask, now that I've blathered on & on. ~ ~ ~ ~
> Years ago now I watched a TV series about Lewis and Clark making their way from the Missouri(?) west, all the things they saw, Indians they came across, and what happened to each of them after, one of them dying by his own hand, IIRC. It was quite wonderful.~ ~ ~ It sound like a great series. I'd love to watch that. I'm fascinated with explorers. What does IIRC mean? ~ ~ ~
>
> You are all special people to me. You know that?~ ~ ~ ~ Oh Dec - YOU are really special to me & I love that we're special to you.
love & hugs, Kath
poster:Kath
thread:859140
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20080929/msgs/859414.html