I saw a bear today

It is days like today that remind me of how lucky I am to live in northern Minnesota. I took my dog Willow on hike today after work. The ground was still moist so our footsteps made no sound. We walked north-bound along the lake through the woods, trying to keep one step ahead of the mosquitoes and being greeted by goldfinches, robins and warblers. I raced Willow to the bottom of a hill, congratulated her for keeping up with me and looked up.

It caught my eye immediately – a bear cub sitting in a small tree about 20 feet away. “Woah!” I whispered to Willow. Luckily my dog had a check cord on her so I stepped on it to make sure she didn’t get too curious. She is still a a week shy of three months and didn’t seem to figure out a bear was close by.

I watched the bear for about three minutes until it finally decided to get down from the tree. After I couldn’t see it anymore I decided it was time we leave. As we headed back home through the woods I felt like I was hiking through the boundary waters near Canada, where I first saw a wild black bear about 4 years ago. That was the last time I had seen one. I hope to run into more bears this summer – what awesome animals!

Beautiful Spearhead Lake

Spearhead Lake on May 4, 2009. The lake was so incredibly calm I knew it was the perfect morning for kayaking!

A loon takes off from the early morning water