I wrote this blog last month, but thought I'd post it here too.
Last night at around 6pm, Joe and I decided to take a little bike ride in the woods and look for bottles. He wanted to show me an old foundation where a schoolhouse once stood. I love bike rides and bottles, but was a little stressed and thinking of home. A voice in my head told me I needed to get out and that it would be good for me. We drove upthe gravel road in the Southwestern New York woods and got on our bikes. We decided to ditch them at a small stream. We thought hiding our bikes in the tall grass was our biggest worry.
We spotted three beautiful orange salamanders with fluorescent spots as we walked up the old wagon trail. Joe said they were good luck. They were so cute and unusual to see out in the open like that that we stopped to take a few pictures. We continued up the trail, the only people there. We were probably being watched.
Joe has been hiking in the woods and digging for bottles for thirty years. He knows what he's doing and always knows where he is. His instincts are very good. I've learned to listen to him after ending up with tons of mosquito bites one time when I insisted on wearing pants to go bottle digging. I trust him and follow him on our excursions, knowing I'm in good hands. I still get a little nervous at times and after last night, I feel a mixture of nervouseness and security knowing that he would protect me from anything and that his intuition is dead on.
We stopped to walk a few feet into the woods and look at an area he had dug once before. A broken blob top, fragments of a Scott's Emulsion and a three piece mold whiskey lay on the ground along with some beautiful broken medicines. Huge crock pieces were scattered everywhere and I thought, as usual, "Does anyone ever find these things whole?!"
As we continued along the trail, we stopped in to look at an old cellar hole and more broken glass. Joe, always the entertaining tour guide, told me the story of a man in the 1990's who walked through these woods. He was looking for a jar of pennies he buried there when he was little. He died there. This was just great! Tell me that story, far away from here, over a few beers please! It just re-enforces that you can't control everything, no matter how good your orienteering skills. I like to be in control! I was thinking, "I'd rather be in an air-conditioned Nordstrom's looking at shoes right now." My love of bottles took over and I continued the hike.
We ended up on the gas line trail. It was just a little out of our way, so we stopped and I sat down for a minute. Joe walked down the steep trail a few feet to get his bearings. I thought about getting a massage and what I would make for dinner. Sweet Joe didn't want me to have to walk up the hill again, so I waited. In two minutes, he was back and we hopped on the path to the schoolhouse foundation.
We hiked for a little while and I was my usual slow-poke self. How is it that Joe is about to turn 50 in a few days, and here I am at 30 moving at a snail's pace? After assuring myself this was good for me, I sped up a little. Not after using the excuse to take my time looking at the fossils on the ground, though. Did I really ever dig a privy, or was that someone else completely??
When we got to the point that the ground was evening out, we stopped and Joe asked me if I wanted to turn around and come back another time. The site was about ten minutes away, we were losing light, and I was tired. I thought he was just being a gentleman. He told me on the way down he had a feeling we should leave.
Joe stayed a few paces ahead of me. I was still waiting to find a fossil with a dinosaur footprint or something extraordinary. In this area, it's fun to go exploring, just for fossils. The abundance of oil and fossils is because this was a sea millions of years ago.
My head down, almost at our bikes and with the gas line trail close on our right, I heard a loud crash. My first thought as I looked over was, "There is no one else out here! Oh my god, that's loud!" I turned to my right and saw it. About a hundred feet away was a giant black shape. I hear a loud snort as I realized what I was seeing. Staring at us, pacing in the tall grass, was a black bear. I had been hoping to see one from a distance ever since I moved here. Everyone knew how much I wanted to see one. I heard stories of encountering one in a friend's garbage, and Joe's first sighting from a car when he was little. I never wanted to see one this close!
"LBo, come here now!!", Joe shouted. I quickly got to his outstretched hand. We stood for a second to determine whether she was going to charge. "Get the camera", I whispered. I don't know what I was thinking. I was so stunned and not used to seeing a bear in the woods. It was a foreign thought to me. Joe firmly told me no as we watched her turn around and then back again only to keep staring at us. Joe later estimated her to be around 340 pounds. She must have had cubs. Whe else would she warn us and watch us so closely? We hurried down the trail, Joe looking back with his eye on the bear the whole time. I was getting a little creeped out by then and ready to get out of there! How long had she been watching us and smelling us? If we had stayed on the gas line, where I stopped and waited alone for Joe, we would have run right into her.
Joe told me as we got our bikes, that he had seen her first. She made chomping noises with her teeth, started to run towards us, stopped and then snorted very loudly. That crash I heard was the bear running.
I've already seen so much wildlife here in. I've seen lots of interesting birds, raccoons and possums. Since I left New Hampshire a few years ago, I have missed seeing so many animals in my backyard. Now, I'm comparing my favorite animal of all time, the moose, with black bears. I guess the salamanders were good luck because I got to see a bear up close without being hurt. Next on my list of things to see is a mountain lion!
Last night at around 6pm, Joe and I decided to take a little bike ride in the woods and look for bottles. He wanted to show me an old foundation where a schoolhouse once stood. I love bike rides and bottles, but was a little stressed and thinking of home. A voice in my head told me I needed to get out and that it would be good for me. We drove upthe gravel road in the Southwestern New York woods and got on our bikes. We decided to ditch them at a small stream. We thought hiding our bikes in the tall grass was our biggest worry.
We spotted three beautiful orange salamanders with fluorescent spots as we walked up the old wagon trail. Joe said they were good luck. They were so cute and unusual to see out in the open like that that we stopped to take a few pictures. We continued up the trail, the only people there. We were probably being watched.
Joe has been hiking in the woods and digging for bottles for thirty years. He knows what he's doing and always knows where he is. His instincts are very good. I've learned to listen to him after ending up with tons of mosquito bites one time when I insisted on wearing pants to go bottle digging. I trust him and follow him on our excursions, knowing I'm in good hands. I still get a little nervous at times and after last night, I feel a mixture of nervouseness and security knowing that he would protect me from anything and that his intuition is dead on.
We stopped to walk a few feet into the woods and look at an area he had dug once before. A broken blob top, fragments of a Scott's Emulsion and a three piece mold whiskey lay on the ground along with some beautiful broken medicines. Huge crock pieces were scattered everywhere and I thought, as usual, "Does anyone ever find these things whole?!"
As we continued along the trail, we stopped in to look at an old cellar hole and more broken glass. Joe, always the entertaining tour guide, told me the story of a man in the 1990's who walked through these woods. He was looking for a jar of pennies he buried there when he was little. He died there. This was just great! Tell me that story, far away from here, over a few beers please! It just re-enforces that you can't control everything, no matter how good your orienteering skills. I like to be in control! I was thinking, "I'd rather be in an air-conditioned Nordstrom's looking at shoes right now." My love of bottles took over and I continued the hike.
We ended up on the gas line trail. It was just a little out of our way, so we stopped and I sat down for a minute. Joe walked down the steep trail a few feet to get his bearings. I thought about getting a massage and what I would make for dinner. Sweet Joe didn't want me to have to walk up the hill again, so I waited. In two minutes, he was back and we hopped on the path to the schoolhouse foundation.
We hiked for a little while and I was my usual slow-poke self. How is it that Joe is about to turn 50 in a few days, and here I am at 30 moving at a snail's pace? After assuring myself this was good for me, I sped up a little. Not after using the excuse to take my time looking at the fossils on the ground, though. Did I really ever dig a privy, or was that someone else completely??
When we got to the point that the ground was evening out, we stopped and Joe asked me if I wanted to turn around and come back another time. The site was about ten minutes away, we were losing light, and I was tired. I thought he was just being a gentleman. He told me on the way down he had a feeling we should leave.
Joe stayed a few paces ahead of me. I was still waiting to find a fossil with a dinosaur footprint or something extraordinary. In this area, it's fun to go exploring, just for fossils. The abundance of oil and fossils is because this was a sea millions of years ago.
My head down, almost at our bikes and with the gas line trail close on our right, I heard a loud crash. My first thought as I looked over was, "There is no one else out here! Oh my god, that's loud!" I turned to my right and saw it. About a hundred feet away was a giant black shape. I hear a loud snort as I realized what I was seeing. Staring at us, pacing in the tall grass, was a black bear. I had been hoping to see one from a distance ever since I moved here. Everyone knew how much I wanted to see one. I heard stories of encountering one in a friend's garbage, and Joe's first sighting from a car when he was little. I never wanted to see one this close!
"LBo, come here now!!", Joe shouted. I quickly got to his outstretched hand. We stood for a second to determine whether she was going to charge. "Get the camera", I whispered. I don't know what I was thinking. I was so stunned and not used to seeing a bear in the woods. It was a foreign thought to me. Joe firmly told me no as we watched her turn around and then back again only to keep staring at us. Joe later estimated her to be around 340 pounds. She must have had cubs. Whe else would she warn us and watch us so closely? We hurried down the trail, Joe looking back with his eye on the bear the whole time. I was getting a little creeped out by then and ready to get out of there! How long had she been watching us and smelling us? If we had stayed on the gas line, where I stopped and waited alone for Joe, we would have run right into her.
Joe told me as we got our bikes, that he had seen her first. She made chomping noises with her teeth, started to run towards us, stopped and then snorted very loudly. That crash I heard was the bear running.
I've already seen so much wildlife here in. I've seen lots of interesting birds, raccoons and possums. Since I left New Hampshire a few years ago, I have missed seeing so many animals in my backyard. Now, I'm comparing my favorite animal of all time, the moose, with black bears. I guess the salamanders were good luck because I got to see a bear up close without being hurt. Next on my list of things to see is a mountain lion!
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