Bear Encounter

We were hiking up Hyatt Ridge trail in the GSMNP Friday, on our way to camp and fish Raven Fork.  I was leading and I rounded a blind corner to surprise a mother bear with cubs. The adult bear scurried across the trail and I was sure I saw at least two cubs so we backed down the trail for just a few minutes and made some noise while we waited for them to clear out. As I went back around the corner I noticed that the cubs had taken to the trees. There were four adorable little cubs staring at us as they climbed up the same tree. I had gotten the camera out before coming back, just in case, but the picture only shows a few fuzzy dots.  At this point I realized that I didn't know what the proper protocol was in this case. We had taken an interesting class with a bear expert up in the park a few years ago. We learned how to react to bears : give them space, make noise, try to seem bigger to the bear, etc. But what do you do when the cubs go up a tree? How long do they stay there? If you go back too soon does the clock start back over? Should we stay on the trail or just get off of it and go around (harder in this case because of terrain)? Anyway,  we decided to hike about 100 yards back down the trail, take our packs off and rest while we waited on them to come down and get out of the area. We waited a full 30 minutes. Incidentally this seemed like about 2 hours. As we hiked back up we made all kinds of noise. We sang songs to the bears about leaving and I made up a "move out bear" call just for good measure. It went like this: "Move out bear!" in a quick authoritative tone.

I expected them to be gone, but even so I moved slowly back around the corner while we continued to clap and sing. It looked like the coast was clear. I looked to my right and saw the mother bear sitting up tall and staring directly at us from less than 15 yards! And the trail was cut into a hill, so she was on higher ground. Suddenly she seemed a lot bigger than the first time I saw her. I quickly whispered "Christy!" just to confirm that she saw it. She had and we quickly decided to exit stage left.

Thinking back I'm sure we could have just carried on our way up the trail. We were already beside her so going one way was probably as good as going another. But the thing is that bears don't generally hang around. We decided to let a ranger know about it and she agreed that 2 things were out of the ordinary. 1) Four bear cubs is apparently noteworthy and 2) it is considered assertive behavior for her to have hung around like that after getting her cubs out of the tree and off the trail. The ranger said that it could be nothing, but it is the kind of thing they keep track of in case the next time she becomes aggressive. She also said that maybe the bear was a first time mother and that sometimes they acted a little odd as new mothers of all species are wont to do.

When Christy suggested that we just forget fishing Raven Fork that day I agreed that the trout in Straight Fork were really fun to catch and a hotel really would be nice.

Not that I was scared or anything. Really.

Headed to Raven Fork

Tomorrow morning Christy and I head out on a trip to celebrate our 8th trip around the sun as a married couple. We will backpack in to the GSMNP and fly fish and camp on Raven Fork Friday. Then on Saturday we will end up in a hotel with dinner at our favorite restaurant. The good news is that it is only about 3 miles to the campsite - extremely short. The bad news is that we have to pack in waders (heavy boot foot waders), vests, rods, reels, etc. I was amazed I got it all in my pack. Christy's pack has stuff hanging off of it in every direction. I managed to get everything inside but my net. You can get by without a net well enough, but mine is bamboo and pretty light so I am taking it.

I bought Christy a new reel this week so earlier in the week I rigged it up with backing and new fly line. That was Tuesday. That put me in just the right frame of mind to be useless for any thing else since then. Hopefully the brookies are biting.

It's Go Time

I like squirrels. Really. But it's time to get serious with the ones in my back yard. They keep eating from our bird feeders, which I don't mind so much except they bend the pole that the feeder is hanging from. So we tried baffles and we Crisco-ed the poles. The grease seemed to work for a while and even now there is a huge mass of squirrel hair stuck to the pole. But apparently they pushed through the pain of be de-haired. Yesterday I saw one sitting on the baffle, eating seed from the feeder at will.

I would just kill the things but I read that an area can support x number of squirrels so if you kill one, another just shows up eventually. Behavior modification. That's what we're after. So, what would really sting the squirrel, but not kill it?

You guessed it:

Yesterday we saw him out there happily eating our seed and resting on the squirrel baffle. Mocking us. So we ran over to Wal-Mart and I plunk down 30 federal reserve notes for a 1938 Daisy Red Ryder bb gun. When we got back home he wasn't at the feeder any more but I saw him in the yard. Since I had just bought the bb gun I had to shoot something. I buzzed a bb right by him and he disappeared in a bush. It was probably a mistake to shoot at him when he wasn't actively exhibiting the behavior I'm looking to modify. Patience isn't my strong suit.

But, his time will come.

Black bear

Today Christy and I drove to the park, where we saw a black bear. This was the first bear we have seen wild in the eastern us, having seen both black and grizzly in Montana. Of course there was the requisite traffic problem, often referred to as a  "bear jam", to which we happily contributed.

Random Notes

It's been cold and I have been sick, so no fly fishing in the last week or so. I did unload the kiln tonight and overall I was pleased. I still had a couple pots that I had to give the q.c. hammer to, but I was happy with the glaze on most. Christy and I are still learning exactly how to apply the glaze so that it is even and not too thick or thin. Also, this time when we used the raspberry with the green, we did the raspberry first with the green on top where they overlap. It doesn't show up in the pictures very well, but the result is that the third color is much more pleasing. It is a really nice light blue. The previous ones were not bad and sold right away, but this is better in my opinion. Which means of course that no one else will like them.

Oh, and Sarah Beth - I did see you waving from the patio Sunday and I waved back.

New glaze

As I mentioned before, my last kiln load was different than I had hoped. It had a few good pieces, but many bad ones. After that one I thought about what might have caused the results and it all boiled down to glaze application and thickness. Yesterday we mixed up a new glaze called raspberry and glazed another kiln load. The kiln was cool enough to open when I got home from work and I was pleased to see how things turned out. The only new glaze shown below is the raspberry. The other is the coppery green I am working with.  When it is thicker it is green. Where it is thin it turns bronze.

It's interesting to note that the raspberry glaze is actually a spearmint green color before it is fired. It ends up that color because of what happens to tin oxide and chrome oxide when they interact during the firing.

Vase - 5 " tall, 5 1/2' wide

Bowl - 9" wide

Vase - 5 1/2" tall