BEARS! BEARS! BEARS!

Whew--

Zoom in for bears

Maybe I only want to write about bears.  I had seen bears when I first arrived in June last summer, and spotted a bear on the day I got here this year, but assumed that my presence and activity around the house was keeping all bears at bay.  The rains and flooding all around might have changed this.   My first bear-sighting on Thursday (pictured in the last blog but I'll post it again here--as it is (so far) as fuzzy as it is the only bear picture I have.   I was out walking mid-day as I'd decided to walk to the nearest mini-mall to pick up a copy of the New York Times. I mostly read it on line--but it does make me happy to have a hard copy once in a while.  The  deli in the tiny mini-mall is one of three surviving stores--the others are a barber shop and a Verizon outlet.  There are four "For Rent" signs.
The half-mile between me and the deli is clogged with traffic due to detours from nearby flooded roads, so I decided it would be a fine time to walk, rather than drive the short distance.  Walking on the side of busy highways is not fun, but the walk was thankfully short, and I successfully made my purchase.

tree on trail

Rut on road

I didn't return along the road, but on a bit of the Paulinskill Trail that was a bit flooded,  but negotiable thanks  to my high boots.  Trees had been knocked down--but nothing completely blocked the trail.  Until I emerged on 94 where workers were repairing a downed power line and traffic was backed up for miles, the trail, though packed with mosquitos, was delightfully car free.  On my return, I was busy documenting the latest very deep ruts on my very long  newly repaired dirt driveway from this last round of rain, when, almost in front of my house, I saw a big black bear with two cubs.  They were poking around one of the trees that was downed by the storm.  I took many pictures--but alas I have a new phone and didn't figure out how to zoom until it was too late, so they are barely visible.  But they were indeed there!!
How splendid--buying the New York Times and spotting an entire bear family within a half mile and a half hour.

On Friday, bears again. Same place.  No picture.    Saturday, driving towards the house, just past the gate, one of the cubs raced across the road in front of the car.  This did give me a fright.  What if the mother was right behind?  Would she barrel in front of me? I'd never heard of bears as road kill.  I don't think they make a practice of running into cars, but this is surely not my area of expertise.   I slowed down, drove slowly, but no bears in sight.

Undeterred by that bear sighting, I headed towards the lake for that now very truncated stroll.  As I approached the water I suddenly heard a series of snorts -- I'd startled the mother bear and cubs who must have been poking about in the water.  The little I remembered about human-black bear relations was that the only moment to fear a black bear is if the mother feels her cubs are threatened.  Uh-oh.

At that point we weren't facing each other--the bears hurried off along the shore and deciding to give up my evening stroll I practically ran back to the house where I caught up on my black bear research.

For future reference:  Most bear human protocol (at least as recounted on the internet) deals with face to face encounters on trails.   It's a good idea to wear bells or bangles, talk to yourself (or your companion if you have one) and generally make your presence known.  Last year, I remembered this rule and was often singing or carrying on.  This year, I forgot, and also was more interested in surprise sightings of birds, deer, and yes, I have to admit, even bears.  I will now change my ways. If you do meet a bear head on you should both make yourself look as large as possible while also informing the bear that you are a harmless human --talk pleasantly, raise your arms, whatever.

None of these instructions were particularly relevant for me at the moment of my encounter---I was not crossing paths with the bears--we were just very close to each other--so my ignorance of proper behavior led to no harm.  But now I know.

There were also instructions for residents of bear country--I don't think they were addressing New Jersey, but black bears are black bears.  Some of these rules--like not putting any garbage outside, etc., I already adhere to.  I had not previously heeded (or even been aware of)g the danger of a dirty bar-b-que.  My excellent grill had amassed a good deal of gunk.  So much so that it had flared up quite impressively just last week when I was grilling chicken with Margaret and Marla.  I did not seize that moment, but after my close encounter with the bear family, I plunged into serious grill cleaning --an awful endless process involving the removal of many layers of thick black grease from many surfaces--but now that is done.  The bears have never shown the slightest interest in approaching the house (at least to my knowledge)--but if they should, the grill incentive is now removed.