Whadda you lookin' at?

This was one of those amusing moments in time in which I wish someone had been videotaping the scene.  I had been running errands all day and wasn't planning on heading into the woods, but something kept telling me to go.  Bad things happen, when I don't listen to the voices in my head, so I headed out to one of my favorite swamps in High Point State Park.  In order to see the swamp, you have to actually be in the swamp.  It is surrounded by very thick growth, most of which is thorny bushes.  So I donned my chest waders and headed in.

After shooting for a couple of hours, I started hearing what sounded like people walking near the outskirts of the swamp.  I don't really like people, so I kept really quiet in the hope that whoever it was would just keep walkin' and leave me the hell alone.  But then I started thinking, what if it isn't people.  What if it's a bear.  And what if the bear decides to come into the swamp where I'm sitting.  I wouldn't know it was a bear until we were nose to nose.

Not to worry.  The sound finally faded into the distance and I continued the task at hand--sitting in the muck in the hope of seeing something cool, which I did.  My logo, which is at the top of this page, came from a photo that I took that evening.

Finally, it was time to go and I worked my way out of the swamp.  I was walking along with my head down, because it's very rocky there, when that voice in my head told me to look up.  There was a sudden rush of happy excitement and holy shit wrapped into one.  Standing maybe 50 feet away was a big mama bear and her two cubs. 

The happy excitement part of my brain told me to start taking pictures.  However, the holy shit part of my brain took over, and I backed away slowly until I reached a big, fat tree.  At the same time, mama bear and cubs were making their way slowly to their own big, fat tree.  We all hid behind our respective big, fat trees and all at once poked our heads out to look at one another.

Unfortunately, my camera settings weren't ideal, so the photo isn't technically well done.  But it was such a great moment, I love looking at it.

This was my very first bear encounter, and I think it went relatively well, save for the bad photography.  My next encounter wouldn't go quite as smoothly.  Maybe I'll tell you about it one day.