24. June 2009 by Matt.

Eureka,Redwood Forest

Our encounter with a bear.

                Our next stop on our trip was a little town north of San Francisco called Eureka.  The minute we arrived in this quaint little town we all fell in love with it. The temperature was a brisk 68 degrees with a slight overcast. Not the kind of overcast that brings on feelings of gloom but the kind that promises new growth and a sweet smell in the morning. We arrived just before the sun set and it was spectacular. Our hotel was only a few blocks from the shore and when the sun set it shown bright rays of light through clouds that shimmered off the Pacific ocean. It’s times like these I truly miss my wife. Lois would have enjoyed standing and watching the sunset with me.

                The next morning, after a hot breakfast of eggs, sausage, waffles, and bagels we took off to the mountains. About an hour up the coast we found a place to turn off the highway and head into the Redwood Forest. Oh did I mention that the forest comes right down to the coast line. It reminded of something I had seen in a science fiction flick about a guy going back in time to trap dinosaurs and bring them back to the future. Every corner I turned I expected to see a Brontosaurus  lumbering out from the trees while casually munching on a long tuft of grass or maybe some ferns. Imagine my surprise when I saw a sign that said “Elk viewing pull out here.” and low and behold right there in front of us is a whole heard of Elk lounging right in front of the pull out.

                A bit further down the road we found a wonderful spot to stop the car and go on a hike in amongst the Redwoods. By the way if you’ve been to this part of the country you’ll know there is a faction of the local populace (Mostly women I’ve noticed) that believe anyone visiting the parks except themselves is an unwelcome and un-invited guest that must be tolerated like small children but watched very closely.  One of these people always seems to show up just as we are about to start on our hike. She followed us into the parking area and parked a bit of a distance from us. After we all extricated  ourselves from the car and made the perfunctory bathroom stop we meandered over to the sign at the head of the trail. There were mosquitoes everywhere. Of course this woman attempted to keep her distance all the while not appearing to obvious. As I read the sign I noticed she was looking us over as if to see if we where worthy to enter her forest.  

                The thing about checking out a group of people is while you are looking at one person someone else can easily look you over. While she was looking at the kids I surreptitiously took a look at her. She was, after all, looking over my family rather closely. She had long dark hair that was tied back proficiently away from her wizened face. There where smile lines next to her eyes and a earthy quality about her.  She wore simple clothes.  A loose fitting shirt that had long sleeves and men’s pants. Both were of nondescript colors almost as if she didn’t want to be noticed. The thing is she was so nondescript that she stood out from everyone else. She wore hiking boots ( what we used to call “Clod Hoppers”) and long thick socks. After looking her over I quickly classified her as non-threatening, kooky, but definitely non-threatening. I now turned my efforts to actually reading the information in front of me.

                The first half of the sign at the head of the trail prattled on about the usual stuff like, how long the trail went and what we could expect to see along the way. It was the second part of the sign that caught my attention. It appears there have been many problems with Bull Elks attacking people along the trail. The sign went into great detail to explain that we should be sure to make noise as we walked. (No problem there with three kids along, I thought.) It also explained what we should do if we should come upon one and startle it. “Startle it”, I thought. “What about it startling us.” The sign said we should back away slowly not making any sudden moves, “Like running for our lives.” It also said we should not wear any strong perfumes as those might confuse the bull elk and it will attack. “You know like the antiperspirant and deodorant where all wearing. Now it tells us!”  The last thing it said was, “Please don’t leave any food lying around as the bears might eat it and get sick.”

                “Oh yea!” I say out loud. Lets recap crazy lady watching us. Dense forest trail with rickety bridges( Did I mention the rickety bridges?) and mosquitoes flying everywhere. Deaf, sex crazed Bull Elk’s that want to gore us because we smell good, and oh by the way, “Please don’t feed the bears.” What could possibly go wrong. So after a quick talk with the kids about safety and sticking together, I make a point to nod at the crazy woman and we head across our first bridge.  Half way across the bridge we notice our first local resident. There on the railing of the bridge is a four inch Banana Slug. The kids are so enthralled with the slug that they all have to stop and take multiple pictures of it.

                As we travel across the bridge it feels like we just stepped backward in time. The trees are all huge. The air is wet and the forest floor has a musky smell that permeates everything. The ferns that line both sides of the trail grow as high as Andrews head in places and the sunlight is filtered through many layers of tree branches and vines. I understand now how someone could accidently walk up on an animal. The forest seems to swallow the sound of our passing like a giant sponge. We walk for a bit then we stop to listen to the forest. There, next to us I see a tree with all its bark torn off from about six feet up.  I think to myself, “We can’t be more than a hundred feet from the parking lot and the road yet we can’t hear it at all. Better keep my wits about me here.”  Andrew interrupts my thoughts  by pointing excitedly at another slug. As Phillip begins to set up to take it’s picture I notice what it’s crawling across-Bear Scat.  

                “Well,” I think. “It doesn’t look all that fresh. Probably from at least a day or two ago.” Of course how would I know fresh bear scat from day old bear scat. It’s not like I’ve studied the stuff. We continue on.  A few minutes later we are walking along and talking about all the different plants and the wonderful smell out here when I get a feeling we should stop moving. About fifty yards down the trail the bushes start rustling on the left. An adolescent bear emerges from the bushes and, looking over its shoulder right at me, it scurries off down the trail and into the underbrush. Of course everyone is so confounded by the site of a real live wild bear no one thinks to take it’s picture. Thinking of that tree and how  I would not like to meet up with this bears mother I decide it would be best if we just back up and head back to the car. We head back down the trail. Funny the trip back was much quicker than the trip out. Just as we are about to emerge from the trail Andrew notices that “weird lady” (his words). She is just up the trail out of our sight but we get glimpses of her. Suddenly a huge black bird swoops down through a break in the canopy and rushes right over our heads. When I turn my attention back to the woman she is gone. Soon we emerge from the forest and there she is looking over another set of people as they begin reading the sign at the trail head. I have this strong urge to tell the people not to go in there but I don’t. I have no idea why I didn’t tell these people about the encounter we had. I guess I just didn’t want to seem like a tourist, all excited to see what the locals take for granted. We get in the car quietly and drive away.  After driving up the side of the mountain to the next stop we all decide that we don’t really want to see any more forest for the day. We turn around and head back to the coast line to have a great little picnic by the sea and then back to the hotel so the kids can enjoy the indoor-outdoor heated pool and I can relax doing what I like to do best - write. The next morning we head North, North-East to the five freeway and on up into Oregon and Washington, but that- as they say- is another story.

                Thank you for taking the time to read our blog. Don’t forget to check out all our photos on our regular site.

Matt….

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