Look for the “bear” necessities…

June 28, 2018 12:09 pm Published by Kayla Brock 3 Comments

Hello, again!

So, by the time this gets posted, my summer will be officially half way over (where does time go?!).

BUT, I am SO excited to share: I OFFICIALLY SAW MY FIRST GRIZZLY!!! (See attached video). It was literally the coolest thing I have ever seen. I looked down into the block from the road, and I saw this huge bear standing on her hind legs. I pointed out the window and shouted, “oh my gosh, oh my gosh. There’s by bear”! And then we saw a little black blob follow her, and we were certain she had a baby. As we approached her, we discovered she in fact had two babies, not one. And oh boy, were they adorable. They had the tiniest legs and were adorable when they ran away. The darker one in the video that couldn’t quite steer his legs makes me smile the most. She and her cubs then ran right into our block, so we obviously decided to hit the road and leave her be.

It has actually been a bear week for me. I was out with another co-worker last Friday (June 22) and we had a black bear literally cross our path. Sometimes I find myself mixing up burned stumps and black bears (I know, it sounds silly), and there had been quite a few stumps in the block prior to this, so my eyes were playing tricks on me for the entire morning. But at this moment, I was more than certain there was a black bear coming toward us (Figure 1). The bear probably didn’t notice us, but if it did, I don’t think it was too concerned of our presence. Aaron and I kept on walking, but stayed alert.

Figure 1: This was when I realized it was a bear. I didn’t hear sound from it, so it through me off guard.

Despite the bear encounter on June 22, Aaron and I still stayed out in our blocks assessing aspen growth. It was our goal to determine if the aspen was suppressing baby trees, therefore altering their growth. We decided that no, the aspen was not harming the growth of the trees, but we discovered various forms of pests throughout the block (Figure 2).

Figure 2: This is something called mistletoe. It gives the pine tree a “broomy” appearance. It looks like quinoa to me (you’ll find it pretty much right in the centre of the photo).

On our way home, Aaron stopped to do some paper work, and I went exploring. We were parked by a bridge, so I had to go check out the creek below. Of course, I got attacked by bugs (that seems to be all my life consists of right now), but the creek was well worth it. I turned on some tunes, and sat on a rock (Figure 3).

Figure 3: I have a thing for black and white photos right now. This stop was definitely worth it. I was trying to look for fish, but couldn’t see any. I know where I’ll go next time I want to swim.

My most eventful day was Friday by far. The past two weeks prior to Friday have been terribly hot, and the temperature weirdly brought mosquitos and black flies with it. I’ve spent my last couple days eating mosquitos for lunch while dripping sweat, so I’ve been a little grumpy (sorry, Colleen and Storey). Despite the mosquito sandwiches, my weekend turned out incredible.

On Saturday June 23, I turned 23. My boyfriend came up from Clearwater and we spent the weekend in Prince George. We had plans to celebrate my “champagne birthday”, but apparently once you turn 23, your body likes to be asleep by 9:30pm. We had a great night nonetheless. I got spoiled with steak and lobster and my very first homemade pina colada. I ate so much; I’m surprised I didn’t burst. Then, I got a free piece of birthday pie.

So now, as we approach the long weekend, I sit at the office desk early in the morning finishing this off, and I’m still grinning about those grizzlies. I’ve had a great past couple weeks, and I am very happy I got to share my first grizzly experience with you!

-Kayla

PS: Us three girls were pretty giggly and surprisingly in-sync when we saw the bears, so please disregard our “girlyness”.