Trip to the Flathead

First of all, Happy Birthday Buddy! The picture is from his 5th birthday and 1st anniversary with us. Such a good camping dog.

The last three weeks of the school year flew by in a whirlwind of activity. During that time, I did start running again, much to the dismay of my physical therapist. Thankful I had started again though, so I could join my old running group GGRRC for the one year anniversary of our friend Tom's awful grizzly encounter. We ran the same trail, listening to Tom's memories of that day. And, yes, we had bear spray with us. As you can see below, the day started out chilly. Across the road, we got to see a large moose in the creek. After a few of us taking pre-run pit stops, I looked up to see a large black bear right in our path. I need to sound more panicky in times like this, because my couple announcements of "Bear." "Bear." didn't seem to do the trick. But, there he was!
We chased him off the trail and continued on our way. Below is Tom telling his story.
And, Danni, reciting the Ode to Tom's Bear, that she and Ted created. Wish I had it videotaped, because it was dang funny.There were several people on the trail as we made our way to Avalanche Lake. They'd cheer us on making at least me feel like a rock star!As you can see, it was a beautiful sunny day!

I did bonk a little on the return trip. Danni was nice enough to give me some Clif Shot Roks that did the trick. As we made our way back to the car, we stopped suddenly as Deb and Tom yelled out. A SECOND black bear - right on the trail! Nice to be with a big group, so we could admire and continue on.

All in all, a perfect day on the trail.