Great Outdoors

This week we got outside for a little nature. I should actually say a lot of nature. We hiked the trail from Potters to McHugh Creek. Andrew had the Dogs and the Diaper Bag, and I had Chloe strapped in the Baby Bjorn. It was quite evident to me how out of shape I was within the first 5 minutes of the hike. It starts with an uphill climb, and wow, it felt like 30 minutes. I really need to get back into shape! We stayed out there on the trail for about 2 and a half hours, and made it 6 miles round trip. It was a gorgeous gorgeous day!!

At the very end there is a fork in the trail and you can choose one of two ways down hill to the parking lot. Well we chose the wrong one. At the very end of the trail (seriously 3 minutes left to get to the car) we ran into a momma moose and her two babies. Great.

They were super adorable, but they were also right on the trail....we couldn't go by, and we couldn't go around. Rather than hike all the way back up the hill and choose the other fork, we tried to wait it out. As we were waiting the mom crossed the trail, but the babies stayed on the other side.

This wasn't good news for me or my exhausted legs. It is dangerous to get between a momma moose and her babies. Then we heard rustling (more like big footsteps coming closer) in the brush next to us... we got out of there fast. It was either another moose or a bear....we didn't want to stick around to find out which one it was. So we climbed all the way back up the hill and went down the other fork to the car. By the end my legs were rubber, climbing back in the car felt like work! Phew, the other path was uneventful. Chloe slept the whole time in the bjorn, and the whole way back home. She is such a good baby!

When I was telling this story to Donna (Andrew's Mom), she told me that this was where Andrew's Music teacher and his mother were EATEN by a bear. When I asked Andrew about this, he said "Well no they were attacked on the other side of McHugh Creek".... great.... so they were eaten just a little further down the trail, my bad. I guess they were running, so they startled the bear. We walk with bells (dinner bell?) instead to alert the bears we are coming so we don't catch them off guard.

Here's Hoping!