Biking along passed the apple orchard on the
way down toward Gardiner, the road has a marvelous canopy and then crosses the
small access road and opens on the left to a swamp area that had brilliant wild
flowers, just a few weeks ago. Up on the
hill are the backsides of four or five McMansions that seem overbuilt and
gaudy. The canopy returns shortly thereafter and it’s
forest on both sides not long after and just as I was pedaling along I noticed
to my great surprise a black bear on all fours, fifty-feet up ahead on the
path.
For a moment, he
(or she?) didn’t recognize me. I didn’t
think to slow down. I wish I’d thought
to stop and photograph him. But as it
was I continued along, crunching pebbles and sticks with my bike tires and he
turned, saw me and galloped along, off the path and into the woods much quicker than I would have been able to. By the time I arrived at where he’d been, a
moment later, there was no trace of him left, anywhere that I could see, as I stood there, staring off into the woods.
I think that may
be the first time I’ve ever seen a bear in the wild, here in the New York area. Once, when I was about twelve, we went out to Montana
and from the safety of our automobile we saw a grizzly ravaging a
dumpster. That was a tremendous animal,
infinitely larger than your author.
Today’s bear, by contrast was certainly larger than just about any dog I’d
ever seen. But he wasn’t as large as
me. I’m sure I might have felt different
if he were chasing me or there were a group of bears or, most importantly if I
were on foot, instead of on a bike. But as
it was, he seemed cute and not particularly imposing.
Later I passed a gentleman,
who was walking two lovely, tall, well-groomed dogs. I couldn’t tell you the species, but they
were certainly not mutts. I reached my
mile-marker where I generally turn around and heading back passed him
again. I decided to let him know, as
though I don’t suppose there was any danger to him, personally, I couldn’t
really say how a bears and dogs would get on.
He wasn’t the least bit concerned and instead reacted the way I suppose
I would have which was to say: “Really? A
bear? Oh. Cool!”
I marked the spot where I’d seen the lumbering body, but he was nowhere
to be seen as I passed on the way back. Perhaps we’ll meet again
some other morning. Perhaps he still
has room to grow into a yet again larger bear?
Tuesday, 10/08/19
No comments:
Post a Comment