If you go down to the woods today
You’re sure of a big surprise.
If you go down to the woods today
You’d better go in disguise.
For every bear that ever there was
Will gather there for certain, because
Today’s the day the teddy bears have their picnic.
I recently took a wander in the woods and I certainly got a big surprise! I was on the Big Trees Trail in Sequoia National Park in California when I had a very close encounter of the bear kind!
As I was walking along a trail this adorable bear cub suddenly appeared literally right next to me! Despite the brown colour it’s a Black Bear. My immediate reaction was to quickly turn around to make sure Mumma bear was not right behind me (not a place you want to be between a sow and her cub)! All clear I moved a little away and just watched he/she for a bit (that wire is a tracking device in its ear and the blue tag is used to also track which animal number it is).
I then headed further up the trail and discovered what I assume was the Mum and a sibling feasting on the lush greenery of the Big Trees Trail meadow. I stood some distance away behind a group of trees, to not bother them and just took in the great view Mother Nature provided.
Why is this area called Big Trees Trail? Well Sequoia National Park is famous for its Giant Sequoia trees which are some of the oldest and largest trees in the world (1,500 to 2,000 plus years old and the biggest are up to 84 metres / 275 feet high with a massive diameter of 7.7 metres / 25 feet). More on the giants of the forest in future posts.
This was the last short hike I was doing for the day (it was about 6:45pm). What a magnificent way to end the day!
