How can the "Road Not Taken" be so completely different from one I do take? Do I go north following the old cement sidewalks that wander past the 100-year-old houses and groomed lawns, with the smells of dinner cooking and sounds of fussing children? Or do I go south past the Chautauqua Auditorium and up to the little trail in the woods.
My dogs are happier to go to the trails, so I took our standard route up to the woods. But this choice took me in a direction I was not expecting. I crossed the stone bridge and after 10 minutes of hiking, I turned around went back to the bridge and was greeted by a chocolate-colored bear guarding a crab apple tree--staring right at us. He was huge! And with both my dogs (on a leash thank goodness!) he/she was not about to let me pass by (no, I did not get a picture of the bear as it was the last thing on my mind). Back up the trail to the "illegal short-cut"--but when I looked down that trail I could see another bear, this one was dark black. I ended up bush-waking out over a barbed wire fence to a road. Made it home in time to finish the pesto and feed the family.
Don't get me wrong, I LOVE living in Boulder and I love being one block away from miles of mountain trails. But I feel like I live WITH the wild life more and more. It can be time consuming and like with camping, you have to be prepared to even step outside the house. Some time I will mention the 17 encounters my terrier has had with skunks or the baby hummingbird.
No comments:
Post a Comment