Saturday turned out to be an actual summer day! Sad to say, we have made the national news by only having 78 minutes of summer so far this year (the amount of time that the temperature has actually hit 80 or above). Even if you lowered the temperature standard to 75, that gave us 18 hr. and 45 minutes of summer. Pathetic, when the rest of the country is sweltering in a heat wave. There needs to be a more equitable distribution of heat, I think.
Anyway, Saturday turned gorgeous. It didn't get up to 80 out here, but did in Seattle. I went out to Rattlesnake Lake early in the morning to take advantage of the fact that my favorite little mini-falls would be in the shade. We are still getting LOTS of run-off due to the rains, so the falls were gushing, whereas usually by this time of year they are at least half this size.
I managed to freak myself out completely... As I was hiking down to the falls area (which are on a lower path along the lake), I passed a pile of bear scat. Ok, I'm a little wary. About 50 yards down the trail is part of an old rotten log that has been torn apart and chewed pretty thoroughly (looking for bugs, ants). By now I was whistling and scuffing my feet and trying to make enough noise to scare off the bears. They are out with their cubs now, so you have to be ultra-careful. By the time I was on the lake path, and headed back to my car, I saw large, wet footprints emerging from some puddles and heading in the same direction I was. I cautiously continued onward, noticing that the prints do, too. As I walked along the lake I heard a loud huffing sound from the lake about 15 yards ahead of me. By now my heart was just about pounding out of my chest so I took a u-turn and headed back for the long way back to the car (looking over my shoulder frequently as I walked rapidly down the path). I eventually met up with another hiker who had a dog with her; she was going in the direction I was originally headed, and graciously allowed me to walk with her and her "early warning system". She was also armed with a bear whistle and bear spray (which I definitely need to get, if only for walks around the neighborhood). Never did see any bear, thank goodness. I probably would've died of fright right on the spot. Some women are deathly afraid of snakes---me, it's bears. We did see some retrievers cavorting in the lake, so I knew no self-respecting bear would be anywhere near. Logically, those prints were from the dogs, but they were BIG prints. I sat in my car and hyperventilated, and promised myself that if I go out there again bright and early, I will be appropriately armed and have a hiking companion with me (who I can outrun, LOL).
Anyway, it was a beautiful glorious day, the falls were a-roar, and it was soothing and calm (other than the bear scare). Curse my imgination (which I hope it was all that it was, although I didn't imagine the scat.)
