Eagle River Nature Center
We have a had a reservation for the Rapids Camp Yurt at the Eagle River Nature Center for about two months. We have been so looking forward to camping out there in the fall, with a full moon. The kids have been calling it the Yurt of Terror since it was so close to Halloween. When I woke up on Saturday morning this is what was on the front page of the paper and my task that morning was to pack up for our reservation at the Yurt. Hmmmm.....
Our friends Joe and Sarissa were coming, too, so a plan formulated among the outdoorsmen and we decided to go, but go making lots of noise and taking a mobile bear re-education program with us. We also knew we had Coho the Wonder Dog tagging along. I had all confidence we would be just fine.
We counted no less than six signs with about this same wording in the two miles it took to hike out to the yurt.
We spent the evening near the river. The men pumped water.
The girls spazzed out. They had fun with the little eddies of the river being in various states of freezing. Here they had managed to pry a piece about an inch thick out and have some fun with it.
They also tested the strength of the ice, no one fell in, but it did come very close. After holding the ice the girls were ready for a fire.
The next morning it was time to hike out.
In the morning before we hiked out Vivi had found some beautiful fur on several trees right at about her eye level. The kids were trying to guess what critter left it (Science Chimp, you would be sooo proud). They were sticking to wild animals. The color was right for several locals, and with the bear attack first in our minds the kids were convinced it was brown bear. Once I got my hands on it, I was pretty sure it was llama or alpaca.
When we ran into these folks. They cleared up a mystery for us. It was from this handsome llama named Skilly.
There were loads of high bush cranberries left on the bushes, some watermelon berries, and rosehips all revealed by the leaves leaving. I tried to get a shot of this gorgeous bunch of cranberries with ice rime on them, but the camera would not cooperate.
Fall was revealing sights not seen with all the foliage of summer.
Vivi spotted this juvenile bald eagle checking out the slow, late salmon in the beaver lake.
Isn't she lovely?
As we neared the visitor's center we ran into the witch of the hollow tree and her intrepid bear cub assistant. Vivi was awed! They were setting up for their annual Haunted Trail party.
6 comments:
Bears? Oh, no. Not this chick.
You have big cojones, girlfriend.
Your kids are going to grow up so tall and straight. Well, heck. They are well on their way now.
Planning the next Bird Bloggers Conference. Want to go to northern Ohio next spring?
: )
We found the leash of the hero dog right next to the yurt. Yeah, I was REAL pleased that a bear attack happened 20 yards from where my children were going to sleep.
First I have to ask a question, what is a "yurt"?
Your pixs are fabulous what scenery, unbelievable. I would rather do this for Halloween then go trick-or-treating any day. You give your children great opportunities for living and doing.
I'm a 70 yr old grandmother could you adopt me, so I can have fun and learn too.
Betty,
You can come with us any time! A yurt is a semi-permanent structure, usually round.
We went at the end of May. I put a post together about that called Yurt-A-Pollooza, if you want to go back that far.
So Trixie, did you ever see any bears or evidence of them? Or was it just that one isolated incident?
Looks like you had a lot of fun.
P.S. If you adopt my mom, she has to bring me along to Alaska when she comes up to have fun and learn too!
;-)
That looks like an awesome outing. I'm with the others, I would much rather making a trip like that go trick-or-treating any day.
Post a Comment