Hudson Said It Is Only A Bear!

For two days over the 4th of July weekend Mike went up into the Selkirk Mountains. He traveled around on his 4 wheeler . He just loved it and wanted to show me the sights. Yesterday, we packed up and headed to Priest River then up to the Selkirk Mountains. Now, I was a bit hesitant because we were traveling way up to the peaks of a couple of the mountains on the 4 wheeler. When Mike went up last time he saw 2 moose and friends saw a bear! HMMMM! Is this safe? We arrived and loaded up the 4 wheeler with a lot of stuff! Mike kept saying we don't need all this but just in case we get lost or stuck somewhere we will be glad we have it. That doesn't do much for my confidence about sharing space with wild animals. Here we are loading up the bear spray and more! Does that little can really bother the bears?
I was first behind the wheel of the 4 wheeler. The road didn't look too bad to me. This will be a piece of cake! Nice wide road, space for us and the animals! I think I drove for about 4 miles and then the road got a little more rocky and narrow so Mike took the wheel. The scenery was just beautiful as we climbed! We arrived at the top of peak Number One! Wow! It was like being on the top of the world. Mike wanted to explore a little and took off walking. There was no way I was staying by myself. I tagged along saying, "Don't get too far ahead of me!" I liked the safety of the 4 wheeler but I was not as nervous as I thought I would be. There was a fire in the area many years ago and a fire lookout was on top of this peak.Next destination. Mike drives us off this peak and when the road (I use the term road very loosely) gets better I drive again. I am getting the hang of this driving! It is pretty fun!No animal yet. The 4 wheeler is pretty loud so Mr. Bear knows were are coming. I drove for a while longer and then we were in new territory for Mike and he took the wheel. The roads were getting narrower and way more rocky.We started talking about getting back to the car and what time that should be. I was thinking before it got dark and Mike was thinking about hanging around in the wild until dusk. HMMM. Don't the animals come out at dusk! We came to this little indentation in the mountain and it was our next turn. OK, this little trail is not passable on a 4 wheeler and their is no way I am walking. Guess what! We went up it. Once the turn was so sharp Mike had to turn a little and then back up the 4 wheeler and turn some more. I keep saying I was really being a trooper! Right? Since this was new territory Mike wasn't sure if we could find a place to turn around. Soooo, we walked up the trail. I didn't like that. Again, I liked the security of the loud 4 wheeler. We walked up and saw there were lots of places to turn around so we hopped on and continued until we got to this beautiful meadow. We even found some snow if you can believe that.

We were as far as we were going. I wanted to share with someone that I felt like I was on the top of the world. I checked to see if I had cell phone coverage. I text messaged Katie! Mike called Tony to share where we were. I did add a few words to the message Mike left. Mike said there were no animals and my comment was, "We are in the wilderness and there are bears here somewhere!" I might of ended it with an AHHHHHH! I got a phone message back from Hudson, Tony's son, that there was nothing to be afraid of it's only a bear!!! Mike set up his spotting scope and I actually relaxed and took a little snooze on the 4 wheeler. Mike saw a couple of female elk and I had a great view from the 4 wheeler. I did keep a close watch on the clock. We left a bit before dusk. Mike didn't want me to be afraid coming back. Whew! Thanks Mike.

I didn't get a picture of the tiny little rocky, steep, trail we were on to get to the meadow. I was too busy holding on for dear life. It was really narrow and very rocky. We ended up seeing the 2 elk, some rabbits, and a deer. We never did see a bear or a moose. I would have liked to see either from a very safe distance and while I was on the 4 wheeler. It was a great day. A fun time together in God's country.