Bears, Byways and Beauty of Geocaching

No bears on my morning walk today.  Instead, I rolled my pant legs up twice and avoided ever-growing wet grass. I was more concerned with dry pants than scary bears.

That wasn't the case last night, though,  for one of our neighbor boys who happened to be walking home long after dark.

He came knocking on our door after meeting up with a bear crossing the road out of Gary Finney's woods.  

Our visitor made a quick decision that scurrying to a well-lighted place and having a ride home would be much better than walking the mile or so left on his trip. 

When he tried to call his home and nobody answered, Bill took him to his house.  The young man was most appreciative.

So, I guess we'll be on the look out for bears who have awakened from their long winter's sleep.  

Fortunately, we keep our garbage cans inside and all our critters.  So, we won't worry too much.  

We've seen only one bear since moving here, and that was the second or third morning at our new home.

Up before anyone else, I noticed it walking right up to the house toward the barbecue grill, hurried to get a camera, hollered at Annie and scared the poor thing away before getting a photo.

~~~~In other news, I see by this morning's paper that we have to wait a bit longer before cutting several minutes off our trips across the lake.  

The Byway opening has been delayed again until the Fourth of July.

Darn.

Oh well, we've waited more than 50 years, so we can handle another several weeks.

~~~~Last night Bill, the dogs and I piled in the new pickup---Bill with his GPS, I with my camera.  He had picked out three or four of the dozens of geocaches that have been placed along HWY 200 between Sandpoint and Clark Fork.

In this case, he searched for caches in a stretch with some of the more beautiful of views of beautiful Lake Pend Oreille. 

So, while Bill searched through bushes along roadside turnouts, I snapped, all the while with Foster in hand.  

Sometimes it's hard to get a good photo when a sudden puppy lunge jerks the hand that also holds the camera.

Sometimes, also, it's disgusting to take a bunch of good photos, only to discover later that the lens was dirty.  

Darn.

Oh well, the photos above are still okay.  

I had to crop dirt marks out of some of them, but they still illustrate how pleasant a geocaching adventure can be, especially here when the long-awaited spring takes over and turns our North Idaho homeland back into God's Country. 

So, enjoy.  

Stay away from bears and have a wonderful Wednesday.