The trail runs mostly along ridge tops. It's the getting up and down to those ridge tops that's the torture because of that nasty word "gaps"
You walk through a continuing changing forest. Sometimes it's a ground cover of the mighty chestnut brought low by a tiny fungus and man. Sometimes you walk through pines and their needles soften the trail. Sometimes blueberry shrubs overhang the path and cover the forest floor. The berries are green now and I look forward to when they're ripe. Although after reading the Hunger Games I might briefly pause before stuffing them in my mouth. I also can picture a bear sitting in the middle of the trail stuffing her mouth. Question: does a bear take the berries off the branches with her paws or her mouth? And sometimes you walk through birch forests with their stunning bark that I never grow tired of seeing. Lots of plants overhang the path and you brush by them as you walk. This morning that means constantly getting wet from last night's rain still on their leaves. Lots of hydrangeas with early flowers overhang the trail. And the flame azaleas are just stunning!!
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone, powered by CREDO Mobile.
Bears strip berries, stems and leaves off with their mouth. They eat it all to be more time conscious so they can get enough high sugar berries to get enough fat to sleep the winter away. They let their gut sort out the good from the bad.
ReplyDeleteAlso: If you are in an area that has both grizzlies and black bears you should know the difference. black bears usually don't attack humans. Griz can just for the sport of it. If you are in griz country you should wear bells and have pepper spray. To tell the difference in bears you need to look at the droppings. Black bears have berry seeds in it and Grizzlies have small bells and smells like pepper spray!! ;-)
Oh, the above is from your concerned big brother!
Delete