Literally immediately after we got on the trail, we saw two black bears. The first was to our left, up a little incline, about 20 feet away. She looked right at us, and E said "I'm not scared, we're fine" and I decided to believe her. The bear looked at us for maybe 20 more seconds, and then ran off and made a snuffling noise that E (who became an expert on black bears this past summer, very convenient for today!) says is designed to sound intimidating. But luckily, there hasn't ever been a black bear attack in Virginia and since 75% of their nutrients come from plants (like our friend below; no I didn't take that picture), I wasn't scared that maybe I looked like brunch. We set off, only to go 10 steps and see another bear, this time down the trail from us maybe 50 feet away. This one took less time to decide to make herself scarce, and we both exclaimed about how amazing it was. E's dream each summer is see a black bear and she got two of them! And I was impressed at her black bear knowledge and glad we didn't get eaten, even though I didn't really think we would...
Later I learned what bears symbolize. For various reasons I'm looking forward to fall, but something tells me that this winter will be a good one for hibernating and preparing for big changes come spring. I don't know what they are, but I and my hungry self will be ready.
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