Bear Time!

Bear Time Earl Plato

I have seen the devastation that fallen tree limbs can do yet I still have good memories of certain trees. “Tree hugger’? Yes. The late peninsula naturalist Bert Miller had tears in his eyes when in the 1950’s his giant Tulip tree of Rose Hill was cut down without warning. On my many trips with Bert Miller as a youth trees were high on his list to view and appreciate. I am still a tree lover all of these years. What trees do you appreciate?
***
On one of our picture walls we have a photo of wife, Elaine, brandishing a club-like tree branch. Why? We are deep in Spruce Bog Trail, Algonquin Park, just the two of us alone. She was prepared io meet a black bear! The waiter back at our resort had told us not to worry only if “you meet a mother and her cubs.” Nice guy. It was early June of this year. Of course nothing happened. Then I read this little article from the Buffalo News. I quote: “Studies in animals have shown that new mothers have low levels of CRF, a brain chemical linked to fear and anxiety.” Makes sense, eh, when you hear of a mother bear driving off a huge male in order to protect its young. Memory flash back: Son Paul and daughter Elizabeth and myself started on a hemlock lined trail in the Bay of Fundy National Park circa thirty years ago. Our plan was to walk to the edge of a little peninsula. Suddenly a young man came running down the trail toward us. : “There’s a mother bear and cubs back there!” He rushed past us. Case in point - respect a female bear with young - we asked no questions and headed for the station wagon pronto.
***