The Faux Shaux

bearmorning from mike k on Vimeo.

Sunday morning I awoke to loud rustling around 7am. It had the familiar pace of an animal negotiating obstacles. Luckily, I slept with the rain fly off my tent, so I could watch the shooting stars after my hike. My eyes still at a soft focus, I searched the brush for where the sounds were originating.

I hear the crunch and chew of an animal eating. But where is it?
Then came the thud of an apple striking the ground. I looked up to see the black bear up near the top of the tree, running a train on the apples.

My neighbors left their beer-can trash out the previous night. There’s a strict no trash policy to avoid bear encounters. Hitting the road for Asheville, I didn’t have time to see how the scenario panned out, but he was eating apples by the dozen, so I figured the sleeping campers were better left alone.

On the Skyline Drive the previous day, I did get to catch a rather cute bear-crossing. A mama bear + four cubs. If you watch the Skyline timelapse, you can catch them for a moment when I’m stopped behind an SUV. I did catch the last bear on my DSLR, but I didn’t have time to touch the settings (left on manual), so it is what it is.