A little bit of Canadian beaches, forests and wilderness

[Niki_up]

I’ve been working out of my hometown in a community that is more northern and very “woodsy” . A far cry from the city I live in.

over the past few days Ive been exploring the woods, rivers, and landscape with my dog. She really motivates me to into the unknown. Today I had a close encounter with one of our top predators! It was super scary and I was unprepared (stupid of me really) I did not have bear spray or my pocket knife which I always travel with when going into the woods.

I was catching and photographing some frogs when I heard branches crackling, I thought it was other hikers and went about my business when the crackling continued…I stoped what I was doing and moved towards the cracking as that was the way back to my vehicle when I seen this huge black fuzzy figure smelling a path I had just walked though 20 mins ago. It stood on its legs with its back to me and it was well over 6 feet tall. Thankfully my dog didn’t notice the bear and I quickly ushered my dog towards the vehicle and escaped without the bear noticing us. My heart was pounding and I felt like running but didn’t want to make noise to attract the bear in our direction.

Some of the wildlife I’ve seen in the past few days includes a fox, deer, ducks, the black bear, garter snakes, wood frogs, and
boreal chorus frogs, insects, moths, and butterflies. I was unable to get pics of everything.I also included some pics of my puppy ?

ducks in a marsh

Some pretty purple flower
Moths or butterflies mating
Nettle that had a cool heart shape on its back, I guess they use the heart shape plates to make noise
Garter snake in the foliage
Puppy over looking her kingdom ?
Beach on a river
Wood frog
Pretty yellow flowers
boreal chorus frog

can you see the wood frog in this picture? They have great camouflage

this picture was taken right when I heard the bear

I didn’t stick around to get a better picture of the bear but you can see his fuzzy head/ear in the red circle here

 

[Deadeye]

Wonderful shots! Your dog is adorable in that pic. Nobody ever gets a chance to enjoy wildlife these days!
Glad the bear encounter wasn’t much of a dangerous encounter.
IME they don’t care about dogs...I had one walking down my driveway and it didn’t even notice my dog barking at it...I wouldn’t go test the theory either though.

 

[Niki_up]

Wonderful shots! Your dog is adorable in that pic. Nobody ever gets a chance to enjoy wildlife these days!
Glad the bear encounter wasn’t much of a dangerous encounter.
IME they don’t care about dogs...I had one walking down my driveway and it didn’t even notice my dog barking at it...I wouldn’t go test the theory either though.

Thank you!
I agree not many people go out into the wilderness much these days, it has been a fun three weeks of exploring here.

im sure if the bear seen me it might have gone differently, I wasn’t prepared with my dog leash either as I had taken her harness off bc she was getting caught in the tree ?my heart was beating the entire time, I did get a better view of the bear than my pic shows but I was so scared I rushed off quickly.

the frogs were my favourite part. I have never seen frogs in the wild before and ever step I was taking these little frogs would leap out of the way, I slowed down bc I thought I might step on one.

had the bear not been there I would have gone for a dip in the river myself.

I know bears bed down during the day time and I’m not quite sure what a bear bed looks like but I maybe have stumbled though one of his previous beds as there was a large area of grass folded down in a huge circle. I was watching him smell me on the foliage.

 

[FJB]

Very nice shots. Thank you for sharing. Glad the bear encounter was 'benign'.
We must never forget to prepare for what there may be, but we must make efforts to enjoy the outdoors as much as we can, if that is within possibilities. It is just too good not to enjoy it if we can.

 

[tlindsey]

I love the great outdoors but only wilderness I will explore is the Metro Park near my home lol. Fortunately no bears to worry about except when one crosses the PA border.
Great pics and happy the ? didn't spot you and your dog.

 

[Krismo962]

I didn’t stick around to get a better picture of the bear but you can see his fuzzy head/ear in the red circle here

It's a sasquatch! lol

 

[Niki_up]

It's a sasquatch! lol
View attachment 1468246

I would have been just as scared ?

 

[esoxlucius]

Some great pics there Niki_up . You live in a beautiful area. Nice dog too, he looks a bit of a scamp.

Just one little complaint though if I may be so bold. I'd really like to draw that bear but your picture lacks the high clarity resolution I require to turn it into a detailled piece.

If it's not asking too much can you get me a close up one next time you're galavanting in the wilderness? Not a macro shot, that would be very dangerous and I would not ask you to put yourself in such peril.

But one that's maybe four feet away perhaps. Yes, that should suffice. Thanking you in advance. Lol.

 

[Deadeye]

Some great pics there Niki_up . You live in a beautiful area. Nice dog too, he looks a bit of a scamp.

Just one little complaint though if I may be so bold. I'd really like to draw that bear but your picture lacks the high clarity resolution I require to turn it into a detailled piece.

If it's not asking too much can you get me a close up one next time you're galavanting in the wilderness? Not a macro shot, that would be very dangerous and I would not ask you to put yourself in such peril.

But one that's maybe four feet away perhaps. Yes, that should suffice. Thanking you in advance. Lol.

Would this work?

 

[Niki_up]

Some great pics there Niki_up . You live in a beautiful area. Nice dog too, he looks a bit of a scamp.

Just one little complaint though if I may be so bold. I'd really like to draw that bear but your picture lacks the high clarity resolution I require to turn it into a detailled piece.

If it's not asking too much can you get me a close up one next time you're galavanting in the wilderness? Not a macro shot, that would be very dangerous and I would not ask you to put yourself in such peril.

But one that's maybe four feet away perhaps. Yes, that should suffice. Thanking you in advance. Lol.

It’s funny that you say that bc now that I know the bear is there I’m less scared of it and can be prepared. I wouldn’t mind going back for a nice picture, but at the same time I don’t know if I should go tromping through his area and I should just respect his space…I mean he’s probably pretty upset that I’ve been using his beach for three days as my personal oasis.

it’s funny too I was talking with my bf and I now realize all the signs were there that the bear was around and I just missed/dismissed them at the time.

there were foot prints going down to the beach and I even thought to myself “that’s a weird spot for someone to walk barefoot”. Black bear tracks are said to look like human feet ??There was a small scat nearby that I dismissed as coyote scat (maybe this bear had Cubs with it?

I may brave this spot again as it’s not entirely people free, it does look like a local teenage hangout for drinking on the weekends. There’s a little garbage in the area and a found a hut built out of stickers and twigs.