I drove along the 20 freeway in NorthEast Washington and went as far as I could before I was really sick of driving. It got to that time so I pulled into the first driveway where I saw a tent icon on a sign. After scouting the area, we found the last spot and pulled in. Lucky for us, the nightly fee was only six dollars!
I am more afraid of a confrontation with a bear than a person for some reason. I worried a bit in Yosemite when I was lectured by the bear police to keep all lip balms out of the car and put them in the bear box because bears, "love a good lip balm." I'm glad he told me that because I found all of the ones that I seemingly "lost" and lined them up in the bear box...all 8 of them. At least the bear will have a variety if it figured out how to open the bear box at the campsite.
Since then, I have calmed myself down a bit thinking that they wouldn't show up. I read a few blogs from time to time and just when I had a calming feeling, I read the blog from
Rich Luhr about a bear approaching his campsite at night, letting out a huge roar...my worst nightmare.
So, here we are again, camping in our tent. I let it go and decided to relax and enjoy the beauty in the area. The night was quiet and the next morning was relaxing. I was having a cup of coffee at the site as the ranger came by. I didn't think anything of it since I payed my whopping $6 fee. As he approached, he looked at me and said, "did you see any bears?"
What? Bears? Are you kidding me? I thought I was free from those thoughts and here comes Rick the ranger to put them right back in my brain. I thought he was joking but he was very serious. You know, that serious ranger face look? Well, Rick had it. We chatted for a bit, he agreed for me to take his photo and later Max and I decided to go for a walk. Needless to say, the walk didn't last long. Each crack of a branch or rustle in the bushes made me jump so it wasn't the relaxing morning I had hoped for. I know, such a big whimp! I will get over it and not worry. Good news is, I have plenty of lip balm handy.
