Bringing the Mountain to Mohammed

One of the exciting things here at Grundy Lake is the fact that, if you are lucky, you can actually see black bears roaming around in the park in search of food or whatever bears go for. Two years ago, we had many sightings, at the beach, on the road, a mother and her cubs at the outhouse. All very interesting. Last year, my husband Mike had a face to face encounter with a young bear that came onto our site early one morning and didn't seem to want to leave after the requisite warnings, like screaming and clapping. Although I really don't want to get that up close and personal with Yogi, I will admit that I get excited when I enter the park and see the sign that says: Active bear in Campground.

 I think that the park may have just put that there for liability purposes, I always hope it is true. That being said, I have been here since June 12th and still not seen a bear. I have heard rumours of them in the campground, one of our neighbours told us that there was one sniffing at the back of our trailer, but I seem to have missed that altogether. 

I decided I have waited long enough and if the bears wouldn't come to Lulu, Lulu would go to the bears. On the way to the town of Britt, about 15 minutes from Grundy, there is a municipal dump where the locals bring the garbage and it is the hot spot for bear viewing at any time during the day or evening. The dump is a big pit about 15 feet deep and if you stand around the outer edge, (away from the path to the forest of course), you will see bears. There were two large black bears eating at the dump when I and a friend went to visit, the dump keeper or dump master, (not sure what to call him) estimated they were middle aged bears(how appropriate) and they were digging in to the garbage like there was no tomorrow. Of course it's a jackpot for them there and they are quite possessive of their stashes, if one got a little too close, the other made a grunting noise ( in other words,stay back) and it was quite interesting and a bit smelly to stand there and watch.

Of course, I wanted to immortalize the moment in film, so I took out my cel phone and started snapping away. The click of the camera got their attention, every time I clicked, the heads would go up, til finally, one of them let out a mighty growl and started to look at us meaty creatures as if we might be a better lunch. At that point, our curiosity was satisfied and we went about our business. Very fascinating, however,  I am still hoping to see one in the park before I leave.