Finally!!! After over 12 years and hundreds of hikes
on the Florida Greenway, I have a bear story!
And yes, I've seen bears over the years. I've been fortunate to hike in a lot of forests in the US, including Alaska. I've even seen them in the Ocala National Forest from my vehicle.
But this story takes place on one of my favorite Florida trails close to home.
I parked my Jeep at the trailhead and started off on a hike/bike trail until I got to the paved part of the Greenway. I planned to hike for one hour, which is a short hike for me. It's very hard for me to turn around at the 30 minute mark but I did this particular day.
This is the first photo I took by just lifting my camera and snapping without zooming. So he is in the far distance and you can get an idea of how far away he was.
The bear walked across the trail I was on and was ambling.
I was walking parallel to a firebreak. (a wide path that is dug up by heavy equipment to form a break that would stop a forest fire from spreading)
So I took a few steps to my right onto the firebreak so that I had a better view when he went across the firebreak.
And there he was.
He did not turn....and he did not look at me, so I didn't feel threatened.
I was scared of course and saw a spike in my heart rate on my watch!
But he kept going and I stood perfectly still. I wanted to make sure there weren't any cubs following or another bear. And when a few minutes went by, I called my husband. I told him there was a bear between me and my Jeep and he said loudly 'A WHAT?'!!! I think that was one of the best parts of the story. He told me to wait awhile longer and give the bear a chance to get farther away before I walked to the Jeep. I was never so glad to get in my Jeep and 'head for the house'!
To describe how I felt....
I would say I was scared and excited and JAZZED!
But having said that....I'm happy to have seen a Florida black bear in the wild right on the Greenway. But I'm done now. I don't need to see another one! I'm a happy hiker and a blessed one too.
So that's my bear story. It was a medium sized bear. I know they get bigger ....and mine may get bigger in the telling. We'll see!
I saw a Downy Woodpecker on the hike.
And lots of beautiful wildflowers.
But I was so fortunate to actually get a few decent photos
of the HUMONGOUS bear I saw!
