A Sunday Hike With The Bears

So I might have mentioned in the past that I sometimes  feel the need to get away. Maybe its the fact that my house is loud with the sound of youth and exuberance that makes me want to get away. I don’t quite know. Don’t get me wrong, I love my  kids, but I need the quiet of the forest to get centered.

Sunday I took the boys away from the hustle and bustle of Salmon Days to the almost too quiet mountain trails behind our house. I took the dogs, because we need their noise to make sure the bears know we are coming. Yep, it’s bear season. The picture below has claw marks all the way to top. I know it’s not that great of a picture, but I know what I saw.

The trail we took is right at the top of the switch backs and one we hadn’t traversed before.  We were about halfway down the trail when I realized that it was way too quiet. Of course I didn’t want to worry the boys so I didn’t say anything. I just kept an ear open off trail.

We walked for two and a half hours nary a complaint was heard, the dogs were more tired than the boys were. The dogs were so tired that they were sore the rest of the night. I had to rub the kinks out of their legs. Yes they are spoiled.

I love to go hiking with the boys, they say so many interesting things.

Here are some examples:

Atticus: Mommy daddy sounds right to me.  Saying daddy mommy just doesn’t make sense.

Atticus: If we see the bear that made those marks,  I’ll kick it in the peanuts.

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Zane: That’s bear poop ( I left out the picture, because it looked like poop)

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Zane: There’s a path way.

Me: Let’s not go that way. That’s an animal path.

Zane: We have animals

Me: It’s a wild animal path

Zane: Oh
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Atticus: This is where we need a shalaylee

Yes Atticus, it is.

Can I tell you how proud I was that he knows what a shalaylee is? (Not the urban dictionary definition either)

It’s amazing how far their little legs will take them. We went up and down and down and up. There were hills and dales, streams and rocks. Yes, rocks. There I was, struggling up the hills and they were carrying rocks. Show offs.