Bears, snakes, and frogs...........

My usual hiking partner was not available this weekend, she was at Enchanted Forest Water Safari: where the fun never stops! OK I hope everyone is now singing that stupid commercial in their heads. Christi-anna and I had planned on hanging out yesterday, so I suggested we go to Dyken Pond to do the Long Trail. It's only a 4 mile loop, and just flat terrain. Basically I would consider it a nature trail walk, a local trail that I've been wanting to accomplish that's been on my list.

Let me set the scene. She hates the outdoors, her idea of hiking is going to a bike trail. So I was super proud of her when she agreed to go. I was actually surprised she had said yes. The ride there was beautiful, the weather was perfect. I had on shorts, my high socks, and my hiking boots. She had on pants and a long sleeved shirt. The trail really wasn't that well maintained, but the trail markers were kept up nicely, minus a few spots where you'd come to a clearing and you really had to walk a couple directions before you figured out which way was really the trail.

Seeing how she was out of her element, I took over and lead the way. In doing so, every five feet I came face first into a spider web. I was continually covered in web. LOL I kept bringing to her attention every trail marker as we passed, just to reassure her that we were going the right way. Straight up from the beginning, she flat out HATED it. She was praying not even three minutes into the hike, before we even got into the deep woods. I kept trying to get her to talk to take her mind off of it. Meanwhile I was loving it. There were some pretty rocky areas so instead of walking on the ground in between, I like to test out the rocks to see which ones move and which ones are safe to walk on. Just adds some excitement.

We probably got about two miles in, I'd say about half way around. I heard this sound. It was not a normal sound. It was something BIG. Christi-anna said, "Oh is that a squirrel?". I immediately froze......this was NOT a squirrel....nor a chipmunk.....nor another human. I stopped dead in my tracks, motioned the SHUT UP AND STAND STILL hand movement....and next thing Christi-anna says, BEAR!! IT'S A BEAR!!! I didn't believe her, I couldn't see it. She took off going back the way we just came and just started praying. I really didn't know what to do, I wanted to stay and see the bear. So I had to decide if I wanted to stand there alone and take pictures or follow her. Umm...I followed her.

Now I know you're NOT supposed to turn your back and run from a bear. I do not know much about deep woods survival skills, but this I DO know. (I can teach you how to hold your own on the streets, however. LOL) Odd thing was, I wasn't scared. Not even a little bit. It was an adrenaline rush, and I loved every second of it. I was actually furious that she got to see it and I didn't. Even today, I'm still mad that I didn't see the bear. She thinks it's probably God that I didn't see it, because I'd be trying to take my camera out and take pictures.

Apparently it was climbing a tree and that was the noise I had heard. It was a clawing sound. A very LOUD clawing sound. I guess it saw us and stopped, and was intently starring at us, as she was starring at it. It wasn't full grown, it was about the size of me she said. Ironic thing was, about a half an hour before this she had asked me if there were any bears there. I couldn't lie, I had to be honest and tell her yes. I also didn't inform her that there are rattlesnakes there either. Some things are just better left unsaid.

So we got back to the parking lot and we ran into the guy who works there on the weekends so we started telling him about what had just happened. Then Christi-anna looked at me with this dead serious look on her face and said, "Girl you have a huge bug on your shirt"......I believe this is when my sissy girly side came out full force, I shut my eyes and screamed, "GET IT OFF OF ME NOW"....meanwhile flailing my arms and running in place. Umm I'm a little embarrassed about this.

You can't go to Dyken Pond without walking the stone road down to the lake and she's never been there so I assured her this was a safe and short walk that we had to do before leaving. We got down to the water and she immediately saw a snake. She just calmly said, "SNAKE!". Yup, this is when Tara freaks out. Not even one step further, a frog hops in front of us. I've pretty much had it at this point, and hopped up on to the bench for safety. She didn't quite understand how a snake, bug, and frog scared the crap out of me, but a bear didn't.

I know I've never go to post up my full story on the Black Mountain expedition. I started telling it but just never had time to write it out in it's entirety. I'm just wondering if something is trying to deter me from hiking. Let me tell you, it's not working. Only makes me want to go more. I think I've mentioned this before. I totally thrive off of fight or flight situations, I'm an adrenaline rush junky. I think this is why I like hiking. Yeah it's pretty and the summit views are amazing, yada yada. But for me, I think it's more so the thrill of knowing that anything can happen at any moment and you have no idea if you're going to be ready for it or not. Is that sick? Am I not normal? I also love the challenge of it. You have to be alert in every way, balance, coordination, physically exerting yourself, and when you become exhausted, you get slammed emotionally. It's a mental, physical, and emotional work-out for me.
Am I that abnormal?

OK...let the comments roll in.........