In which we do not see the bear, but we can see why the bear was there

We didn't see the bear* but we knew that there was a bear.

We saw all kinds of scat and tracks when we were out on the trail yesterday.  I took photos of the tracks, but not the bear poop.  If you need to see what bear poop looks like, Google can help you with that.  

(Bears actually poop in the middle of the trail fairly often, so that's the place to look if you can't find it on Google.)

*one time Fee and I were walking down a hill side-by-side and a biker called out from the uphill side, "Hey, do you know that you just walked past a bear?"  

I gimped the contrast on this photo to make the tracks clearly visible.
I would've missed it, but Fee insisted that she needed to drink out of this puddle.

Speaking of Fee and her feet, it's time to re-visit the changes we started making last November:  we changed the angles a little bit, and removed (supposedly temporarily) her plastic pads.  

The plan was to let her go without pads through the winter, when she isn't working as much, and put them back on in Spring when we started legging up for the Cross-State Ride.

Rear foot, freshly trimmed.  Heels are wide, frog is gigantic, and the "cup" is spacious.

Of course, the World Ended this spring, so the Cross-State ride (and all my training rides) got cancelled.  The trails just opened back up a couple of weeks ago, but we are only going out a couple times each week to doodle around.  

The result:  no need for plastic pads, and her feet look better than they've looked in years.

Un-gimped photo shows a shaded Dragon foot and a sunlit bear print.

She walks and trots, and even gallops a bit when the footing is really good, 

She watches for bears, but she doesn't worry when we see them.

as long and as far as either of us wants to go in a day, 

Riding in spring:  not too warm, not too cold.

and there's plenty of time to see all the stuff we want to see.

Here's the reason the bear was nearby:

Salmonberries are ripe!

Monica claims she can taste the difference between yellow and red salmonberries.
I say they are like M&M's, and they all taste the same.

Here's something that happened at the beginning of the ride:

Full lot!  My rig is at the far edge of the trailer parking lot, photo left (red truck/white trailer).

For the record, this space is CLEARLY MARKED for truck/trailer parking.  There is another stretch of gravel parking for cars on the other side of the road, immediately adjacent the truck lot.  Maybe an extra four or five strides to the trailhead.   

To park in the truck/trailer section, you have to drive past this bright yellow sign.

And yet, here's this speshul little punkin:

That is not a truck.

I have plenty of practice from the X-State ride squozing into little spaces, so I squiggled in between the truck/trailer on the driver side and the car on the passenger side.  I pulled far enough forward that I could open my back gate without denting the car, and then I angled the truck so the car could not go forward.

I considered leaving a note on the car, but what was there to say?  

To get out, the driver had leave the space backwards, driving in reverse past everybody else.  I figured that was maybe enough humiliation that they wouldn't ever do that again.  

I can hope, anyhow.

Back on the Farm:

Peas in bloom

Thimbleberries in bloom

Blueberries getting bigger

I've been pulling weeds, taking suckers off tomato vines, and culling apple pippins.  And then, it's time for a little treat.

Sourdough Cinnamon Coronet

The World may have Ended, but we are in no danger of starving.