acorns in MT: September 23

This morning we threw together a quick breakfast of foraged pears with rescued yogurt and roasted dandelion root powder, eager to see if we could find more lobsters. After just a few minutes of hiking together, I told Andre that I wanted to go off on my own. Hiking alone is something I feel perfectly comfortable doing, and I haven’t made enough efforts to get my fair share of EW time since we started the trip.  Plus, I wanted to gather acorns since we found a stash of rather large ones for the first time since starting this trip. All the acorns we’ve been eating were gathered around our old stomping grounds back in California. I walked down the path lined with colorful trees, filling my foraging bag with beautiful leaves that I used later to decorate Butter.  The forest was quiet, all but my singing, when from out of nowhere came a medium-sized black bear just 10 or 15 feet in front of me.  It looked my way as it crossed my path (its path, I suppose), moving slowly but steadily, but clearly afraid.  That made two of us.  I wanted to keep hiking but felt torn, after all, I just scared a bear and was able to walk away without any problems.  If I continued, would it think I was following it, would I be tormenting it like the crocodile hunter who taunted those poor sleepy crocs?  I decided to continue, but first I grabbed a stick.  It crumbled in my hand.  I took a few steps and heard rustling in the trees nearby, so I turned around with the small chunk of wood that used to be a stick still gripped tightly in my hand and chose another route.  First, though, I stopped by Butter to grab a bell.

This was my fourth bear sighting on the trip, not counting the two grizzlies we spotted from the safety of Butter back in Yellowstone.  Camila said I’m like a deer, maybe that’s why they like me.  Andre didn’t come home with any lobsters, but we both had heaps of acorns.  Time to get cracking.