An Eventful Late Afternoon/Early Evening Walk

This may be only of interest to me, but it seemed worth sharing anyway.

I had a very lazy weekend that just passed, neither hiking nor even taking a walk on either day. That was bad, since I had been previously stepping up my physical activity in efforts to try and get in shape.

So yesterday, I went for a walk while at my parent's home in West Milford, New Jersey, and it wound up being a surprisingly eventful walk.

Usually, it is quiet, and nothing of particular note seems to happen during these walks, save for the usual miracles that can be seen in the lush woods of the surrounding area.

Yesterday, however, proved to be unusually busy. I ran into a friend that I play volleyball with during the fall and winter/spring sessions at the junior high school. We spoke a little bit, although she was kind of busy walking her dogs.

Continuing my walk, I went to an old baseball field that I used to walk around many years ago fairly regularly. It was amazing to see some of the improvements and additions made to the field, which is starting to look more and more impressive. But as I was walking on it, a bear suddenly popped out of the woods, and walked along the other side of the fence, towards the edge.

It turned towards me as it probably heard the sounds of my camera phone snapping away, and it seemed to be gauging me, and any potential threat that I might pose. It walked past the edge of the fence, and it was a lot closer than this picture would suggest. For a second, it even seemed to walk my way, which of course made me a bit nervous. But then it turned, and went up the small, artificial sand dunes and up a hill covered in foliage, disappearing.

That itself was quite the thrill! So, I continued my walk feeling fairly excited, and ran into another friend from volleyball, although he was a bit far away, and busy with family members, so I did not bother him.

Finally, on the way back to the house, I heard the crow of a rooster, which was very nice. It was the first time that I had heard that, I think, since spending time in my girlfriend's home town of Srednia Wies, in Poland!

Very cool!

Here are the pics of the bear: