Bear with Me

I have been coming to these mountains for thirty-five years and I have never seen a bear on one of these trails. How many miles have I walked? I have walked hundreds, maybe thousands. Through all of that, I have not seen so much as a bear cub or even bear tracks. I do not know if anyone has ever been attacked here at the park. I assume the Appalachian Trail goes through here. It is thousands of miles long with hoards of travelers every year without an incident. The waterfall is at the end of only a one mile hike and the kids will not get to see it because they might get eaten by a bear. Give me a break.

I am going to take my time. I get one vacation a year and I am going to take my time, see the waterfall, and maybe rest under one of the big oak trees along the south approach to the falls. I hope she gets hot sitting there in that van. She will not get hot because she will sit there and run the air conditioning. I probably need to hurry a little.

This trail looks a little different than the last time I walked it. Did I take a wrong turn? I am not going back to that van without seeing the falls. I will just walk a little farther and will probably walk right into it. Here comes someone else. I will just ask them for a little help. I hate asking for directions. It will not hurt to ask one time, plus no one will know it. Man, that must be a big dude. Well, come on up here so I can ask and be on my way. Hey, where did he go? Maybe I scared him. I do find that I am a little intimidating to others sometimes. It may be his first time in the woods.

Oh, crap! I wish I could be right just one time. I can't climb a tree, can I? That would not do any good. Where is the van? What if she got mad at something I said and left me up here? How fast can those stupid things run anyway? Maybe I would rather be eaten than hear I told you so. There it is, she did not leave me. Repeat after me, the falls were beautiful and no I did not see any bears.