Saturday Stories. #23 Part 4

Hi everyone! It’s another cloudy and very cool day. Yesterday we had lots of rain. It also rained a lot. So far at least we don’t have to worry about forest fires. Now, back to our story, you can read Part 3 HERE. We had a busy day, it had been hot and we walked a lot that day. We finished the day with a nice, small bonfire. The thunderstorms were coming our way, we could hear the rumbling of thunder a long way off. We made sure the bonfire was out and then got into the tent just as the first raindrops began to fall.

Cathy did not like thunderstorms at all and it was even worse for her being in a tent during one. And this one had non stop lightning for a while and heavy rain. There was even small marble sized hail for a while. This was a fairly large tent with a divider down the middle, so we each had our own side. But that night Cathy stayed with me on my side during those thunderstorms.

There were still a few wild strawberries blooming.

After the storms passed we fell asleep, until about an hour later when Cathy woke me up. “There is something outside the tent,” she said quietly, “I think it’s a bear.” “We have no food in here,” I reminded her, “so it will leave soon.” Except it did not leave, and there was obviously more than one animal. I really did not think it was bears though. Bears have a smell to them that is quite noticeable at such close range. Other wild animals do as well, but each is different.

But mostly there were nice tasty strawberries.

Then it was obvious there were 3 animals out there. My thought now was that wolves or coyotes had come to visit us. Then one started pawing at the tent wall right beside where I was lying. Poor Cathy, I think she was ready to faint. I did not feel too thrilled either, but I did not want to appear scared, for Cathy’s sake. If she thought I was scared too, that would not help her. “Time to start talking normally,” I said, “so they understand that people are in here.”

She just looked at me, obviously very scared and she whispered, “I can’t, I’m too scared.” Then one of the animals walked right close to the wall, so I shone my flashlight at that spot and yelled! That got all 3 of them running off, though I could hear that they stopped again. So I opened the tent door flap and shone my flashlight toward where I thought they might be. Sure enough, there were 3 Gray Wolves and when the light hit them, they took off running through the trees.

Not the lake where we camped, but beautiful anyway.

They never did come back again, which was good. The next day was sunny once again and it was time to pack up and head back to the car. On the way we came across a female Spruce Grouse and her brood of 8 little ones. So Cathy not only had another bird for her list, but a family once again as well. Close to where I parked the car I spotted a woodpecker not too high on a dead pine tree.

It was a Northern 3-toed Woodpecker! They are getting hard to find in our area. Cathy was thrilled! It was another bird on her list. The drive out was uneventful, but we did have a great few days. The next day Cathy headed back home again, which she did in two days.

Daisy with a tiny bee.

Well, not much happened, but we did get to see a lot and had a great time besides. It is still cloudy and very cool here today, but at least it’s not raining today. Not yet anyway. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and God bless!

Steve and Muffin.

©2024 Steve McLeod.