September-October, 2021
You know what scat means … git! go! shoo! get out of here! be gone! take off! scat!
But I don’t want any of you to be gone, ok? I don’t mean that you should leave, ok? 🙂
The word “scat” means something else too, other than “be gone”. It’s another word for “poop” or “doo-doo” or “droppings” or “excrement” or “dung” … or, if you are very scientific, “solid matter discharged from a mammal’s alimentary canal”. In other words, it’s what we all do even though we don’t like to talk about it or name it.
Among humans who are often in the wild animal world, the word “scat” is commonly used and understood to mean the “poop” of an animal.
And so, let me tell you the story of my day today.
My friends who were camping in their Escape trailer (close to where I was camped in my Escape trailer) were off on their own adventure this morning, or maybe they were just lazing about, I can’t remember, but I decided to head back up onto the trail that we’d been on yesterday, but this time by myself. There were signs saying there were bear out and about, and the park ranger had said the same to me, but I figured the bear wouldn’t come THIS close to the campground, to humans, and so I had no fear. And off I went up that same roadway we’d been up yesterday.
How pretty!
And then I took off on a side trail that went further up into the wild and uninhabited hills.
I’d been gone only 15 minutes or so, but I started thinking about the ranger and the signs that talked about bear in the area. And I started to get nervous. And I started looking to the right …..
And to the left …..
And I started whistling and talking out loud. “Hey bear, how you doing?” I saw and heard nothing, but still I was a bit nervous.
At the top of that trail, I came upon that old shed again … and the lone tree beyond it with the yellow truck parked under that tree. That made me feel comfortable.
Off to the left of the old shed was another trail that led to two more very old and decrepit buildings (photo below). There were fence posts in the area, but no fencing, so I decided to walk over there and see what those two old structures were about.
Oh, but wait, what’s this black pile of stuff on the path in front of me? I don’t want to step in that. I’ll just step around it. Yep, that’s what I’ll do …..
Bear scat!
Yikes! THAT made me nervous! Particularly since this (big!) pile of scat had NOT been here yesterday when my friends and I had been out here. But I stood my ground there and checked the surroundings … no bears and no strange noises. Then I carefully checked the pile of scat. I didn’t touch it, but it seemed cold … not warm as if it might have been “put” there recently. So I relaxed a bit.
Nevertheless, I decided to head back towards camp. So down the trail I went back towards the campground. There was a very tempting road (photo below) off to the left, into the hills, but with that bear scat behind me, I decided not to chance this other road. I’d been told that only black bear inhabit this area and they are happy to get away from humans when possible … and they are out and about usually only during early morning hours and late evening hours. I was here around 11:30am … and I had my spray bottle of wolf urine (bear spray) with me … but still, why take chances. So I by-passed this lovely road.
Even though I was wary, I still enjoyed seeing the details of the surrounding land and plants.
And, I kept talking out loud …. “hey bear, how you doing?” … “what’s for lunch, bear?” … “I’m over here bear looking at this plant” … “bear, bear, who’s a bear, not me!” I felt kind of silly, but being silly was a whole lot better option than coming face to face with a bear.
Lovely grasses here. But did I just see movement in the shrubs up there?! Ok, nope, no movement.
I was getting closer to the campground, when I looked to the left and found this … below.
It sure looked like footprints to me. The ranger told me that black bears sleep during the day, often near the waterways that feed the lake because it’s cooler there … they will walk into the shrubs and woods and find a place to curl up and have a daytime siesta.
Obviously, I did NOT explore that area. I just keep on walking down the main trail/road, whistling and talking. But still finding interesting things to take photos of too. 🙂
I was almost back at the campground, just one more corner in the trail to negotiate, one more curve of the road to get around, and I’d be there. I wondered if bears here might like this ripe red fruit (cherries?) and I thought they probably would. There were a number of branches from these trees that had been torn down, split off, not tidily as if a human had done that, but roughly as if a bear might tear a limb off in order to get to that sweet fruit.
And then I came up to the last corner of the road …..
No, not more! I froze in my tracks. This pile of scat had NOT been here 45 minutes ago when I first left the campground. It was larger than the pile of scat that was up by the old decrepit barns. Needless to say, I did not investigate this pile of scat. I scooted right around it and trotted down the roadway and around the last turn in the road and then over to my campsite and directly towards big, safe Towhee the Trailer. I climbed into my trailer and locked the door!
Later in the week, I showed all my photos of these two piles of scat to the local ranger. She said they were both bear, but different ages of bear and different diets. When I told her the time of day of the second pile (late morning), she raised her eyebrows and said “that’s unusual, wonder why it was out that time of day” … she voiced no concern for me! But I’d bet that ranger had seen first-hand more than her share of black bear in this neck of the woods.
Next time I think about heading out into bear country by myself, I might just think again. On the other hand, black bear really do run from humans if possible. And I do have what is reported to be the best bear spray (wolf urine in a spray bottle). And … there are lots of black bears in the forests of Washington state so if I want to go hiking, I will likely be in country inhabited by black bear. So maybe I’ll do what I’ve always done and talk with the local rangers before I go hiking, carry the right gear, and keep whistling and talking out loud. “Hey bear, hi bear, who bear, ho!”