Lions, Tigers, and BEARS-Oh My!

Today, I visited the Hoh Rain Forest (part of Olympic National Park) and hiked several of the trails-the Hall of Mosses and the trail that leads to the Hoh River-totaling several miles.


The rain forest is just outside of Forks, Washington. It was quite beautiful!
There were signs posted warning hikers about the possibility of charging elk. I, however, did not have the pleasure of that encounter.

After departing from the rain forest, I headed south on Highway 101 toward the public beaches. I headed south, unknowingly, towards an encounter that I won't soon forget. As I listened to "Stop the World" on my Matthew West CD, I saw something ahead scurry across the road about 200 yards in front of me. At first glimpse, I thought it was a black fox. I slowed my car as I got closer to the spot in the road where I saw the animal cross. About that time, I saw another black blur run across the road. This time I was able to make out the figure that I saw. It was a little black bear cub! I could not believe it. Since there were no other cars around on the highway, I slowed my car down to a crawl. I was still around 100 yards from the spot where they crossed when I saw a third figure approach the side of the road. The little cub saw my car and hesitated back and forth several times before making its dash for the other side of the road. I did not see any other bears attempting to cross the road so I slowly made my way past. As my car rolled past the bear crossing, I could hear what sounded like scratching on wood. I looked up in the giant fir trees that lined both sides of the road. About half-way up one tree, I saw one of the little black bear cubs! It was clinging to the tree-about 30 feet off of the ground! As I started to drive off, the cub craned its neck around and watched me slowly drive away. We were watching each other. I was in awe! I'm sure, however, that the cub was experiencing emotions other than awe-climbing a tree is one of their defense mechanisms. This was one of those encounters that sends chills throughout your body. Not the bad kind of chills. Rather, the ones associated with what could possibly be a once in a lifetime experience. About this time, the following words from that Matthew West cd blared on my radio:
"Stop the world I’m ready to listen
Show me sign, give me a vision of heaven
I can hold on to
Stop the world I need some time with You Before I can find my voice I need to hear Your voice Above all the senseless noise..."

I'm not saying that bears are a vision of heaven or anything. But it was an amazing experience to see God's wild creatures right there running around in front of my face. You know, sometimes we just need to step away from all of the craziness of the world and wait for God's guidance, listen for His voice, or just stand in silent reverence at His awesome creation.
Well, what could possibly top that?!? I spent the rest of the evening at Ruby Beach collecting stones, small pieces of driftwood, and watching the sunset.




I am now settling in for the evening at my motel in Forks. I just finished watching a volcano special on the History Channel. It was talking about what might happen if Mt. Rainier were to erupt! It turns out that the Inn that I stayed at over the weekend would be no more if the mountain were to blow!

On that note, I think that I am going to call it an evening. I have an early morning tomorrow. Until then-Later gator!! I love you all!!!