Lighthearted Confabulations From Outside Our Tent: Tiger Mountain

Lisa and I had a very eventful hike yesterday! Because of some remodeling going near the trailhead, we had a romp of some side trails before we came upon the main one. During that time, we found a nice fresh pile of bear scat! We chatted about what to do if we saw one, especially because she had 'Rango' the dog and bears can be agitated when dogs are present. We joked about her being with the bear whisperer. Lisa pulled out her pepper spray and we discussed how it might help if we encountered a critter. As we hiked back down, her eyes got big and she said "OH NO"... and of course I said "WHAT?"...then she told me the pepper spray had gone off in her pocket! Luckily, it was minor enough that some wet wipes were able to prevent any pain, but what a fiasco!

Once we found the main trail, sure enough... I must have used mental telepathy or something and a bear drifted into view. We watched it from a distance for some time, then it wandered back into the woods.

The real excitement began as we headed further on down the trail and the big bear decided to cross the trail directly in front of us. Lisa quickly made tracks in the other direction with the dog, but I was fairly close, so to avoid any confrontation- I stood my ground and avoided eye contact. Eventually, after he stood there for a minute, I felt it was safe to slowly back away. We had no problems and the bear was well behaved.

After we left the bear, we continued on to a vista on the top of Issaquah where we sat and watched the Paragliders taking off. Unfortunately, we witness a horrible accident. An unlicensed pilot was attempting a tandem take-off, and got twisted up. The chute failed to open and the two riders were sent at breakneck speeds off the side of the mountain. There were injuries, including a head injury which had one of the victims going in to shock. One of the first responders came running up the mountain looking for any extra water which Lisa happened to have. We stayed out of the way, but things were not looking good and the sirens were wailing when we decided to head back down. We never got a full report, but hope that whoever was injured fully recovers.

It was a day to remember for sure. On a happy note, it's officially spring in the northwest! The yellow violets are blooming, the trillium are showing their beautiful white faces and I even saw the first of the Oregon Grape in bloom! It's my favorite time of year to be on the trails!