The Scene Begins

There has been a crazy amount of bear activity all along the Front Range this fall.  One in particular has been making its presence known in our neighborhood on a frequent basis.  I woke up at 3am to a huge racket outside our house the other night.  The bear was trying to get into our garbage can.  We have it strapped down, so it wasn’t having any luck.  That didn’t stop it from trying, though.

I climbed out a window onto our garage roof and crept to the edge.  I didn’t need a light because the moon was out.  I’ve seen several bears over the years, but when I looked over the edge I saw one of the biggest of the bunch.  About 6 feet directly below me, oblivious to my presence.

I observed it for a minute, then thumped the roof with my hand and gave a shout to scare it off.  It immediately bolted to the bottom of the driveway before stopping and looking back.  I did it again, and it casually sauntered away.  Not worried in the slightest.

I wish I would have had my camera to get a shot from that perspective, but it was out in the car.  Three feet from the bear.

A few days ago, I got the next best thing.  A couple other people in our area have managed to get pictures of it and they have been circulating around.

That is one big bear!  Just look at the size of its front leg.  Wow.

credit: Frank and Barb Blatter

This is the angle that my shot would have been taken from.  Only at night, and about 2x closer.  You could put a saddle on that guy!

credit: Bob Melcher

Walking the path in broad daylight.

credit: Bob Melcher

Spider Eyes

I have always liked running at night with a headlamp.  It was one of the things that I quickly gained an appreciation for, coming from the world of road cycling where workouts had to fit within the daylight hours (or on the dreaded trainer in the basement).  With running, there are no such restrictions.  Day or night, you can just step out the door and go.

Night runs are nice because they are usually not focused on pace or effort.  Just cruising under a black sky listening to your footsteps while focusing on the beam of light ahead.  During a run in the foothills four years ago, I started noticing little reflections shining back at me from the dirt road I was on.  It looked like bits of broken glass scattered around.  But more intense, almost like tiny diamonds.  I ran along for a couple of hours, occasionally spotting the sparkles.  Finally, I glanced downward as I ran by one and was quite surprised to see that it was the eyes of a spider shining back at me!

Now that I knew what I was looking for, I saw them everywhere.  Big ones, and small ones down to the size of a dime even had eyes that would light up from several feet away.

The other night I took my camera along as I ran some bike paths near my house.  This is what I found.

From a distance, it looks just like a shiny bit of glass.

Add a little more light and you can start to see what is really there.

I’ll just link to the next one.  It’s a closeup of that guy on the sidewalk.  Don’t click if spiders creep you out!

Next time you go for a run at night, stop and check out the little diamonds on the ground.