The Woodsy Type

So I decided to go commune with nature over the weekend...and some of nature decided to commune with me.

Normally I go camping in northern Wisconsin when the rest of the fam is around. There are either extended family members also camping out, or I have a niece and nephew with me. This weekend I was flying solo in the campgrounds. Me and my tent. My dad was with, but staying across the street in the cabin.

So within the hour of arrival, a porcupine was checking things out. He was rummaging about until I came to take his picture, and then he went up a tree...

(It was dusk, btw.)

He must have decided I was harmless, because he only went up a few feet before returning to the ground and continuing on his way...

I snapped his picture and finished setting up camp. There was some visiting with the locals (people), and then it was bedtime. I probably fell asleep about 10:00 p.m.

At midnight, I was awakened. I didn't know what woke me at first, so I just rolled over and snuggled back into my sleeping bag. Then I heard what sounded like someone climbing into the bed of my dad's truck and getting on the ATV. Did I mention the truck was 10 feet from my tent?

So it seemed odd that my dad would have waited until midnight and the pitch dark to unload his ATV. Hmm. Either a person or a bear would be sounding that heavy in the back of the truck.

"Hello?" I said in my sternest, you better not be trying to steal my dad's ATV voice. The noise stopped. Absolute silence. I decided we had a bear on our hands, people. I made a loud clapping noise, and it was off like a shot. Definitely a bear--too fast to be a person. Awesome. In the morning, there were definitely paw marks on the truck...from the rear wheel well along the bed to the roof (including the top of the roof). Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of them. It rained before I thought of it.

So it turned out Dad had left his dinner wrapper plus most of our groceries in the truck...with the driver's side window cracked open. I mostly blame the chili cheese dog wrapper, though. When I opened the truck to see what was up, it *stank* of chili cheese dog.

Anyway, after the excitement of the bear, you can only go downhill, right? So here is a picture of a woodpecker that hung out with me all weekend...

He didn't actually let me get closer than 15 feet at any given time, though.

There were many deer, some chipmunks, a turtle, and the usual flock of whippoorwills and loons in the distance. No more bears that I know of, but there was something walking around the campgrounds Saturday night. I pulled the covers over my ear, couldn't hear it anymore, and promptly fell asleep.
:-)

Posted by Jennifer at June 1, 2009 12:18 AM | TrackBack

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