Been a long time since I’ve seen this

It looks like a bear cub may have been in my driveway sometime during the night or early morning.

I found these tracks in the snow in the driveway. If I’m remembering right these are bear tracks,  

Based on size, I’m guessing a very young bear. No doubt Mom was close at hand keeping a watchful eye on the toddler.

It’s stuff like this that causes me to have a love-hate relationship with living in the mountains. On the one hand I like very much being closer to nature. On the other hand it’s just a pain to get up here or away from here to do stuff required in the modern world.

I guess for the time being I’ll enjoy the “Love” part of being here.

It’s been many years since I’ve even seen a bear or any larger wildlife.

Bears used to be common sights up here, as were, owls, coyotes, and the occasional large cat. About 16 years ago sightings dwindled, the owls left, coyotes have become infrequent and I haven’t run across a mountain lion, or bear track in years.

We used to have a 6am coyote. If you saw her, you were late to work. Yes, I know it was a her, because at least once a year you’d see her with pups in tow. 

It’s nice to see signs of nature again.

These tracks are small, I’m guessing a cub just out of the den foraging with mom and making its first exploration of the world.

It looks like it came all the way down to the garage door.

Weird thing is that I can’t find mom’s footprints out on the road. Either they’ve been obliterated by neighbors cars or she was keeping to the hard ice. 

The sun is melting the light snow dusting we got last night so all traces will be gone in another hour or so.

Nonetheless, It’s a welcome thing in my morning.