That's a bear

I went hiking this morning with Sally and her daughter Isobel. She was showing me some trails we might use for the upcoming "St. Barnabas Hikes" outing next Saturday.   I brought Bird and they brought Clover, their "dog in law!"  Clover is a great dog.  She can run off leash and comes back when she's called.  I was a teeny bit jealous, since Birdie can't ever be off leash.

Our destination was a little pond just off the Mahoosuc Trail.  We were just shy of the pond when Isobel said, "Mommy, Clover is chasing a bear."  Sure enough, Clover had treed a bear cub.  It was pretty tiny and VERY cute. And, it didn't look particularly happy to have been treed!

We never saw the Momma bear, but we decided to turn around then and there.   In general, bears won't hurt you if you are hiking.  But you never want to get between a Momma Bear and her cub.  

The worst part was that it really freaked out Isobel (who is 5).  She wasn't really relaxed until we got back to the car.  

For me, it was kind of exciting (and a little adrenaline producing).  It was my first bear in the wild in NH and my first bear cub ever.