Bear Tracks

Whenever I see bear tracks part of me wants to run and hide and the other part of me wants to see the bear! When our daughter was about two years old we rented an RV and went to Glacier National Park. At that age she loved to sit in her backpack and ride on our backs and go for walks and hikes with us. One day while hiking up to a lake (I wish I could remember the name of it) we passed some people running down the trail because they said they saw a grizzly bear. There were several people on the trail that day, so we decided to continue up the trail since we were almost to the lake. Besides, what were the chances that we would actually run into a bear with all those people on the trail? Plus, we had our bear bell and our daughter had fun ringing it all along the trail. When we got to the lake we enjoyed a nice picnic lunch which included tuna fish sandwiches. After our picnic we were walking around the lake and saw several grizzly bear tracks. At this point, many people had already left, so we were starting to feel a little nervous and got out of there. When we made it safely back to our campground a park ranger was going around warning people that there was a grizzly bear in the area and that we should be extremely careful and don't leave food out at our campsite. One of the things that he mentioned was never hike with tuna fish sandwiches or anything else with a fish scent, because bears are highly attracted to them. Boy did we feel stupid and grateful at the same time. Once again, I don't think we will be getting the parents of the year award! We never did see a grizzly bear on that trip, but seeing the bear tracks was just enough for us.

This basket was a bit of a "bear" to make, because I had to get all of the wrapped coils even on all sides. I made this basket using natural brown and dyed sage green Long Leaf pine needles, autumn jasper Zuni bear and spear drop beads, orange earth tone artificial sinew and a bear paws pottery center base. Enjoy!