Black Bear eating birdseed in Morrison/Evergreen, CO

Thursday morning at 2:00 am, my wife pushed me out of bed when one of our bird feeders crashed to the ground.  I am a deep sleeper and didn’t hear a thing, but I dutifully got up and walked groggily to the window to see what was up.

I found a bear crouching on the edge of our patio scooping up all the bird seed.  With my heart racing and adrenaline pumping I checked the sliding glass doors which we sometimes leave open.  Fortunately, they were closed and the bear didn’t seem to care about me.  Then I went for the camera and was able to get this photo before my wife told me to stop taking pictures and get that bear out of her garden…

I am not much of a match for a 400 lb black bear, but I grabbed the first thing I could find – a broom – and started to open the sliding glass door.  Fortunately, the bear was more afraid of me than I was of him.  He hopped over the wall and climbed a big pine tree about fifteen feet away.

By this time, my whole house was up and gawking.  One of our dogs got out and was racing around our deck barking her head off (fortunately, she never got close to the bear).  We all watched the bear watch us from the tree for the next 15 minutes.  It kept snorting and huffing – I assume to warn us to stay away – although we didn’t need much encouragement.  I kept my eyes on him while I made a few short dashes out to collect our bird feeders and sweep away the remains of the bird seed that he had started eating.

Finally, he climbed down the tree and ambled away.

We have lived in the foothills of Conifer and Evergreen for fifteen years and have seen several bears and even a mountain lion.  We just returned from a trip to Alaska where we saw lots of black bears and brown bears eating salmon, but this one was a little close to home.  I haven’t started looking for a realtor yet, but you never know.

Yesterday, Diane and I hiked to the top of the hill at Meyer Ranch Park Open Space in Aspen Park.  There are about four miles of trails to the top.  We went late in the afternoon after the rainstorm.  It was beautiful – and quiet.  We didn’t meet a single soul on the trail.  I think we may start hiking more in the late afternoons after a heavy rain.

Near the top there is an overlook with a bench that looks out over Aspen Park.  We both noted how much Aspen Park has grown since we first moved to the foothills over fifteen years ago.  In addition to Conifer High School, we saw the huge King Soopers complex, the rebuilt complex that used to house the drug store and City Market.  There are many other new buildings along the frontage road as well.  Not in view, but also there, is the new Conifer Safeway shopping center.

It is still beautiful though with great views of rock outcroppings and mountains easily visible from almost every vantage point.