That's right. Bears.
Signs were every where about the bears (about not feeding the bears, not approaching the bears, etc.) Plus, people we spoke to saw bears throughout both mornings -- and on our first morning there one gentleman said he saw 21 bears.
Alas, we saw no bears.
And then a funny thing happened. We came home from our trip to the beach, and on our first morning back, we went for a walk near our home -- and what to our wondering eyes should appear? A large black bear plodding through the woods. I was able to zoom in with my cell phone camera to get a couple of shots of the bear -- just as he lumbered down "a little road -- not made of man." Then he disappeared into the woods.
As the bear forged his own path into the woods, I thought of Emily Dickinson's poem "A little road -- not made of man" (at the right). Two words in the poem might be unfamiliar to you, but they were probably well known in the 19th century: THILL: a shaft, especially one of a pair, used to attach a cart or carriage to the animal drawing it. CURRICLE: a light, open, two-wheeled carriage pulled by two horses side by side. | By Emily Dickinson: A little road – not made of man – Enabled of the eye – Accessible to Thill of Bee – Or Cart of Butterfly – If town it have – beyond itself – ‘Tis that – I cannot say – I only know – no Curricle that rumble there – Bear me |
Below: As we drove through the park on our second visit, two owls caught our eye.
Below, On our first visit in the early afternoon we saw many turtles. On our second visit -- at about 8:00 a.m. -- we saw none.
Below: The quiet and solitude of the Sandy Ridge Wildlife Trail was sanative.
Below left and right: Miscellaneous shots from the Alligator River National Refuge. NOTE: Slide shows don't always work with an android device -- so the pics below are best viewed on a laptop, an iPhone or an iPad.
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