Wildlife Run

Monday's plan was 20 miles. It ended up being 14, which isn't really a bad thing. Those 14 were tough, with 3461' of elevation gain, and not a lot of down (point to point run). Plus I had already been at the gym for an hour. I had about half the tailwind (three scoops[300cals]) that I usually have, and ended up completely draining my pack (two litres). We definitely didn't account for it being so warm out.

One of only two downhills

We wasted a lot of time having a mini picnic (individual sachets of the most delicious almond butter ever), and taking pictures:

Then we set off down the trail to drop into the valley behind the hill. The trail then winds beneath the redwoods, following the creek. Beautiful scenery and easy running. We had to go through a gate, and were busy looking around us and down the creek, taking in our surroundings. We set off at an easy run, but only made it a few yards before T stopped.

"There's a cow up there." 
 I stop, and look where she's pointing down the trail. Look again to be sure before saying anything.
"That's not a cow."
"There's a lot of them."
"Yeah, I see two. They're not cows. Get your camera"
T starts backing away.
"Well then give me the damn camera."
The pictures are blurry, and as zoomed as her phone would go, but the best I could get without disturbing Mama Bear and her cub.

Dark splodge on left of the bear is bear cub :)

We're so lucky to be able to see wildlife like this. They didn't notice us for a few minutes, but as soon as Mama Bear looked right at us we started making our way backwards and back through the gate. If there had been just one bear, we might have tried to shoo it away and continue our planned trail. Considering the only time coming across black bears here is likely to be dangerous is making a mama bear feel threatened, we chose to turn back around and head the way we came. We didn't have enough water or snacks to make it back to my truck, so we called for a ride, and made our way to the highway to get picked up. On the way we also got to see a beautiful owl (at 1:30 in the afternoon?). No pictures of him, but he was magnificent, and hoo-hoo'ed at us. So maybe short on mileage, but definitely a fabulous run!