my no bears song

"No bears!

NO MOOSE!

No mountain lions, or cougars, or mosquitoes,

No anything else i forgot to name"

"You said mountain lion twice," Adam says. i'm singing off key (the only way i know how) as we walk through heavy brush on either side. "huh, oh yeah cougar is mountain lion--i really don't want to see any," i reply. We haven't seen anything other than a few tracks to imply any of the aforementioned critters are around except the unceasing buzzing of the mosquitoes. Nevertheless, i am armed with my trusty bear spray and keep singing my song (much to neah's chagrin as she started woofing at the end of each refrain).

We were somewhere around 3 hours and 1500 feet up, too far into the valley near Chugiak to see the Knik Arm. The rain fell intermittently, not enough to deserve the rainjacket, but too much to not wear it. Neah decided to make herself a little seat to rest her legs on some grass....and give you a chance to check out her pack-pack.

As we crossed into the tundra, around 1800 feet, it became markedly colder, with some lurking snow. My song seems to have worked. Nothing moved, not even birds--well, one tried and Neah barked her displeasure. Second lunch happened on the ground, "in brown bear country" with Neah eyeing Adam's chili until he flicked a morsel towards her and me eyeing the mountain faces for any of the song's animals.
 
In 6 hours, we see four people.
 
Upon reaching the car, the usually energetic Neah curled up on my lap, nestled her head into the curve of my elbow and tried to sleep her way home. It took all her might to get back out of the car. i felt her pain--i have four impressive new blisters. At least i thought they were impressive until Adam starts telling me a story of blisters worse than mine followed by several more days of hiking. Apparently, my blisters are not so impressive afterall. harumph.