It was late September and you found yourself in your car, rumbling along the highway, thousands of miles from home. You had never set up a tent before, but you had one with you. You had never gone to a campground before, but you had a reservation. You hadn’t really shot much nature photography before, but you had your new introductory Nikon D40 camera. The year is 2007.
Now you are a week into the process, becoming more comfortable by the hour. Sleeping in a tent with bears prowling in the vicinity seems to make it easier for you to wake up on time without an alarm. It is still dark outside as you watch your breath cloud the air with the help of the moon. The zip of the tent has become a familiar and comforting sound. You love the feeling of opening up to the world outside.
The air of Yellowstone National Park is still and all is quiet. You turn the metal key and the engine springs to life. It reminds you of a noir film, your car floating along through the fog as silently as possible. As if you are looking for a suspect, but the suspect is long gone into the woods.
You drive by looking, and finally locate that which you seek—a burned out clearing with a small body of water. Fog is hanging over the scene and the light will be coming. You sit and wait. Now is the time to take in the quiet, the clean air and relax. Sometimes you can hear a distant motor in the background or see some distant headlights climb over a hill.
You open the trunk of the car, reaching for the ziplock bag of granola bars. Some granola bars and crumbs slip out the bottom of the ziplock bag as you hold it up. You look further to find the plastic bag has been perforated numerous times. It doesn’t take you more than an instant to realize who made the holes. Maybe one of the furry hitchhikers is still along for the ride
Next time you will be wiser. At the very least, it is usually better to learn these lessons from a chipmunk rather than a bear. This is the wonder of traveling.
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