So this one will have a little story.

Andreas was a bit bummed out that we didn’t see any bears in Yosemite, but I’ll admit it wasn’t on my bucket list. So today we were walking the Van Sickle Trail here in Lake Tahoe, which isn’t a difficult hike but it’s about a 15 km round trip.

We’d packed a sandwich to eat when we reach the top after 7 km, before going back down again. We get there and look around for a place to sit down to eat. That’s when I spot the bear walking about 15 meters from us. Even knowing that bears don’t really attack humans, seeing one so close was a bit scary and we decided to eat lunch at the bottom instead, so we started rapidly walking back the way we came. The bear had the same idea it seemed for a bit, but we got some distance to it. Sadly we didn’t really dare take a picture before we were a bit further away, and it’s not a great one but you get it anyway. Now play spot the bear. I’ll say it looked much bigger up close.

The hike down went really fast even with looking over our shoulders.

Once down it was a great experience, and it’s nice to have seen a bear in the wild and I hope I never see it again. The hike itself was nice and offer a few good views of the lake.

Tomorrow is off to Mammoth Lakes where there are also trails where one might encounter bears.