Be not afraid..?

Bear viewed safely from car, across a river with a zoom lens.

Thanksgiving weekend found me fleeing rain in Vancouver and heading back to the Okanagan to spend the holiday with my parents.  Great way to escape the rain for days on end, typical on the coast - in Oliver we just had a cloudburst of hard fat drops that was over briefly.  I was geocaching alone in a wilderness preservation area that edged the US border.  Despite being protected by law and blocked from town mostly by a ridge, I saw and heard no animals here.  Perhaps they were just laying low for the impending rain.
One geocache lead me to a cave perched atop a steep slope of wobbly rocks, and I psyched myself out with thoughts of bears and rattlesnakes.  Save for two ATVs that came and went, there was no one around for miles and only a few would know vaguely where I was if I ran into trouble, and I had no bear spray or gun.  I edged closer to the mouth of the cave where my GPS suggested - even if the cache was inside, I'm not going in there! Then the rain began - I don't care, I'm not going in there! I fussed outside along the slope awkwardly, listening for any sound that I didn't make, poking into holes (is that one lined with fur?? At this point I'd be terrified of a grumpy marmot).  The light and clouds shifted and illuminated further into the cave... which was no deeper than a few feet.  No dark recesses harbouring bears.  No holes for snakes.  Barely big enough for a closet.
With that pivotal information I then examined the area and quickly found the cache.  Having found what I had sought and having other places to be, I felt no need to linger there.
What I felt was not a familiar feeling; I recognized it as the come-down off of fear.  I am not afraid often, or if so it's more like a dull nagging concern, to be noted and weighed carefully.  I am not an adrenaline junkie or even particularly sporty thrill-seeker, I am not extreme (save for perhaps culinary experiences?).  So this made me think on the nature of fear; chiding myself for wasting time being afraid, and yet this wasn't an irrational fear, as there are still bears in the area, close to town fattening up on fruit while they can and I could've possibly encountered one.  My dad says this caution has kept me alive so far.  Perhaps it's better to feel fear than nothing at all - afterwards I noticed the awesome smell of the desert sage and antelope bush more sharply, the breeze on the ridge like a hug from the sky, and it's easy to smile.
For my next trick, stay tuned as I visit Churchill, Manitoba next year, on a quest to find polar bears! Those are much scarier, as they're fearless and will stalk you for miles if they're so inclined.

The next day had a great cycle trip along the river promenade - also saw no bears or snakes.  Easy trail, flat and either paved or well gravelled, with lightly dappled shade trees.  This is my kind of path.  We could see along the hills where the summer's brush fires had been, though the trees were remarkably resilient.  Part of the route back had us on a path that disintegrated at some point, and we let ourselves through into a horse paddock.  Two horses watched us intently and leaned in for hugs.  I ought to hang out with horses more often.

Pre-Thanksgiving peace at Gibsons.

We sailed to Gibsons, which I've discussed before here, for a small pre-Thanksgiving gathering.  Much of what we come for stays the same, though city has granted the proposal for developing a large housing/commercial/conference center along the waterfront, and residents are now moving to court action to protest it.  As a visitor there's only so much I can contribute into this, other than to advise all readers to visit the town before it changes too much (though they wouldn't dare ruin Molly's Reach).  We had dinner at our traditional spot, the Waterfront Restaurant where Art knows our group and is very good to us, then the famous Molly's Reach for breakfast.  We also tried a new café uptown and a Greek restaurant, both of which we were pleased with and would gladly revisit again.  We found a park of networking paths that joined the old waterfront to the 'new' town without the dusty main highway and gruelling slope, so had an afternoon walk in the woods.  I remind myself that I should do this more often.
The trip over forecasted a strong wind so we took the cautious inner passage around Bowen Island, and found it dead calm there.  The sky was a flat grey that blended into the hill islands of Howe Sound like a watercolor painting.  No waves, just water like a lake, broken by a silent seal head cutting through.  The return trip gave us a fine breeze all the way from one marina to another, we only needed engine to dock.