04-18-2011, 09:50 AM
The Bear Story
By midday Saturday, I had become the group guide. Get on this bus. Get off at this stop. Go to the right. No. Go to the left. Good times.
So, the group was following my lead when we were en route to our various training spots. As a matter of fact, I had suggested Mirror Lake as our afternoon spot for beauty, rocks, water and Qi intake.
We had crowded into the shuttle bus to take us from Camp Curry to Mirror Lake. Our driver was one of the happier sorts who would explain what was going on around us and seemed to be enjoying himself. The bus had just left housekeeping camp on the way to Happy Isles, when our driver slowed the bus down. "If you look to the right, you can just see a bear" the driver said as he stopped the bus.
Everybody on the bus starts to ooh and aw, myself included. I don't think I've ever spotted a bear in Yosemite.
The driver then opens the door. "If you have a camera, you might want to get off", the driver said. I didn't realize it was Lucy in disguise driving the bus.
"You better let Greg out" I said as I pushed my to the door. About a hundred feet from the road, the big brown bear was moving through the trees.
As a rule of thumb, the cameras are always on with no lens caps. I started video taping the bear. It was kind of hard to get good shots as the bear moved through the forest. A group of Asian kids also started shouting to get the bears attention. One boy even started running to get closer to the bear. I shouted at him not to be an idiot. He stopped. Who purposely wants to draw a bears attention.
I switched to the still camera. Happy Snap. Happy Snap.
Another woman asked if we wanted to a bear maul a woman. What is wrong with people in Yosemite?
While I was in the bears thrall. I heard the doors of the bus close behind me. Then it drove off. It drove off with the Qigong class. Ooops.I guess I thought he was going to give us time to take pictures and then proceed.Buses run on schedules not dictated by idiot photographers and wildlife. I figured I'd catch up to the Group at the Lake. But come on. I was taking pictures of a wild bear
The bear had enough of our nonsense and headed deeper into the forest. It was probably time to catch up with the group. I had terrible visions of them heading off to points unknown and ruining the seminar.
As I turned to walk up the road, I noticed one of the Qigong group members was standing by the road, an older Asian woman. Not derelict, but not young. She saw me get off the bus and as good group member followed the tour leader.
We started our brisk walk to Mirror Lake. It was two more stops down the road. Probably a half a mile. I took pictures along the way of places the Queen and I had photographed last month when everything was locked under snow. I didn't stop as often as I wanted because I had to get this woman back to her group. Our group.
No one was waiting for us fifteen minutes later when we got to the Mirror Lake bus stop. No problem. I'm sure they were just up ahead. How far could the group have traveled without having to stop and clutch some rocks?
My Asian friend and I had walked pretty fast to this point. My older Asian friend. I kept looking at her to make sure we weren't going too fast. As we started she was fine. Swinging her arms to get a rhythm. But as we made the turn onto the Mirror Lake path, she seemed to flag. She wanted to call the group and find out where they were. She was up to asking for someone's phone since neither of us had one.
She also pointed out that the reason she did Qigong was for heart. Her heart that was probably under strain from the last quick twenty minute walk.
Half way to the lake, we found the group seated by the river. I think I was about a minute from full panic, but it all turned out fine in the end.
Except for one little mishap.
I was taking pictures of Camp Curry before I took pictures of the bear out in the bright sunlight. I had the camera on manual. I was complete master of the camera and it's controls.
The bear was not in bright sunlight. The settings were not optimum for shots in the shade. In my haste to capture the bear, I did not pause and reset the camera. Yes, I was the complete master. Also, the complete idiot. The pictures are a lovely shade of black complete with lack of details.
Sigh
More to come.
By midday Saturday, I had become the group guide. Get on this bus. Get off at this stop. Go to the right. No. Go to the left. Good times.
So, the group was following my lead when we were en route to our various training spots. As a matter of fact, I had suggested Mirror Lake as our afternoon spot for beauty, rocks, water and Qi intake.
We had crowded into the shuttle bus to take us from Camp Curry to Mirror Lake. Our driver was one of the happier sorts who would explain what was going on around us and seemed to be enjoying himself. The bus had just left housekeeping camp on the way to Happy Isles, when our driver slowed the bus down. "If you look to the right, you can just see a bear" the driver said as he stopped the bus.
Everybody on the bus starts to ooh and aw, myself included. I don't think I've ever spotted a bear in Yosemite.
The driver then opens the door. "If you have a camera, you might want to get off", the driver said. I didn't realize it was Lucy in disguise driving the bus.
"You better let Greg out" I said as I pushed my to the door. About a hundred feet from the road, the big brown bear was moving through the trees.
As a rule of thumb, the cameras are always on with no lens caps. I started video taping the bear. It was kind of hard to get good shots as the bear moved through the forest. A group of Asian kids also started shouting to get the bears attention. One boy even started running to get closer to the bear. I shouted at him not to be an idiot. He stopped. Who purposely wants to draw a bears attention.
I switched to the still camera. Happy Snap. Happy Snap.
Another woman asked if we wanted to a bear maul a woman. What is wrong with people in Yosemite?
While I was in the bears thrall. I heard the doors of the bus close behind me. Then it drove off. It drove off with the Qigong class. Ooops.I guess I thought he was going to give us time to take pictures and then proceed.Buses run on schedules not dictated by idiot photographers and wildlife. I figured I'd catch up to the Group at the Lake. But come on. I was taking pictures of a wild bear
The bear had enough of our nonsense and headed deeper into the forest. It was probably time to catch up with the group. I had terrible visions of them heading off to points unknown and ruining the seminar.
As I turned to walk up the road, I noticed one of the Qigong group members was standing by the road, an older Asian woman. Not derelict, but not young. She saw me get off the bus and as good group member followed the tour leader.
We started our brisk walk to Mirror Lake. It was two more stops down the road. Probably a half a mile. I took pictures along the way of places the Queen and I had photographed last month when everything was locked under snow. I didn't stop as often as I wanted because I had to get this woman back to her group. Our group.
No one was waiting for us fifteen minutes later when we got to the Mirror Lake bus stop. No problem. I'm sure they were just up ahead. How far could the group have traveled without having to stop and clutch some rocks?
My Asian friend and I had walked pretty fast to this point. My older Asian friend. I kept looking at her to make sure we weren't going too fast. As we started she was fine. Swinging her arms to get a rhythm. But as we made the turn onto the Mirror Lake path, she seemed to flag. She wanted to call the group and find out where they were. She was up to asking for someone's phone since neither of us had one.
She also pointed out that the reason she did Qigong was for heart. Her heart that was probably under strain from the last quick twenty minute walk.
Half way to the lake, we found the group seated by the river. I think I was about a minute from full panic, but it all turned out fine in the end.
Except for one little mishap.
I was taking pictures of Camp Curry before I took pictures of the bear out in the bright sunlight. I had the camera on manual. I was complete master of the camera and it's controls.
The bear was not in bright sunlight. The settings were not optimum for shots in the shade. In my haste to capture the bear, I did not pause and reset the camera. Yes, I was the complete master. Also, the complete idiot. The pictures are a lovely shade of black complete with lack of details.
Sigh
More to come.
So much for the flickr badge idea. Dammit
