This weekend I crossed an item off my bucket list and hiked the Juan De Fuca Trail solo.   That's right, all by myself!   It wasn't so much that I wanted to hike that trail, but that I wanted to face my fear of being in the woods, finally, after 38 years.   I figured that it was time.   Also, the Juan De Fuca Trail is sufficiently saturated with bears, wolves and cougars, so definitely scary enough to tackle by my lonesome!

As it turns out, it was really easy.   Initially, I was looking over my shoulder every time I heard a strange noise, but after a few hours, I got used to it.   It was cathartic in the end, because after some time of just listening to my footsteps and letting my mind run away with itself, suddenly I realized that all that I had was silence.  Silence in the woods and silence with my thoughts.   I suppose that it was a meditative state!   Either way, I enjoyed it!

Night time, now that was the next challenge.    I have to admit that I brought my can of bear spray into my sleeping bag with me, but before I knew it, the exertion and the fresh air had me out like a light.

The next thing that I knew, it was morning.

 The Bear!   When I saw it I was pretty surprised, and initially I thought, "where is my camera?"  Quickly though that thought changed to "where is my bear spray?" and I was backing away trying to remember, "is it play dead, or climb a tree?"   Seemingly though, the bear was more intent on flipping rocks over and eating crabs than chasing down and devouring me.

Anyway, here are a couple of pictures, the first is my campsite on Sombrio Beach and the second is the Olympic Peninsula and the fantastic Strait of Juan de Fuca.

Next up, fear of sharks?.