This is what you get for going off trail.

Spray Park.  At the end of this trail is a meadow and at the end of the meadow is a very large black bear. 

Mowich Lake, which is where you go to after you see a large black bear.

A lovely lunch spot.  

Yesterday CF and I decided to go hiking.  We debated where to go but decided that we should go to Mt. Rainier National Park because it is bear season and we don't want to be one of those lucky hikers who are mistaken for a bear, shot, and put over someone's mantel.  We decided on Spray Park because it has an amazing meadow with lots of wildflowers when the season is right and, as was the case, lots of fall color when the season is fall.  We hiked the three miles to Spray Park, hiked on a side trail, hiked slightly off that trail so we could see the pretty meadow (you aren't supposed to hike off trail, it's bad for the vegetation and you might get lost which would result in an embarrassing rescue and probably a feature on the local television media), and saw a large black bear at the end of the meadow.  Here is a verbatim transcript of this scene:

Me:  "It's so beautiful up here."
CF: "It really is."
Me, noticing the black bear: "Uh, okay, straight ahead."
CF:  "Okay, we have to go."
Me: "Yes, let's go."

For the record, I turned around and walked away as if Freddy, Jason, and Chucky were after me.  Some people like seeing large predators in the woods.  Those people aren't me.  I kept saying, to justify my cowardice, "To be fair, it was a really large bear." (This is also my behavior with spiders.)

At any rate, we had a lovely hike on a warm fall day.  We ate lunch and admired the mountain and then hiked around Mowich Lake a bit because it seemed like 6 miles just wasn't enough.  More pictures here, but there are no pictures of the bear.  Cowards live to fight another day.