Mason and Scott went on their first Father and Sons campout last weekend. Mason was so excited for his first real camping trip in the mountains and it seems to have lived up to his expectations. Like any five year old boy he loved throwing rocks in the river, roasting marshmallows on the fire, burning sticks in the fire, and running around with his latern. But all of that was topped when the owners of the campground came around and informed everyone that a bear had come down through the campground the past few nights. Mason listened to everything "the two hikers" (the campground owners) said about the 6 bears that live up that Canyon. They said a black bear had been coming down to some bee hives that were kept a little further south on the property. From that point on Mason talked about nothing other than the bear, and from what Scott tells me he had a lot to ask and say about it. As a sidenote, Scott's biggest...and I mean biggest phobia is Bears. He probably should have thought twice about going to a place called Bear Canyon. Being the amazing dad he is, he fought his inner desire to pack up and leave, or at least sleep in the car, and spent the night in the tent with Mason. Mason couldn't sleep because he was so excited about the bear and Scott couldn't sleep because he was running through scenarios of being attacked in his head. They made it through the night without any bear encounters. The next morning they were told the bear had come down, but stayed about 100 yards south of the campground. Mason has since been enthralled with American Black Bears (he informs me that is the kind of bear it was). Unfortunately the camera was left home and no pictures were taken, but I know Mason's memories of this great adventure will last a long time.
