You are not alone

There probably should have been signs announcing that last time we went out mushrooming-picking. While we didn't encounter any little green creatures, there was plenty of evidence of large brown ones.

Besides piles of scat on the trail, the forest held several reminders that bears were about. We knew it was the season when they'd be fattening up for hibernation. And if we'd forgotten, we would have been reminded by the many salmon battling their way up the shallow streams. Still, despite making plenty of noise while foraging, I came close to stepping on someone's dinner-interruptus -- a partially eaten salmon much too far from the river to have leapt there.
I was glad to be wearing both a bell and a whistle, and much to the disgust of the bears I am sure, I did a lot of singing.

Over the course of the day, we saw some beautiful sights and made a good haul of edible shrooms, most of which are now dried and stored in jars for the winter. Still, I'm darn glad we didn't have to tussle with any of the neighbours.