The other day....I met a...

To see more Camera Critters this Sunday visit Misty Dawn.

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Do you like to sing?

Have you ever sung around the campfire?

I really like to sing around the campfire

and I even let my husband sing then.

There are a few great camp songs,

and one of my favorites goes like this:

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The other day,

I met a bear,

A great big bear,

Oh way out there.

Well, he wasn't a great big bear. In fact he was kind of a small bear.

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He looked at me,

I looked at him,

He sized up me,

I sized up him.

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He said to me,

"Why don't you run?

I see you ain't,

Got any gun."

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Well, guns aren't permitted in the national park, silly.

You should know that, Bear.

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And so I ran,

Away from there,

But right behind me

Came that bear.

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Running is not the best plan if you see a bear.

Stay calm. Make some noise. And back away.

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as soon as you get your picture!

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This is the first bear we personally have seen at Mt. Rainier National Park since 1974, when we saw one grazing in the Paradise Picnic Area. We have come so close in the last few years when we have been spending many days there as volunteers. Once it was a matter of being there a day too late, another time of working for some time on a project in an area and moving on an hour too early, and another time it was choosing one trail back to headquarters instead of another.

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The bears at Mt. Rainier are Black Bears. Well, from a look at my bear that may be obvious. But Black Bear is the species rather than the color. Black Bears range in color from cinnamon brown to black. The one we saw years ago was light brown. Black Bears are quite a bit smaller than Grizzlies or the Kodiak Bears of Alaska.

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Here is the rest of the song,

which repeats each line as an echo,

then repeats the verse.

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Ahead of me,

There was a tree,

A great big tree,

Oh glory be!

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The lowest branch,

Was ten feet up,

So I thought I'd jump,

And trust my luck.

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And so I jumped,

Into the air,

But I missed that branch,

A way up there.

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Now don't you fret,

And don't you frown,

I Caught that branch,

On the way back down!

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That's all there is,

There aint no more,

Unless I see,

That bear once more.

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Some versions of the song have the bear "in tennis shoes--a brand new pair."