June 24th

As I left Gil in Stratton he started across Flagstaff Lake. He could see something breaking water up ahead and thought it might be a beaver or such. As he got closer he could see that it was bigger than a beaver and thought it might be a moose head that he was looking at. He got within 10 feet and got the surprise of his life. It was a huge black bear just cruising along. It had not spotted him until he called, Thomas, it's a bear . The bear came out of the water with his front paws and turned his head to look at Gil, at which point he really took off and swam toward the shore. Unfortunately, Gils camera which I had just given him, was under the sprayskirt and he couldn't get it in time to get a picture. Gil has met a lot of wonderful people as he's stopped here and there, but the bear was something he didn't expect to see so close up.