Three Bears Part 2

Three Bears, Part 2 from Chris Wemmer on Vimeo.

I checked the camera only 9 hours after the bears had decamped, and the place looked different. The vegetation was trampled, the boulder was missing most of its moss, and there was bear dung.

I never expected bears to camp in front of a trail camera, but every now and then your camera is in the right place at the right time and the animals tell you things you didn't know.

Three Bears

This video is about a family of bears that turned up on my trail cameras early last summer.

I live about 8 miles above Paradise, literally and figuratively.

The communities of Paradise, Magalia, and Stirling City emerged in the slash and stump lands left by the Diamand Match Company in the mid-1900s,  but the forests came back.

It's a great part of the state if you want to be close to nature.  But Paradise can turn into hell when there's wildfire, as happened this year.

Camera trapping this family of bears gave me great pleasure, and I dedicate this video to the memory of a fellow codger and batch mate, teacher and school principal. Dave Schumaker (1940-2018) was a big man with a big voice, a big heart, and a big sense of humor. He also told great stories. He will be remembered for nurturing an interest in the natural world in thousands of students and practically everyone else he met.