Friends and Weird Stuff

My friend Les, and his new bride, Rita, will be at our house tonight. They are from Salmon Arm, BC. I met Les at a College and Career Group in Salmon Arm when I was 19 years old. I haven't seen Les in about 10 years, but what happened to me today could not have happened without Les having something to do with it. I am not saying that Les did this, because that would be impossible, all I am saying is because Les is coming, I shouldn't have been surprised that this happened today.

Before I tell you what happened to me today, I need to give you a history of Les and myself.

Les and I are avid outdoors men. We are not hunters, but we love being out in the woods, or at the river and also hiking mountains together. My first summer back from Briercrest Bible College, Les and I went hiking Mount Rose Swanson outside of Armstrong, BC. This was a small hike, we could be up and down in about 4 hours. At that time I had a girlfriend back in Saskatchewan named Judy who I went to Bible College with. The purpose of this hike was to get to the top of the mountain and take a photo of the town of Armstrong for Judy.

We just started our hike when I saw a fresh pile of bear dung. I told Les to hold up, because I wanted to take this photo of fresh bear dung for my girlfriend back in Saskatchewan. I know - I'm a hopeless romantic that knows how to get the women, but somehow Les talked me out of taking a picture of bear dung that was hot off the press.

As we continued our hike, we got about three quarters of the way up the mountain when I heard a flock of partridge flying out of some trees. We must have spooked them somehow. I turned around to see Les running like a madman down the mountain. I yelled to him, "Where are you going? They were just partridge!" He yelled back, "IT'S A BEAR!!" I looked up and saw that Les was speaking the truth. What I thought was partridge was actually a bear ripping a tree out of the ground so it could get some good insects. I wasn't about to ask the bear to step out of the way because I realized that my life was in danger and all I really had to do was run faster than Les.

There was this other time that all of us as a college and career group decided to go tubing down the river. This was in August when our rivers in Canada have some sort of warmth to them. Les and I had a blast power swimming with the current, relaxing on tubes and having the time of our lives. Well, we got to the pick up point of the river where the other vehicles were waiting to pick us up and I saw this a little too late. Les got out in time, but I was having to really power swim up current, and I wasn't making good progress, the current started to pull me down. Just then a stronger swimmer from our group rescued me.

Today, I was doing some final surveying for our block party on Saturday, but before I went to the park, I thought it would be good to go and get a nice cold Ice Cap from Tim Horton's. As I was sipping my wonderful drink of decadence, I was walking the paved hiking path from Maple Avenue to Strathcona Island Park. I was on the path behind the Arena when I heard the scariest sound I have ever heard, and that was the shake of a rattle on a coiled up rattle snake.

I don't know what it is with Les and I and near death experiences, but it will be good to see my friend again. Bears and Rivers and Snakes, Oh My!