Click to enlarge.

What a way to start the day. One morning about 10 days ago, I got up to find a rather large bear rummaging through the garbage can. We heard several years ago from neighbors that there is a bear on the loose, but after being here over five years and seeing nothing, we didn’t think we would have the pleasure. Two weeks prior I did see bear tracks in the road when I was out running, but figured the chances of actually crossing paths with one was slim to none. Wrong.

Click to enlarge.

Funny thing was, I must have walked right past him earlier in the morning. I had to run out to the garage for a plunger (don’t ask), and I noticed that the trash can was topsy-turvy, but I didn’t right it because I was in my PJs and cold.

The pictures are of poor quality since they were shot through the kitchen window. Looks like a black bear to me, around 250 – 300 pounds.

I am not sure if the grill or the trash can attracted him to us, but he certainly looked like he knew what he was doing.

Yea, the grill got run over; that is why it is bent. The bear had nothing to do with that.

And, that is a 65 gallon garbage can, one of the largest residential cans our garbage company has.