Monday: Lair o' the Bear [part 2]

[mistressofmuses]

A bit belated in the week (and late in the evening), but here are the promised "part 2" pictures from our walk on Monday.

There's a small tunnel that's accessible off one of the trails at Lair o' the Bear, but every other time we've visited it, there's been quite a bit of water. Sometimes standing water, sometimes a drainage stream, but always more than I want to soak my shoes with.


This time there was no water!

As anticipated, there's a lot of graffiti in the tunnel, ranging from crude dicks to some pretty rad art.


My favorite.


This one is for you, scarlipswolfwife. :)




The other most impressive one.

There were some more elaborate tags:


Presumably the artist of the DBZ-inspired one above.


Another.

Others were less elaborate, but still pretty cool.


I like the line-drawn faces.


I would have put a comma in there, but maybe it's better as a directive, ha.


More faces. (And "bless the person who died here". Did someone die here? WHO KNOWS.)


Neat sort of tentacle-y thing.


And a nice mandala/flower design.

It was neat to get to see stuff we previously haven't been able to access. The sound quality inside the tunnel was pretty cool, too. Fairly strong echo, but very interesting acoustics, for sure.

Comments

[adore]

I like the entrance to the tunnel. Especially the plants hanging down over it as if it's a balcony they're peering over.

Love the glasses-and-cigarette and DragonballZ-esque art.

I would have put a comma in there, but maybe it's better as a directive, ha.

It's even funnier as a directive :D

[spikedluv]

I'm glad you got to enter the tunnel. That is some pretty cool art.

[scarlipswolfwife]

I absolutely LOVE the tribute to Loki! Perfect place, perfect.

I also love Piss off Karen - comma or no, the sentiment is there and a fantastic life goal to boot.

I also love the smoking face with "Mom and Emma."

What a great photographic find! <3

[olivermoss]

The plants overgrowing that firs mural really ads to it.

[mistressofmuses]

It really does! I love the way it frames the image.

[mistressofmuses]

I'm glad you like it! I hoped you would.

And yes, Piss off Karen is a good sentiment whether there's a comma or not.

The little line-drawn faces were really skilled - I was impressed!

Thank you. <3 It was very cool to get to see.

[mistressofmuses]

Thank you! I figured there would be some graffiti of some kind in there, but I was surprised by the skill of a lot of the pieces. (I mean, I did skip over some crude dicks and a million "so-and-so was here" type drawings, but there was some really cool stuff!)

[mistressofmuses]

The entrance to the tunnel is very neat - it really makes it feel like you're going through a doorway to somewhere else... even though it's just a tunnel.

And yes, those were very impressive murals!

You're right - I think it IS funnier to imagine it's a directive.

[adore]

it really makes it feel like you're going through a doorway to somewhere else... even though it's just a tunnel.

This is an original fiction idea/prompt right here. A tunnel portal. I'm sure there are existing stories with a similar premise but still!

[mistressofmuses]

There is a genre called "portal fantasy", where there's some passageway from the real world into an extraordinary one. This definitely seems like it could have been one of those portals! I wonder if I should be disappointed that I came back to what seems like the same world I left!

[adiligode]

Just catching up on reading entries! Do bears actually live near there? That's the one thing that worries me about hiking in Hokkaido--there are actual bears, so it's best to go in groups and to keep making noise.

I loved the pictures of both the nature and the graffiti. It's fun to find such lovely art in the middle of a natural area. Did the tunnel lead to a part of the park you hadn't been able to get to before?

[mistressofmuses]

Bears do live near here! I haven't ever seen one near this park, though. Last summer we heard an adult and Alex saw a baby bear (I was turned the wrong way and missed seeing it!) - fortunately we didn't get caught in between the mother and cub!
Definitely a reason not to go out hiking alone. We have brown bears here, which aren't as dangerous as grizzlies or some other types - usually they'll leave you alone if you make some noise and don't try to get too close.

And thank you! I loved the chance to see some art hidden away. The tunnel does lead to a small path on the other side, but that isn't part of the park itself. It might be worth trying to hike a bit farther that way to see where the path does go - it could either go into some other forested area, or could dead-end at private property.

[adiligode]

Wow!! I bet the baby bear was adorable, but good thing you weren't between them! I've never actually seen a bear in person, just bear droppings. I think the ones around here aren't particularly aggressive either, but hiking alone isn't a good idea anyway.

[mistressofmuses]

I was so sad I missed the baby bear! A coworker of mine saw a mother and cub a few weeks ago while out on a drive. I was quite jealous.

I've mostly just seen bear droppings or the occasional track. I know people for whom seeing bears is an everyday occurrence (and usually an annoyance, ha), but for me they're a rarity!

Though yes, while they don't tend to actually be dangerous, it's still always a good idea to have someone with you.