What lay before me were the tranquil waters of Starlight Pond, in my hand, a fishing pole, behind me...I did not know, for my hood was on my head, as I concentrated on that ever undulating bobber that teased the fish soon to be my supper.

A salamander crawled out of the cold taciturn waters; and I went back to the car to get my camera. Never having actually seen a salamander in the wild before, I thought what a great opportunity to capture this event.

Having taken this place before on mornings quite similar, I had grown accustomed to the neighbor's dogs coming into the water at the corner of the pond.

Today...it was not the neighbor's dog. As I turned to my right to shoo away the offending creature that had come up beside me, daring to interrupt the communion between the fish and I, I noticed that it was not the dog at all, but a BEAR!

Lumbering into the water this beast went as I sat there stunned and silent. Afraid to move, I sat as still as a rock in a hooded sweatshirt could sit. It appeared to be a young bear, cinnamon brown in color, and not very large, though large enough to take me down in a second. As I sat watching this magnificent creature hoping my bobber would remain still, and for what seemed like a great deal of time, I remembered the camera sitting next to me. Focusing, I snapped a couple of photos of the bear in the water. The sound of the shutter firing alerted the creature to my presence, he looked up at me in surprise and grunted, what must have seemed to be a rock on the bank was now alive and taking pictures of him!

"Oh No," I thought, or possibly said out loud, "He's looking at me now."

Immediately the animal swam to the shore and bolted in the opposite direction from which I sat. As "Boo Boo" retreated and relief set in, I heard a feint sound to my left... turning to see a great wall of black fur bound past me, I nearly fell over and into the now disturbed waters of this calm place I had come to call my fishing hole.

As I came to my senses, I discerned the large mass that belonged to the mother bear, which I'm guessing also mistook me for a rock in a hooded sweatshirt. As she bounded around the edge of the pond for a "look see" I...stunned once again -- and wondering if they had a plan to tag team me, regained my composure and went for the camera, first glancing behind me to make sure there were going to be no more surprises, and figuring my distance to the car, vs. the distance of the bear in case I needed a quick getaway. Clicking away at the beast, which was at present higher on the food chain than I, I took photo after photo, the bear not so patiently watching me from the other side of the pond, grunting and moaning that I was disrupting her morning swim.

Eventually she got bored waiting on me and went up the trail to forage another area of the forest.

Four fish later this morning, the owner of the house behind my fishing spot drove up. He asked if I liked the "visitors" I had earlier, and I told him I still was not sure, for they were beautiful animals, but I wasnt aware if they had eaten yet.

After a few minutes of conversation I found out that he had been watching these wooly beasts for quite some time from the safety of his deck as they passed by me. I thought, "Great, thanks for the warning Marlin!"