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This Sunday, we took puppy on his first hike to the Susan Creek Waterfall. He was so excited the whole car ride. 

At the trail head 

Susan Creek Falls  

 

His first encounter with water... And he's off!
 

On second thought, maybe the water's a bit too cold...
 

 

We hiked up the trail from the falls to the Susan Creek Indian Mounds. 

Neat, huh? Actually, this was a tourist's creation. 

This is the real thing. Its hard to actually see the rocks under all the moss and poison oak. 

View from Indian Mounds. 

Along the trail. 

Napping while we swam in the N Umpqua river. 

He passed out again as soon as we got him into the Jeep.
 

The next 3 photos were taken at the Umpqua River.

And now for some river trivia... Can you find the Caddisflies in this picture? 

How about now? 

This is the Caddisfly. The larvae build a case. This case serves as camouflage, protection and respiration while undergoing metamorphosis underwater. They use stream substrate and a silk they produce to build this case. The adult that emerges is often used in fly-fishing. 

Kathy and Ben Stout, stream ecologists, studied the Caddisfly for years. They decided that their cases would make unique jewelry so they started Wildscape Inc.(www.wildscape.com) They collect the larvae, put them in a "predator-free simulated stream environment", and give them gems and minerals to build their cases. After the Caddisflies leave their cases, the Stouts collect them, polyurethane them, and make them into jewelry. I worked for them for years, making jewelry and working fairs. These are 2 pieces I made, the top is seashell and the bottom is emerald.  

As July 7th was puppy day, July 8th became cub day... After a long cross-country trek from Georgia, 5 new Alaskan Coastal Brown Bears arrived at the Safari. Three males are about a year and 1/2 old. They are living in the huts with the 3 older Brown Bears we have. They will not be able to share the outdoor area until the young bears are thru quarantine and after a long introduction period.
The other 2 cubs are 6 months old, one male and one female. They are living in a separate quarantine area. The male was named Jake by our boss. The rites to name the other bears will be auctioned off to raise money for the Carnivore Department at the Safari's annual fundraiser in August.

Bottle feeding Jake. They get two liters of milk twice a day. We hope to wean them soon. This may look cute, but its very time consuming. 

He's starting to lose interest in the bottle... he's got something else in mind... 

Now he's nooking my arm. This is part of bear bonding, they suck/lick you and make this little contented purring noise. They'd do this in the wild with other bears, litter mates and mom. Its very gentle until you try to take your arm or hand away... then he throws a fit like a spoiled child...
 

Girl cub trying to play with Jake thru the fence.  

First meal- dog food, nuts, melon, strawberries, grapes, and carrots (most days, these bears eat better than me, aside from the dog food of course). 

What a face! 

Play fighting