A Group of Three...

It is not unusual to see groups of threes.  In literature for example, we have the story of the "Three Little Pigs".  We also see three as having importance in landscaping, as an odd number of the same plant seemingly goes better together than an even number such as two or four.  In this case, a group of three plants can work better in a typical yard over a group of five or seven.  But, three is not uncommon in nature.

As the last of the sun leaves its red trail over the water,
a group of three make its way across Day lake

This past Friday, my spouse and I were camping at Day Lake in the Chequamegon portion of the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, just outside Clam Lake, WI.  For many years our family camped in the Nicolet portion, and always found some event of which to relate a story.  Once it was seeing the eagle nest near Gordon Lake, or, it was raccoon's crossing our campsite at Point Beach, or it was when one of our children fell down a water fall in Marinette County causing my wife's heart to skip a beat or two, or giver her a gray hair.  But, it was also paddling by loons at one of  our favorite campgrounds.  At that favorite campground it was not be uncommon to see three loons, a mother and two young loons, swimming on the lake,  That campground had a number of sites with good views of the lake, and we became familiar with the call of the loon, whether it be late at night, early in the morning, or even midday.  It brought back memories when, while camping part of the past week, we heard the call of the loon.  Unfortunately, weather conditions of rain and cold kept us from the beach for good parts of the first two days.  On Thursday, in the evening, the conditions finally turned, the rain stopped that is, but not the cold.   Following one of my wife's delicious meals (even if it was planned left-overs from the previous day), we found ourselves walking down to the lake, and to take in the sun which had been pretty much absent until that evening.  At the lake, we could see, in the distance toward the opposite shore a loon, although perhaps the highlight of the evening was watching an eagle fly over the lake.

They are moving closer to the east shore

Having enjoyed such a nice experience on Thursday, we made our way to the lake Friday night, a little later in the evening than the day before.  We went to watch the sun set, but nonetheless with a hope of seeing some of the loons we had been hearing from our campsite.  It was during this time, that my spouse noticed three figures near the opposite shore, one a little larger than the other two. Our minds jumped to the conclusion that they were loons and we were wishing they would gradually make their way closer to the east shore, on which we were located.m  Our thoughts of loons were only strengthened when we say another loon land nearby, although it left rather quickly after making some odd sounds.   My wife followed the movement of the three figures in the water and she noted that they were gradually making their way east to our shore, and not all that far from our present location.  To get a better view, I grabbed the camera and waded into the water in hopes for a memorable photo opportunity and a Kodak moment, but one hopefully less disconcerting to my wife than a child falling down the eighteen foot high water fall  She then noted how close the three figures were to a floating bog located a couple hundred feet off the edge of the far beach buoy. At this point the group of three was hidden by the bog, and I could not locate them.  Shortly thereafter, all of a sudden a large figure quickly poked above the water, using I am sure a below water edge of the bog to lift itself up.  It was much too large to be a loon, and I commented that the it is the size of a big dog, but the animal was back in the water so quick that I could not determine what it actually was.  I began to wade closer to the group of three.  On our journey to the campground we came across a site we have not really seen before in Wisconsin, and that was a caution sign reading "Elk Crossing."  My wife's thought, building off of that sign, was perhaps it was an elk.  As the group moved closer to the east shore, The head popped up again, and I quickly said--"it's a bear!" Of course it was not just one bear, but three.

That is no group of loons

I was so struck by the coincidence of having seen three bears, a mom bear and her two children, that I had to watch with my eyes and not through a camera lens.  But, I was able to capture a few photos.  This was the first time I have seen bears up rather close.  (My prior time was seeing one cross the street while traveling down Highway 17 east of Merrill.)  This was no zoo, and the three figures quickly popped out of the water and made their way into the brush and trees of the shore.  I then made my way back to shore.  After a short discussion about the event and showing my wife the photos, a group of three appeared and asked if we had seen the bear.  They noted it apparently crossed near their site, but they did not see the bears.  Ever the practical one my wife suggested we should get to the campsite to make sure our food will not attract the bear.  After all, the food is much better for my stomach than the little sustenance it could give three bears.  While making our way back to the campsite, we could hear what sounded like animals climbing a tree, but the thickness of the vegetation prevented us from seeing if it was the bears, or our minds placing a sound unrelated to the event that was occurring.

Mom Bear looks back to check on her cubs

When my wife camped as a young girl with her family, they would go and watch bears at dump sites.  Dump sites are attractive to bears.  However, there is something different with seeing three bears swim across a lake and hop up on land.  It forms a nice memory to have seen Mom Bear leading her two cubs, let us call them Andrew and Joe, across Day Lake.  In the end they did not reach our campsite, and we placed our food in the car overnight. Life always seems to throw something to us, we just have to be prepared to be on watch.  Not that loons are not impressive, but we received that evening an event we are much less likely to see again.  It is now a our version of the story of the three bears.

Hopping on shore.  Note the other camper on a dock beyond the bears.
The photos were taken on the opposite side of the bed of aquatic plants,
which we estimated to be perhaps 100 to 150' from the bears

 Photos by the author, Friday, August 21, 2015