All good things have to come to an end (don't they?), so after an excellent night by the shore of Shoshone Lake at site 8R3, I packed up my gear and reluctantly started the 8 mile trip back to the trailhead. With only a short hike to make to reach the car, I had time for a lazy morning in camp, delaying departure as long as possible.

It's funny, but I hadn't been too concerned about bears during the entire trip back to the geyser basin. I'd seen no fresh sign at all, and even though I was still being careful to make plenty of noise while hiking, I suppose that I was growing a bit complacent. For some reason though, as I hiked up to the top of the hill above 8R3 to get back on the main trail, I started getting a little paranoid. The woods were really dark, and the undergrowth in the ravines seemed a little thicker and more threatening than it had on the way in. I wrote the feeling off to the fact that I hadn't seen anybody in a long, long time and kept heading east.

When I got back to the point where the trail drops down out of the Cement Hills to skirt the lake for a few minutes, I spotted a couple of paddlers far out on Shoshone Lake. One was an older fellow in a canoe, and the other was a younger guy in a sea kayak. They altered their respective courses enough to meet and chat for a while, probably exchanging notes about their trips. It was warm, and I was feeling lazy, so I propped up against a tree for a while and watched the paddlers until they passed from sight. One, the fellow in the canoe, appeared to be heading into shore to one of the paddlers-only campsites. The sea kayaker headed south, out across the lake towards the Lewis River channel.

I finally stood and headed east, walking back into the woods and away from the lake one more time. In the lower photo, you can spot the edges of a large meadow that stretches for a long distance out away from the lake to the north and west. The trail follows the lakeshore for about 1/4 mile, then cuts back up into the forest. I remember standing by the edge of the meadow for a moment, thinking that it sure looked like great Grizzly habitat. Then I moved on.