Photos on Friday: Scouting out nature in Shenandoah National Park

Over the summer we took a few trips out to the beautiful Shenandoah National Park to do some hiking and try to scout out nature. Most of the time, we stay close to Skyline Drive, stopping at the overlooks and/or taking some short excursions. Today's photos on Friday highlights some of what we saw.

In the past, we've reserved these trips for the fall foliage, but last year discovered the summer beauty of the park. I was stunned by the number of butterflies. Literally dozens in one small area and this was throughout the park. Amazing!

Up until this summer, I'd only seen an owl in the wild, just once and that was during a 5:30 a.m. walk in the dark hours in my suburban neighborhood. However, this summer we were lucky enough to see three!

And, finally, this year I really (and I mean really!) wanted to see a bear. Last year I caught a glimpse of a big one as it ran away and didn't see his face. My wish was fulfilled on two separate trips. In July, we had the good fortune to see a bear high in a tree. On the second trip we spotted another bear in a tree and upon leaving Big Meadows we spotted one almost right on the side of the road, so we pulled over.

Had to scurry away from this guy, this photo is a zoom from across a road. 

This one has a story to it (you can read here). Moral of that story though, don't get too close. Even though the black bears in this region don't aggressively go after humans, you still need to be cautious. We didn't expect the bear to turn and come closer to us but that's what happened. A bear's huff is pretty scary. We had attended a ranger talk last year where we learned how to act in a bear encounter and I quietly got away and crossed the street.

In this bear photo we are at a distance. This fella is way up in a tree and more afraid of us than we are of him. He heard us, ran to the tree, and scampered up.