I usually avoid posting in the mountain thread since it has been years since I lived up there. However, today I got a piece of inside information about an ominous sign sent directly from the old man of the mountain himself. My daughter has been a keeper at the Grandfather Mountain Wildlife Center for several years. She paid me a visit today and told me that for the first time since she has been there the bears have not gone into anything resembling hibernation even though they have cut their food allowance greatly to encourage it.