COLORADO
Humanity has long sought enlightenment at the top of mountain peaks. But ice cream is also a goal worth achieving, as folks who hiked up Colorado’s 14,000-foot Huron Peak on Labor Day weekend discovered, Denver7.com reported. The identity of the guy giving out the frozen treats remains unknown, but he’s truly what people are calling a “Legend Dairy” fellow, acclaimed as a hero by a Facebook group dedicated to summiting Colorado’s “14ers.” Lugging 60-pounds of ice cream and dry ice up a mountain may not qualify as conquering Everest, but it certainly impresses ordinary hikers like us. Talk about being a good humor man!
Blaine and Katie Griffin were almost at the top when other hikers told them about it. The couple worried that all the goodies would be gone by the time they got there, but fortune smiled on them in the form of ice cream sandwiches. Christopher Whitestone and his two kids were also blessed: “It definitely leaves a lasting impression for my kids as a very positive experience,” Whitestone said. Although he did warn them not to expect a treat every time they hike up a mountain; there’s plenty of ice atop Everest, after all, but none of the creamy delicious sort.
CALIFORNIA
Sometimes a distant relative or long-lost friend just drops by unexpectedly. Sequoia Park Zoo in Eureka, California, reported that a wild black bear “broke into” the facility and “paid a visit” to three of the zoo’s captive black bears. “He was really, really interested in our three bears, and he introduced himself to all of them through the fence,” Jim Campbell-Spickler, the zoo’s director, told SFGate. “The interaction between them was really sweet, calm and curious. We think he was just looking for a friend.” Perhaps bearing holiday greetings?
Christine Noel, the zoo’s education curator, was first to spot the strange bear. “Overall, he was a very polite visitor.” The Eureka Police Department and a warden from California’s Department of Fish and Wildlife spent about 20 minutes trying to coax the bear away, but he eventually saw himself out through the perimeter gate and vanished into nearby 67-acre Sequoia Park. Exactly how the bear got into the zoo remains a mystery, although Campbell-Spickler believes he must have simply climbed up into a tree and, well, literally dropped in. It must be hard to text with paws, but maybe next time call first?
WASHINGTON
You never know what might wash up after days of inclement weather. Motorists driving along Blue Slough Road outside the town of Cosmopolis were startled to find their way blocked by a sassy sea lion that apparently made its way inland by way of a nearby river, The Dodo reported, and proceeded to put the “lie” into “sea lion.”
When Police Chief Heath Layman first heard about the critter lounging in the middle of the road several miles from the ocean and refusing to move, he thought it was a joke. According to the Marine Mammal Center, sea lions “haul out” from the water either to rest after a hard day of foraging, regulate their body temperature, shed or avoid predators. In any case, officials from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration came out to see if they could help dislodge the beast. They finally managed to “haze” it off the road and back into the river, apparently by “making the creature uncomfortable enough to move,” The Seattle Times reported. We hope they didn’t do so by making rude personal remarks; everyone hates to see a grown mammal blubber. Whatever they did, however, it worked.
OREGON
Speaking of blubber, we have an update to our January 2021 coverage of Florence, Oregon’s notorious exploding whale. Back in 1970, an extremely deceased sperm whale washed on shore and swiftly became an olfactory nuisance. On Nov. 12, officials decided to blow it up, thinking the carcass would be obliterated and scavengers handle the rest. Unfortunately, they miscalculated the amount of explosives needed, and huge chunks of blubber went torpedoing in every direction. “The blast blasted blubber beyond all believable bounds,” as KATU News happily reported.
Florence has since dedicated a park in the whale’s honor — the aptly named Exploding Whale Memorial Park — and last year, Mayor Rob Ward designated the month of November as an official Oregon holiday “to memorialize the exploding whale,” the Oregonian reported. For more, um, chunks and tidbits, check out the “Official Unofficial Florence Oregon website of the Exploding Whale” at www.xplodingwhale.com.
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This article appeared in the January 2026 print edition of the magazine with the headline “Heard around the West.”
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