Crazy Bear Encounter
Man, had the craziest encounter with a bear I've ever had last weekend. (There are only black bears around here...else I'd probably be toast.)
I was trail running, thinking, believe it or not, about a philosophical example featuring bears--crazy, right? When there's like an EXPLOSION just off the trail. It was so sudden and violent that I only caught weird glimpse of a blur...but I think the bear(s) were sleeping (or maybe foraging) right off the trail. If it'd been a grizzly, and a charge, lemme tell ya, I'd have had NO time to react. Anyway, it was, like, maybe 10' away. Which is a little unusual, because it was mid-afternoon and it's a somewhat (though not extremely) popular trail. Anyway, it was so crazy that it took me what seemed like seconds to figure out what was going on. I saw a cub go up a tree, and mom ran about 20 yards...and then stopped.
Now, that's weird. Because I've seen cubs up trees before, and apparently black bear mothers will run away--at least out of sight--even if their cubs are up a tree. But she stopped. Usually with bears around here, if you catch a glimpse of them, you're lucky--they are usually gone in a flash. But she stopped close. She was only something like 2' high at the shoulder...not big. So I was surprised--psyched, actually, to get such a good look--but not scared. Though she did have my full attention, that's for sure. I was still apparently adjusting to the fact that she hadn't run off when she stood up on her hind legs. Now she had my extra-full attention. She wasn't facing me...it wasn't standing up like I'm fixin' ta eat ya...she was kinda facing to the side, giving me the side-eye and sniffing. She looked about my height or a bit smaller standing up, so, say, just under 6'. Anyway, I start backing away and talking to her calmly...like Ok, bear, it's cool. Totally my bad. No worries. I'll just be backing away slowly now... Her cub's up a tree between her and me, after all...so it wouldn't be surprising that she'd be hesitant to leave. Anyway, I've watched more than a few bear videos, and I have developed a firm belief that backing away on a rough, steep-ish trail is asking for trouble, so I kinda turn sideways and keep moving away slowly.
Then she got back on all fours...sauntered over to the trail...and started moving toward me.
Ok--not cool, bear. Not cool. Mostly I was worried that she was going to get herself in trouble--aggressive bears probably aren't going to be tolerated. But somewhere around this time I take out my bear spray--first time I've ever had to do that. It's not really bear spray, but just a regular small canister of pepper spray. I only even carry it because I've got extra room on my running belt--it's got a water bottle and a small pouch on it, and I like gadgets and being prepared and shit, so I also hung some pepper spray on it, and this smallish Gerber fighting knife that lays flush with the belt. (It's got a skeletal handle and basically weighs nothing...and it's always good to have a tool/weapon of some kind...so, hey, why not?) Anyway, without those things I might have been more alarmed, but with them I wasn't. And, like I said, she was pretty small.
But by now I am somewhat concerned--I've certainly never had an encounter like this before. So I figure it's time to go to DEFCON 3. I raise my arms over my head and yell--and start glancing around to see whether there's branch or something I can raise up to make myself look even bigger. But as soon as I yell, she stops. She didn't run away...which was yet another surprising thing. But she stopped. So I just kept on sidling away until I get around a bend in the trail, and kept backtracking to take a different route for the run. I was kinda worrying because I knew that I'd have to tell the rangers, and hoping that there's not a total zero-tolerance policy...when I hear some yelling from back near the bear.
Shit.
So I head back toward the encounter point to make sure nobody's in trouble, and meet three bikers coming down the trail. They ran into her too, but she acted totally normal around them, running away immediately with her two cubs. So there was a second cub I never saw...which, for all I know, was behind me, putting me between it and her.
Anyway, I finished my run, and, on the way out, ran into security for the first time ever. The encounter was technically on a trail that's outside the national forest, and on the property of a resort, and they've got signs saying to report any bear encounters to them, not the rangers. I thought about just not doing it, but I'm obviously no bearologist, and didn't want to maybe contribute to some unfortunate future occurrence. Anyway, I told 'em what happened, and we all agreed that it seemed like NBD, for which I was grateful. Dunno what actual rangers would have said...but anyway, all's well that ends well.
So there you have it! My most deadly bear encounter ev-ar!!!!!
I was trail running, thinking, believe it or not, about a philosophical example featuring bears--crazy, right? When there's like an EXPLOSION just off the trail. It was so sudden and violent that I only caught weird glimpse of a blur...but I think the bear(s) were sleeping (or maybe foraging) right off the trail. If it'd been a grizzly, and a charge, lemme tell ya, I'd have had NO time to react. Anyway, it was, like, maybe 10' away. Which is a little unusual, because it was mid-afternoon and it's a somewhat (though not extremely) popular trail. Anyway, it was so crazy that it took me what seemed like seconds to figure out what was going on. I saw a cub go up a tree, and mom ran about 20 yards...and then stopped.
Now, that's weird. Because I've seen cubs up trees before, and apparently black bear mothers will run away--at least out of sight--even if their cubs are up a tree. But she stopped. Usually with bears around here, if you catch a glimpse of them, you're lucky--they are usually gone in a flash. But she stopped close. She was only something like 2' high at the shoulder...not big. So I was surprised--psyched, actually, to get such a good look--but not scared. Though she did have my full attention, that's for sure. I was still apparently adjusting to the fact that she hadn't run off when she stood up on her hind legs. Now she had my extra-full attention. She wasn't facing me...it wasn't standing up like I'm fixin' ta eat ya...she was kinda facing to the side, giving me the side-eye and sniffing. She looked about my height or a bit smaller standing up, so, say, just under 6'. Anyway, I start backing away and talking to her calmly...like Ok, bear, it's cool. Totally my bad. No worries. I'll just be backing away slowly now... Her cub's up a tree between her and me, after all...so it wouldn't be surprising that she'd be hesitant to leave. Anyway, I've watched more than a few bear videos, and I have developed a firm belief that backing away on a rough, steep-ish trail is asking for trouble, so I kinda turn sideways and keep moving away slowly.
Then she got back on all fours...sauntered over to the trail...and started moving toward me.
Ok--not cool, bear. Not cool. Mostly I was worried that she was going to get herself in trouble--aggressive bears probably aren't going to be tolerated. But somewhere around this time I take out my bear spray--first time I've ever had to do that. It's not really bear spray, but just a regular small canister of pepper spray. I only even carry it because I've got extra room on my running belt--it's got a water bottle and a small pouch on it, and I like gadgets and being prepared and shit, so I also hung some pepper spray on it, and this smallish Gerber fighting knife that lays flush with the belt. (It's got a skeletal handle and basically weighs nothing...and it's always good to have a tool/weapon of some kind...so, hey, why not?) Anyway, without those things I might have been more alarmed, but with them I wasn't. And, like I said, she was pretty small.
But by now I am somewhat concerned--I've certainly never had an encounter like this before. So I figure it's time to go to DEFCON 3. I raise my arms over my head and yell--and start glancing around to see whether there's branch or something I can raise up to make myself look even bigger. But as soon as I yell, she stops. She didn't run away...which was yet another surprising thing. But she stopped. So I just kept on sidling away until I get around a bend in the trail, and kept backtracking to take a different route for the run. I was kinda worrying because I knew that I'd have to tell the rangers, and hoping that there's not a total zero-tolerance policy...when I hear some yelling from back near the bear.
Shit.
So I head back toward the encounter point to make sure nobody's in trouble, and meet three bikers coming down the trail. They ran into her too, but she acted totally normal around them, running away immediately with her two cubs. So there was a second cub I never saw...which, for all I know, was behind me, putting me between it and her.
Anyway, I finished my run, and, on the way out, ran into security for the first time ever. The encounter was technically on a trail that's outside the national forest, and on the property of a resort, and they've got signs saying to report any bear encounters to them, not the rangers. I thought about just not doing it, but I'm obviously no bearologist, and didn't want to maybe contribute to some unfortunate future occurrence. Anyway, I told 'em what happened, and we all agreed that it seemed like NBD, for which I was grateful. Dunno what actual rangers would have said...but anyway, all's well that ends well.
So there you have it! My most deadly bear encounter ev-ar!!!!!
posted by Winston Smith at
11:22 AM
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