In all the years that I’ve camped, hiked and backpacked in mountains and forests, I have never seen a bear, but I always wanted to.
My old Personal Bear Policy was this:
I would like to see a bear in the wild close enough to cause me to gasp and get excited, but preferably far enough away so that the bear doesn’t know I’m there.
So, essentially, I’ve always wanted to see a bear on the other side of a lake or valley.
I’ve only come close to seeing a bear twice. Once, when I was a kid, my family was camping at Yosemite National Park, and as we sat in front of a big campfire enjoying the Ranger program one night, the Ranger calmly announced that a bear had just been spotted walking at the edge of the campground. Then years later, I was talking to an old cowboy at the Rock Creek Pack Station in the High Sierras, when suddenly his two dogs jumped up and barreled into the woods, barking madly.
“Oh, probably chasin’ a bear away,” the old cowboy said nonchalantly.
I kind of got the impression that bears were big ol’ scaredy-cats that two 20-pound mutts could chase off without so much as raising their owner’s eyebrow.
I know all the bear rules. Never get in between a mother bear and her cubs, tie your food 15 feet above the ground when camping in bear country, yell and look bigger if a bear approaches you.
All in all, bears are supposed to be afraid of people. That’s the rule.
So what kind of Crazy-Ass Bear would attack a teenage boy sleeping in a hammock?
The boy and his dad, who were 3 nights into a 5 night backpacking trip in the Smoky Mountains, had strung up their food, just like they were supposed to. It’s not like they were posing a threat to the bear. They were asleep. But the bear yanked the boy out of the hammock and started to drag him into the bushes.
Got to give Dad credit. As the bear was dragging his kid away, he reportedly kicked the bear with his bare foot, jumped on its back and punched it in the face to try to save his son. Eventually, the bear let go. But even when the father and his bleeding, injured son had to hike several miles in the dark to try to get help, they thought the bear was still following them.
Okay. Now that I know there are Crazy-Ass Bears out there that don’t follow the rules, I have to revise my Bear Policy.
From now on, this is my new Personal Bear Policy:
I will be perfectly content if I never see a bear in the wild. But if I do run into a bear, I’m going to hope and pray it’s not Crazy-Ass.
***
photo credit: <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/97578613@N08/15127933003″>Ciccinnati Zoo 08-25-2014 – Black Bear 4</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a> <a href=”https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/”>(license)</a>