[pct-l] Black Bear

[Jeffrey Olson]

I was in my tent near Deception Pass in Washington.  I was half asleep 
and really tired  from a long day.  I heard typical sounds of a bear 
snufling and grubbing - really close, lilke 20' or 30' away.  I got all 
tense and rigid.  My eyes were closed and I strained to my utmost to 
hear/place the bear. 


All of a sudden I found myself up the ridge behind my tent and the 
bear.  I was looking down from behind the bear and could see him yanking 
on a log, and periodically gazing down at my tent.  This "out-of-body" 
experience lasted for a bit of time and I relaxed and was back in my tent. 


 From that moment on I realized that I am part of the wilderness 
environment that all animals live in.  I saw that all my fear came from 
ignorance and imagination.  The bear grubbing monitored me in my tent 
and went about his business.  Most of what fear I felt about being alone 
in the wilderness simply disappeared, and now I'm much more connected to 
the world through which I"m walking, sitting and sleeping. 


That and realizing that outside of national parks bears are hunted and 
look at us as predators.  In national parks we're potential food sources 
-  but it isn't about us as persons - it's about our food. 


I've hiked in the Absorokas in Wyoming where grizzlies are 
"everywhere."  I've met guys, one of whom was a summer backcountry 
ranger for 15 years, who said they wouldn't go up into that part of the 
world without a rifle within reach, and a big pistol strapped to their 
body.  Our bear bells were idiotic to them - hiking without protection 
was just plain asking to be grizzly food.  Of course we never saw a 
grizzly, although we saw lots and lots of six to eight inch wide paw 
prints on the trail.  Singing and bear bells - lots of ants go marching 
and other songs...


Jeffrey Olson
Martin, SD 

Diane at Santa Barbara Hikes dot com wrote:
> I'm sure all the scary bear stories are true and that certainly,  
> bears can potentially hurt people. But I saw lots of bears on the PCT  
> and not a single one of them tried to hurt me. All the bears I saw  
> ran away from me in terror. Only one bear took my food and that bear  
> was IN TOWN in the campground in Mammoth. All he got for his efforts  
> was to put a few trophy scratches in my bear canister.
>
> The trouble I have with scary bear stories is that the idiots out  
> there hear them and say stupid stuff like "I'm going to bring a 44  
> magnum with me if I go into the woods." I have a guy who says that to  
> me every weekend when I go hiking with the Sierra Club. The stupid  
> thing about this is that the thing you need to protect yourself from  
> bears isn't a sexy gun, it's a boring bear canister. But after  
> hearing so many scary bear stories, the only thing this guy is  
> wanting to do is carry a gun.
>
> So if there are any newbies on this list reading these stories, THE  
> MOST YOU NEED to protect yourself from bears is A BEAR CANISTER.
>
> Keep on walking...
>
> Diane
>   
>