@aking3751

6 months ago

So much for the morning view. Yep. Zip the tent flap up, that'll protect you from the killing machine. A reason not to tent in grizzly country. Black bears can get you too, but you have better odds of surviving an encounter with a black bear. Grizzlies will kill you for the hell of it. I've encountered two black bears in my life, the second incident scarier than the first. On the fourth of July near Mt. Shasta, went on morning walk with my dog up a 2 lane blacktop. Fog was so low coundn't even see Shasta ten miles away, so I didn't bring my camera. Coming down from the top of the road about a half mile away looked like a big guy with a big backpack. As the 'guy' got closer, I realized it was a big round glistening black bear. I froze & watched him approach. My dog stared as well. She'd never seen a bear before. The bear ambled along with his nose near the white stripe down the edge of the road, lost in his own thoughts. He must have caught our legs in his peripherial vision as his head suddenly shot up. His eyes went round & a second later without a sound he turned right & disappeared into the forest. He was less than 20 feet away. No sign of aggression. He was so glossy! To this day I regret not bringing my camera. My second encounter was on the beach side of Florence, Oregon. There was an overgrown RV park there that had been closed due to bear activity. The day before, I parked at a pullout, left the dog tied to the truck & explored the near side of the area. No sign of bears, but a homeless camp of several weathered sleeping bags under the pines. The next day I planned to explore the far side of the meadow. It was around 10 am when I started down the path. Had my camera, walking stick & a plastic grocery bag for picking up other people's trash. When I reached the fork where I had turned off to the pines, I heard a deep chuff. I froze. Looked around as much as I could without moving my head. Kept my glaces high as I didn't want to make eye contact. There wasn't a clear view of anything but the pines that grew above the scrub. My body relaxed in the silence. I picked up my right foot & as my toe touched the ground in the direction of the meadow, I heard a loud 'gruff' in my right ear. Best guess he was less than 10 feet away. I raised my camera & walking stick in one hand & rattled the plastic bag as I raised it in my other hand & said loudly, "OK, bear, I'm leaving, I'm leaving..." retraced my steps & never tried to enter that area again. There was the beach, an old highway, abandoned RV park & up the 45 degree slope, a subdivision. I wondered if the bears ever went up there. I never saw the bear that growled at me. But he sounded close, very close. In the Tetons, I hiked thru an aspen meadow colored with pink blooms of fireweed. Walked to a sign a half mile up the slope. Entering grizzly country. Left. Best solution. Resolve the issue before you find the problem.

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