bear - oh my

[DrBee]

OK - this isn't my adventure story, but it sounds pretty cool! This post showed up on a wookworking forum Mr. Fish was reading...

"Coming down from JumpOff rock this evening on Laurel Park Hwy. A great road with lots of 30mph sweepers. Very fun descent. I was leading the charge and having an exciting time. It almost got more exciting when a smaller specimen of Ursus Americanus decided to cross the road in front of me. Came round a bend and saw a fuzzy black animal on the side of the road. From a distance it looked like a Chow. Not the most friendly of the Canis gang. As I rapidly closed the distance, it became very obvious that we were dealing with Ursus and not Canis. My guesstimate is about 80-100 lbs. Not full grown but it would have hurt had I hit it. Got a little concerned that maybe mama was lingering about but I saw or heard no other critter than this one.
It makes having a dog run out in front of me seem kinda mundane. "

Now that's a sight!

[Nanci]

I hate and fear bears. I had a three-bear-run-in vacation in Yosemite when I was a teenager, culminating with:

I'm in my little pup tent, with my cousin, asleep. I'm having a dream- a tree has fallen on the tent, and I can't sit up!! I wake up, and I can't sit up!! A bear is ON THE TENT, and has broken all the tent poles. I scream, loudly. It runs off, up a tree. Dogs in the campground go crazy. I ask my sister's husband (we're waiting for her to join us) if I can sleep in his tent. He says no. I spend the night in the concrete-with-a-door bathroom, and am scarred for life.

There are bears here, to the south, where I like to trail run. I don't like that, but I _really_ don't like the Grizzlies out west.

I probably shouldn't have read "Bear Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance" or watched "Grizzley Man."

Nanci

[maillotpois]

Wow Nanci - great new picture! (Sorry thread drift in the wrong thread).

Amazing stories. I bet a bear sitting on your tent is not fun at all.

I saw 2 bears while cycling Tioga Pass in Yosemite. They were in the distance, so no real concerns. It was mostly a cool nature experience.

[Nanci]

We went on a family vacation in Grand Teton and Yellowstone many years ago. I guess Kelly, my daughter, was big enough to hike by herself. It was the year my mom died- just days afterwards. We rode horses in Grand Teton, and saw a cinnamon-colored black bear. We went to Yellowstone next- but I just couldn't hike comfortably because of all the bear sighting with date and time signs. We went back to GT, where a runner had been killed by a bear while we were gone...

Nanci

[Trekhawk]

Bears scare the hell out of me. My husband and I went to Alaska backpacking before we had kids and stayed in the back country in Denali National Park. It was beautiful but in the back of my mind was always the thought of what if that big grizzly comes this way. Didnt help that we had to have a bear brief from the ranger before leaving for the back country. He told us if you get in trouble with a bear you need to try to identify what sort of bear it is because the way you should react is different for the two types of bear. MY GOD Im an Aussie I dont know one bear from the other. My husband tried to make me feel better by saying hey you dont need to remember all this just remember to run faster than the person you are with.

We survived but I cant say it was a relaxing holiday. Tents sure do seem thin when large wildlife is around.

[DrBee]

We don't need to be scared of bears - we just need to bring the super territorial Jack the cat (from Duck on Wheels' post)

http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=7383