[pct-l] bear stories (east)

This didn't happen on the PCT, but what the heck...I'll share it.

Back in 1994 I was out for a short little jaunt for about a month on the AT- 
hiking south from Damascus into the south.  About 3-4 days into the trip I 
was on Iron Mtn heading towards Vandeventure (SP??) shelter for lunch.  We 
had been walking for what seemed like forever without reaching our luncheon 
destination, feet growing weary, bellies hungry...We had two dogs with us 
that liked to walk with whoever was in front of the pack.  So there I was 
strolling down the trail on this long narrow ridge with the ridgeline just 
about 15-20 feet above me.  It was in late august so the undergrowth was in 
it's prime. Suddenly I heard a rustle next to me at the top of the ridge 15 
feet away.  I looked up to see a furry black head pop up with a brown nose.  
I stopped in my tracks as I saw the black bear and looked down at the dogs, 
who unfortunately, were unleashed (remember, this was a while ago).  Just as 
I was reaching down to grab their collars they looked up and saw the bear 
themselves and jumped away from me towards the bear before I could grab 
them.  So now our two labs are just a couple of feet from the bear and the 
bear decides he doesn't like it, so he comes down the hill past the bears 
right towards me.  I'm standing there shocked and the bear is not 5 feet 
from me as he hops on the trail behind me, dogs on his tail, and the three 
of them go barreling down the AT path....  All well in good so far, at least 
once my heart started going again, except the rest of the group is behind me 
about 250 yards- right in the path of the bear and dogs.  So I start jogging 
after the bear and dogs screaming "THERE"S A BEAR!!!  A BEAR!!! THERE"S A 
BEAR!!!"  At this point my friends my friends could just hear me through the 
forest...only it was a little jarbled and they told me afterwards they 
thought I was saying "we're there!  We're there!"  They thought I had 
arrived at our lunch spot so they start picking up the pace...towards the 
bear.
So...here they see a black furry figure running down the trail.  The bear 
wasn't full grown and our dogs are black labs....so the bear was about the 
same height as our dogs, only 3x's the width.  But my friends are thinking 
the dogs have run off and they stand in the trail with arms outstretched to 
catch the "dog."  About 25 feet away my friend notices that this "dog" seems 
fat and his nose is brown and he lets out a little squawk.  So the bear 
finally sees my friend and they are not but 15 feet away with the bear 
running full speed...only the bear decides not to collide and turns sharply 
downhill...never to be seen from again by us.

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