[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
[pct-l] bear stories (east)
- Subject: [pct-l] bear stories (east)
- Date: Wed, 15 Nov 2000 23:57:35 EST
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.
_________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.
Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at
http://profiles.msn.com.
* From the PCT-L | Need help? http://www.backcountry.net/faq.html *
==============================================================================
To: SCATMANJTB@aol.com, pct-l@backcountry.net