Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 14, 2015 17:04:05 GMT -8
I woke from a deep sleep and it was almost too dark to see the walls of the tent. There was a sound I couldn’t quite make out because I was fading in and out of consciousness. For a moment I thought I heard footsteps. Assuming it was my hiking partner, John, I ignored the sound and began letting go of my thoughts to fall back to sleep. Then there was a barely discernible deep throaty breathing - my heart pounded and my senses exploded into hyper-vigilance and for just a brief instant all I could hear was the blood pounding through the arteries in my head. With eyes dilated with fear, I could now see my hiking buddy still asleep in his bag. And there it was again, the sound of the thick moss outside slowly compressing with each step of a heavy four-legged animal. I could hear its deep nasal breathing more clearly now and with every few breaths it sniffed as if detecting the contents of the tent. My mind flashed back to no more than an hour before when I had exited the tent to pee and at mid-stream I saw a shadowy movement at the far side of the muskeg. It looked as though it may have been a bear, but being too exhausted to care, I finished up and crawled back into the tent to sleep. Now with just a thin veil of fabric between us and a bear while camped deep in the Alaskan bush, I was frozen with fear. In an attempt to avoid detection, I slowed my breathing and tried not to move a muscle. Meanwhile, John was quietly asleep and none the wiser to the possible doom lurking outside. The bear cautiously walked another full circle around the tent as I now labored to control my breathing. Praying that we weren't about to meet our end, I fought against the urge to hyperventilate as my heart pounded in my chest.
Read more here: plus.google.com/+Ctxguide_inspiration_adventure/posts/KsgUNE5e2dc |
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Post by kev138 on Dec 15, 2015 0:21:56 GMT -8
Last time i went camping i had a dream that i heard something snuffling outside of my hammock. I was trying to yell and make some noise to chase it off. Woke myself up shouting " hey!"
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tarol
Trail Wise!
Redding, CA
Posts: 582 
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Post by tarol on Dec 15, 2015 16:58:53 GMT -8
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2015 17:28:05 GMT -8
Many years ago I took my 8 year old daughter out on her first day hike. I had stopped in a nice shady spot, sat down, leaning against a tree, and pulled my hat down low. Some moments later, I hear my daughter talking about the nice doggy. My mind is racing about what doggy as I lifted my head to peer at what was going on. There was this frozen in time and all happening to fast moment as I took in the sight. My daughter, just putting her arms around the neck of a bear cub, noticed me looking at her said to me, ‘look at this doggie, daddy.’ I was able to get us back to the car in record speed.
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Woodsie
Trail Wise!
Colorado
Posts: 272
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Post by Woodsie on Dec 15, 2015 17:38:33 GMT -8
I've had my share of encounters with black bears, mostly in GSMNP. If you do much hiking at all in GSMNP, it is a matter of WHEN, not IF, you will have a bear encounter. I've had blackies do their jaw-popping and foot stomping at me. And I have been bluff charged twice. It took everything in me not to turn tail and run! Fortunately there were three of us (both times), so we stuck together. Another encounter many, many years ago in the Smokies was a black bear sow with three cubs. She ambled across a bald, laid down and let them nurse. One harrowing experience was while hiking across Spence Field in thick clouds. There was a bear just off the trail in some rhodie bushes. We could hear it making huffing noises at us and could hear it moving around; we just couldn't see it see it because of the clouds. Once again there were three of us. we started singing as loudly as we could (we sang the "Waddle, Waddle, Quack, Quack" song - that would scare off anything :( ) A black bear came into camp one night when I was backpacking in the Eagle Cap Wilderness (OR). We had to get up and chase her off. Backcountry Rangers later told us this bear was known as the Sunshine Bear. I came across a light colored black bear in the Mt. Adams Wilderness (WA) while backpacking. S/he was grazing in a meadow right by the trail. I tried to get my camera out, but the bear heard me and took off. I've seen grizzlies in YNP and GNP, at very safe distances. Yep, I've had my share of bear encounters  |
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BlueBear
Trail Wise!
@GoBlueHiker
Posts: 3,224
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Post by BlueBear on Dec 19, 2015 10:54:02 GMT -8
Met quite a few myself too, at various ranges. And yeah, the night encounters are by far the most thrilling.  Good story! - Mike |
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Post by tallgrass on Dec 19, 2015 20:48:44 GMT -8
Doing survey work in N. MN. I'm thrashing my way through a horrible hazelnut thicket. I finally reach a clearing about 15' across. Stop to catch my breath, hear rustling from across the clearing (in the same horrible, horrible, hazelnut). Thinking it was my partner, I waited for him to reach me. Lo behold it's a damn black bear come popping up out of the brush. I stood frozen as he was shaking his head - probably as relieved to make it through the thicket as much as I was. He finally spots me, we stare off. He dive bombs back into the brush like a tornado huffing & puffing. Meanwhile I dig a clean pair of underwear out of my pack...
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Post by wondermonkey on Dec 19, 2015 20:48:48 GMT -8
I've not had a night encounter. Chances are they have been around me but I haven't noticed them or my snoring made them think a griz had wondered into Kentucky and Ohio.
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