And I do mean literally!

I don't like bears. I am terrified of bears. I don't like even passing them in a car when they're beside the road. Even more, I don't like being out in the "wilds" with a bear.

A friend and I were tramping across a local NA rez, not far from a river. This was for her business, not pleasure. She was too creeped out to do it alone, so I said I would go with her. I thought she was just wary of drunks. I didn't realize we were going so far into the bush. No weapon other than a small knife.

We stayed on what are often considered "roads", dirt/mud/gravel/rocks, often holes filled with mud. I thought there might be bears in the area, so I kept my head up and checking all around us.

She got her photos and we turned back. We were both talking, and I hoped that that would be enough to scare off any undesirable wildlife.

Then I heard that "hfff! hfff!" that I had heard before, somewhere in the heavy brush. I grabbed the back of my friend's shirt and jerked her to a stop. Then I called out in a loud voice (feigning calmness) and said that we were just passing through and we weren't hunting or looking for cubs or anything. Friend's face went dead white at the word "cubs".

I shoved friend further down the trail, gripping her shirt so she wouldn't run. No more "hfff!" Walk steadily when you want to run.

Kept looking around. Looked around. Looked behind. Bear on the trail behind us, following. Black bear. Big black bear. Almost the size of a woolly mammoth. Stop? Continue? We stopped, telling friend not to stare at bear's face. Bear stood. Bear dropped to all fours. Bear made short charge and stopped. I considered that a warning and an invitation to keep moving, right or wrong. Bear made another short charge.

By now I am so scared I can barely think. Fire is all I can think of. Lighter. PSK in pocket. Opened plastic PSK, which fortunately was a plastic Q-tip case from WallyWorld, easy open. Opened it, shaking hands dumped all contents on ground. Picked up lighter and grabbed old dry standing cluster of thistles beside trail and broke off main stem about 3 ft from top. It's been dry here for weeks (PNW), not usual. It seemed to take a year for the thistles to catch fire, but it was probably less.

Bear is now walking slowly toward us.

Take defensive? Offensive? In the movies, the hero charges toward the bear with the flaming branch. I could not force myself to do that. We continued down trail holding torch. Grabbed another stem of thistles and ignited it, dropped original into mud hole.

Bear is no longer in sight. Did it go away? Is it circling around?

By the time the second torch was going out, we were in green shrubbery, no dry stuff to burn. Trusted to luck and hurried on to car, and got the bloody hell out of there. And I didn't made one single comment about my friend having trouble getting her key into the ignition, either.

Your PSK: Don't leave home without it. Most of the contents of mine are still on the trail. Gotta fix that today.

Any improvements on our actions would be welcome. I don't intend to get into that position again, but I didn't intend to get into it this time, either. <img src="/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />

Sue

good thinkin! glad you and your friend are still in one piece. thats somethin that'll shake you up pretty good. you should get an equipped to survive "nerves of steel" award. <img src="/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Wow... hope I have the strength of mind to withstand the urge to sprint the hell away, but a black would just chase you down. Sounds like you did the right thing and I'm glad you got the branch to light... it probably saved your life. I'm not sure if a whistle would have helped, but it probably wouldn't have hurt. And I've always read that making your self big is a good idea as well. Note the [color:"red"]"read"[/color] part. I hope I never have to find out if it's true.

Thanks for sharing Susan. Glad you were able to tell us about it.

I did think of the make-yourself-big thing before I knew the bear was there, but all we were wearing were t-shirts <img src="/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" /> After the bear showed up, it didn't even go through my mind. Actually, very little was going through my mind. My brain was like a needle skipping over a vinyl record, having real trouble catching on anything. The one thing I remembered, I couldn't remember: fight a black bear and play dead for a grizzly, or the other way around?

One thing I really did appreciate, and I told her that today, was the fact that my friend didn't panic to the point of running or doing something stupid. She's from LI/NYC, and I didn't have any idea if she had had any experience with bears.

Let me tell you, I was WIDE AWAKE all night long. And it's really true that fear can give you the runs!

Sue

good thinking that you didn't run immediately because the bear would charge you for sure. It will assume you are prey once you start running. if this black bear continued to follow you to the car, then this bear is called a problem bear. You would have to get to the car fast and notify park ranger of bear location. The bear has to be shot. It lost the fear of humans.

You should have brought a gun, in case the bear wanted to steal your stuff!

lol, j/p... you did good <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Note to Self: Include clean underwear in kits for the woods.

I would have needed it.

You made it back in one piece so I'm not sure if you can do any better than that. And at least you have a great excuse for redoing your kit!

Susan,

I'm glad you and your friend are indeed safe.

I admire your nerve and cool head under fire.

You got guts.

Hope I never have to find out if I could resist the urge to run like hell.

Glad you and your friend survived unscathed! Wow...