Astonished. "There's something over there" is not a phrase you want to hear when you're alone in the backcountry of Rocky Mountain National Park. Sure, you could be refering to a cute little chipmunk, or maybe a herd of elk, but that's not where your mind goes. Especially when that "something" is definitely right where you put your bear canister, the required seventy or more steps away from camp. We both stood up slowly, hardly daring to breathe, and I side-stepped a few feet to where we had left the bear spray laying on the stump of a tree. Torrey stayed close, and she was only a few steps away from the tent, so I asked her to grab my camera, because I was pretty freaking sure I knew exactly what that "something" was.
And then I did something that was both brave and stupid: I snuck closer for a better look. My breathing was fast and shallow as I slid from tree to tree, taking care that there was something in the way of a direct path between me and it. We heard grunting and snuffling coming from next to the rock where I had put our bear canister, on the other side of a small creek spanned by a pile of branches laid side by side to make a crude bridge. Excitement was making me almost forget my caution as I searched for a clearer view, trying to see past the brush to make absolutely certain that I wasn't freaking out for no reason. And then it happened: the "something" moved just enough in its pursuit of our bear canister that Torrey and I both got a good look at a big, round, fuzzy head, a long honey-colored muzzle, and little ears covered in brown fur, to put the identity of the mystery creature beyond a doubt: BEAR!!
Sure, we had talked about wanting to see a bear the entire trip. We were in the mountains, after all, in the backcountry away from people. Torrey had never seen a wild bear before; I had only seen one from the safety of my car. It was a joke, really, the kind of thing that you say but don't really mean, at least not when you're up close and personal. I think this is a lesson in "be careful what you wish for." We watched, in equal measures of astonishment, terror, and excitement, as the bear tried its hardest to help itself to the contents of our bear canister. He (I assume it was a male because there were no cubs around, thankfully) was pawing and biting at the canister, rolling around on his back, the canister gripped between all four paws as his jaws tried to get a grip on the cylindrical plastic. Honestly, it was super cute in a big, scary-but-non-aggressive, way. We've sinced named my bear canister "The Cuddler," and that is what I will call it forever.
Then the bear noticed us. It dropped the bear canister and stood up on its back paws faster than a blink, which sent me scurring backwards towards Torrey, and sent her back towards our tent. It stared at us for a few seconds, checking us out, then it settled down on its haunches and went back to work on the bear canister. At that point I was done watching it, I couldn't get a clear picture through the leaves of the trees and bushes, and I only wanted it to leave us in peace. I tried to scare him off, yelling at it, waving my arms, making as much noise as possible, even swearing at it, to absolutely no effect. The bear just continued his clawing and biting at the canister. He even tried to run off with it, sending the canister flying and almost dumped it in the creek.
I think at that point the bear gave up on the canister. He jumped up onto a tree, sharpening his claws, then came sliding back down to earth before making up his mind to come our way. He crossed the creek as if it wasn't even there, and before we knew it he was on our side, coming straight at us before we could make a move. I had unlocked my bear spray when we had first sighted the bear, but the only thing in my mind at the moment was to put as much space between us and it as possible. Torrey and I backed up quickly, but the bear was faster, and still came within thirty to fifty feet of where we stood with my tent, a thin, flapping bit of fabric, between us. At what seemed like the last second, just as I remembered the bear spray and brought it up in front of me, the bear veered away from us and ambled off into the forest. Suddenly, it was as if the bear had never been.
A few seconds of stunned silence followed the bear's departure. I was still trying to swallow the fact that a freaking bear had just been coming at us. I looked at Torrey, eyes wide, and tried to muster the most nonchalant tone I could, though I heard my voice shake as I said the words "we won't be sleeping if we stay here tonight, huh?" I'm pretty sure her response was "fuck no."
You see, I'm stubborn, and not one to give up on something once I've started it, especially if I was really looking forward to whatever it is. I really, really wanted to stay at Upper Wind River for our last night in Rocky Mountain National Park. It was a gorgeous backcountry site, open and dazzling, surrounded by little wildflowers and visited by hummingbirds. If the bear had been scared off when we had first tried yelling at it, waving our arms and trying to intimidate it, I might have begged Torrey to tough it out and stay, reasoning that the bear wouldn't return until it knew us scary humans were gone. But our intimidation tactics had absolutely no effect on the bear; he had shown us no fear, only a mild curiosity. He also hadn't been aggressive, and him coming at us wasn't a combative charge but more of a curious investigation. Nevertheless, we decided that it was in our best interest to get away from the area, because in all likelihood the bear would be back, probably at night, and we would have been at a huge disadvantage if we'd stayed. It didn't take us long to pack our gear, retrieve the chewed-up bear canister, and leave, even with us looking over our shoulders so often it appeared we'd developed a twitch. We hiked back to the car quickly, almost as if we didn't have heavy packs on, the promise of safety in numbers a lure too good to ignore. We might have been chased out of our final Rocky Mountain backcountry campsite, but we left with a backpacking story that both of us will have a hard time topping.
What do you think of my Rocky Mountain Adventures? Would you be interested in tagging along on a trip like this some day? Let me know! If you missed the rest of my stories you can read about The Eclipse, Skeleton Gulch, Box Canyon, Thunder Pass, Glacier Basin, Unfinished Business, Boulder Brook, and Upper Wind River! Just click on any of the links to take you to those stories. Thanks for reading!
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