Thought I would start a thread on bear stories and would share mine with you and perhaps others will offer theirs as well.
It was a bright sunny warm day in the end of June, my friend and I decided to celebrate our last day at school where we both work, by going on a canoe trip (our husbands were both at work for the day) . I brought the canoe and she offered to bring the lunch. We drove up to our local National Park and took the twisty old road up by the church camps to a quiet secluded picnic/boat launch site. (some of you will know the place I mean....and yes, you know who you are!) We took a beautiful leisurely paddle along the South West shore, a warm breeze stirring the leaves, the crystal clear blue water sparkled in the sunshine. Refreshed we returned to our picnic site and set out our spread...and what a spread it was, sandwiches, puff wheat cake, fresh cherries etc. We were just about to start when Judy looking out past me sputtered out "Ann there's a bear behind you", I turned around and yes, there was a big brown bear sniffing its way up towards our table. Meanwhile, Judy had jumped up and was running towards the road. I yelled at her, not to run and slowly began to pack up my backpack, I was not going to leave all my gear behind. I suddenly remembered that I had one of those loud horns that you use to frighten off predators. "hold on" I yelled to Judy and I grabbed the horn, pointed it at the bear and squeezed...out came the most pitiful squeak I ever heard. I pushed the horn again and this time it made quite a noise, the bear looked startled and began to back away. I looked at Judy and said..."see, I came prepared" I turned back towards the bear who at this point decided that the "loud noise" was not going to distract it from getting its food. At this point I thought better of trying to grab the food and headed off to the road as well. The bear climbed on the table and had a feast with all our wonderful food sighh. My friend Judy still tells everyone about how calm I was during all this commotion, but she doesn't seem to remember that about an hour later, we were trekking around the Wishing Well by the golf course and a cat jumped out of the bushes at me and I screamed blue murder and took off at great speed towards the car! go figure!
It was a bright sunny warm day in the end of June, my friend and I decided to celebrate our last day at school where we both work, by going on a canoe trip (our husbands were both at work for the day) . I brought the canoe and she offered to bring the lunch. We drove up to our local National Park and took the twisty old road up by the church camps to a quiet secluded picnic/boat launch site. (some of you will know the place I mean....and yes, you know who you are!) We took a beautiful leisurely paddle along the South West shore, a warm breeze stirring the leaves, the crystal clear blue water sparkled in the sunshine. Refreshed we returned to our picnic site and set out our spread...and what a spread it was, sandwiches, puff wheat cake, fresh cherries etc. We were just about to start when Judy looking out past me sputtered out "Ann there's a bear behind you", I turned around and yes, there was a big brown bear sniffing its way up towards our table. Meanwhile, Judy had jumped up and was running towards the road. I yelled at her, not to run and slowly began to pack up my backpack, I was not going to leave all my gear behind. I suddenly remembered that I had one of those loud horns that you use to frighten off predators. "hold on" I yelled to Judy and I grabbed the horn, pointed it at the bear and squeezed...out came the most pitiful squeak I ever heard. I pushed the horn again and this time it made quite a noise, the bear looked startled and began to back away. I looked at Judy and said..."see, I came prepared" I turned back towards the bear who at this point decided that the "loud noise" was not going to distract it from getting its food. At this point I thought better of trying to grab the food and headed off to the road as well. The bear climbed on the table and had a feast with all our wonderful food sighh. My friend Judy still tells everyone about how calm I was during all this commotion, but she doesn't seem to remember that about an hour later, we were trekking around the Wishing Well by the golf course and a cat jumped out of the bushes at me and I screamed blue murder and took off at great speed towards the car! go figure!
