Day one...Camping with Big Man
Dinner time:
Now this is when the night starts to get interesting... we polish off some grub, drink about half the booze we brought, and then we proceed to hang the cooler 12+ feet up in a tree to prevent the bears from getting it. Along with 2 trash bags of other stuff. Then we put the fire out and get in our tent, and lay down to go to sleep.
[Enter noise: rattling bottles, bags swishing together and banging off of the cooler.]
This was when I put the lantern back on and look at Scott, who was already sitting up and pretty darn alert and he says, "Did you hear that?"
Of course I fricking heard it, what the heck is it? "Is it a bear?" What else could reach up 12+ feet in the air? "Do we make noise, or are we quiet?" I have no clue.
So, we clap and yell. But at this point the noise had stopped for a little while, we heard something walking around the woods around our tent. Then silence.
[Enter noise, again: rattling bottles, bags swishing together and banging off of the cooler.]
Ok... that has to be a fricking bear! At this point, I'm pretty freaked out. Not only because I think there is a rather large animal about 40ft from my tent, but it is pitch black outside, my Explorer is parked in a lot across the bay, there aren't really any other sites near us, and the guy I'm camping with (who is 6'7") is just as scared as I am. (I would be too, as this was his first 'real' camping experience and I drag him out to the middle of bear territory.)
I called the guy I work for, because he's Mr. Outdoorsman and he would know what to do. No answer.
So I do the typical girl thing, I call my mom.
This might have been one of the biggest mistakes of the night, but also the best.
Mistake of Calling Mom:
-She laughed at me
-My dad and brother overheard
-She's still laughing at me
-It's not a bear, it's a raccoon they tell me
-It could be a chipmunk too, Katie.
-My brother and dad are laughing so hard they can't make fun of me anymore
-My mom is still laughing
-It's not a bear
-Laughing... still!
At this point, I'm laughing and joking around... a little. I couldn't hear the noise so my mind was focused on funny.
[Enter noise, 3rd time: Same noise, but add a loud noise next to the tent.]
Good feelings gone, no more funny. I'm seriously scared. While still on the phone with my mom I recall saying something about jumping in the boat and paddling across the harbour to get to my car. My car sure sounded nice. I could hear my dad yelling in the background, "Don't you dare try to do that!" I knew it was a bad idea. The thought of going across a body of water in pitch blackness was the stupidest idea ever. Even with a flashlight and lantern, we could paddle ourselves out of the harbour and into a different body of water without even knowing it, or tip, or die... you know. We scrap that idea...
So, I got the number to the campsite. Call the campsite... no answer. If you have an emergency call 911.
I'm not calling 911... they'll laugh at me.
So, I get a call from the guy I work for and he tells me it is not a bear. He says it's probably a raccoon or chipmunk, just get out of the tent and walk over to the cooler and see if it is a bear.
HAHAHAHA... YOU GET OUT OF THE TENT AND CHECK!
I do it. Mostly because I trust my boss with my life. He's a pretty smart guy. I walk over with Scott, no bear, no raccoon, no chippy. We walk back, get in the tent, light off...
[Enter noise #4: same noises]
I call my mom back. ;o) Mistake number... I lost count.
So, she says that if I'm really that scared to call 911. But I don't want to call 911.
I call 911.
"What is your emergency, do you need police, fire, or ambulance?" I wasn't really listening, nor was I thinking about anything other than... there is a bear outside of my tent. 'I don't know, I need assistance... there is a bear outside my tent.' (Mistake #213... 'Beartracker, do you need assistance?')
So, basically... she says I need police, she listens to what I have to say. I'm sort of laughing as I'm talking, not a good sign, but she lets me go and says someone will call you.
About 20 minutes later we get a call from one of the O.P.P. Sargent's.
So, the 911 dispatch lady found a janitor walking around and told him to call me and tells him that I'm a goofball!
Janitor Joe: "Hello, this is Sargent Blahblah with the O.P.P. I hear you have a bear at your site, did you see it?"
Well, no I didn't see it, but I'm hearing the bear eat my food and walk around my tent. "Just go out and start a fire, leave it burning, and go back in your tent and sleep. If it was a bear it would be gone by now, it's probably a raccoon. Bears usually only wander around during dusk. Have a good night now."
Not only did I not want to call 911... I knew that they'd be laughing. So, we take his
advice and build the biggest fire possible with the remaining firewood we had left from the Firewood Scott Collection. I drink another Vex.
I have probably what was the most hilarious conversation with my mother in the world, which should have been recorded for humour purposes, and then we end up going to bed because Scott is so tired he's falling asleep and I don't like being outside, in the dark, with a possible bear around... alone!
Scott falls asleep within minutes of getting in the tent, and I'm left wide awake on pure adrenaline listening to his snoring and fatty fatcoon walking around eating our darn nacho chips and queso. We ended up putting all of the trash bags in the cooler that night so the bottles wouldn't clink around, but Fatty Fatcoon was still searching for some more queso.
Needless to say I slept for crap that night... and felt like a big terd for calling 911. I should be used to bears, I've been going up to the Moon for almost 16 years, and I should know that bears are more scared of me than I am of them. My scent, my noise, and my presence is enough to drive a bear away from a campsite that is well known for having people in it from spring to fall. But I was spooked and with someone who is not used to bears being around, and I freaked him out the first night we were there... didn't help my situation that he was probably a little bit more freaked than I was. Sorry Big Man! I should have warned you about the bears.
FYI... we found out there was a bear spotted earlier that week somewhere in Blackstone... so we're sticking with it WAS really a bear!
Mommy add on here.
It really was a bear. They find out the next day.
DD wrote a nine page story on this 2 and a half day camping trip and each day had some excitement.
I have told her she needs to submit this story to an outdoor magazine.
I laugh so hard everytime I read it.
Life is like a cup of tea,
It's all in how you make it.
Lisa
Check out my DD work:)
http://www.etsy.com/shop/LoveMankind
1|1|and anyone else who wants to read it :)|Ranalt|ainebailey@gmail.com|11:22:42|06/12/2010|
Life is like a cup of tea,
It's all in how you make it.
Lisa
Check out my DD work:)
http://www.etsy.com/shop/LoveMankind
2|1|Hilarious.. and somewhat kinda scary|Kristy|mi3zons1@yahoo.com|11:28:41|06/12/2010|
The bear obviously didn't spook when she made noise. It's getting adjusted to people. Never a good thing. We've had quite a few encounters with black bears. Some our own stupidity. The first we were camping in our pop up camper several years ago. I had gotten store made macaroni salad that sucked and there were two bites left so I tossed it in our raging fire. Ooops. We go to sleep around eleven and we wake to hear the crunch of gravel. We know there are Rjs (our name for raccoons) and squirrels, chipmunks and more but they don't make the gravel crunch! So I wake my husband who unzips the window and low and behold the bear is at our campfire. A whole um ten feet from the camper. I was amazed. It was one of my first upclose encounters. We sat and watched it. He smelled the hanging laundry. I had a canister of country time lemonade he knocked it to the ground, stomped on it and popped the top off. The kids had a $1 ball he stepped on it and popped it. I had a gallon of water sitting on the table he tried to eat the lid off. We watched him for a good fifteen minutes. I didn't freak until he started sniffing the camper. I figured at that point the only thing between him and my kids was fabric. Time to freak!!! So I asked DH to scare him off. He wouldn't. He said to watch him a few more minutes. I wasn't pleased but did and sure enough after finding nothing to eat he wondered over to the campers across from us in a TENT!!!
The bears didn't use to be a problem at the campground we went to. We know they are in the forest but the campground made the mistake of getting dumpsters with plastic lids from the trash company. After putting in a call the national park service was told it would be several days before metal ones would arrive. We would go over to the dumpster every night with the park service rangers and a few other campers and stand about thirty feet or so from the dumpsters and watch. The bears would come stand on the dumpster and jump up and down until the lid collapsed. They'd fall in the few feet get a trash bag. Toss it to the ground then start a feeding frenzy. We would go over every night just because it was so fascinating.
Finally two years ago we had just finished dinner and we going into the camper for the night. The lantern was acting goofy and Matt said we needed new wicks. So off to walmart. The only pan I left out was the one Matt made lipton noodles in. It was empty but for a smidge of sauce anyhow. We come back about an hour later and on the way back we had a discussion about how it was almost our last day and we hadn't seen one. Ian was terrified and said he didn't want to see one and was glad we hadn't seen one. Bekah on the other hand said bears were awesome and she wanted to see one. We were a hundred feet away or so from the campsite when our van lights hit it and there were TWO black bears on the site. Ian sat up and was all interested. We drove slowly ahead just watching them. One was licking our pan. The other was meandering the site. There was nothing to eat we are very careful about that now. Bekah started to cry and freaked out. One of the bears went into the playground next to us and the other one came towards us a bit. He was still fifty feet away or more when he stood up and just looked at us. He was huge. As tall or taller than our van. About seven feet or so. It was so awesome.
"Women should not have children after 35. Thirty-five children are enough." - anonymous (Only 28 to GO!)
5|2|Kristy, that is so cool that you got to watch the bears so close up. Cool, but a little bit scary :)|Ranalt|ainebailey@gmail.com|14:35:15|06/12/2010|
I feel honored when I see a bear in the wild. I am not stupid and don't take risks, (well, except that one time :)
On our way to our friend's resort, we passed the huge dumpster area that was totally fenced in and had gates. If the kids and I didn't see bears on the way in,
we felt sad and DH would take us back later at night so we could see the bears.
As the area got more populated, we would see more bears on the road on the way in.
As the population explosion continued, the bears started coming to cabins, resorts, etc. The more they bear proofed the various trash stations, the more bears came.
It eased off a few years back. I don't know if they moved on, or just decided to stay away from people.
We have also done 13k hikes in Algonquin Provincial Park and DD who wrote the story above came within 10 foot of a bear as my dd was rounding the bend. The bear just stood there looked at us and then took off. They have strict rules when it comes to hiking because of the bears. No food, no gum, candy, etc. Just water.
I will see if I can round up the pictures we took of the bears over the years.
( one of the pictures comes from the one time I was stupid, as I took a got of the car to take a picture of a baby bear at the dumpster in the huge fenced in area and
my DH who was still in the car asked "what if the momma bear is behind you?"
I took my picture and got in the car :)
Life is like a cup of tea,
It's all in how you make it.
Lisa
Check out my DD work:)
http://www.etsy.com/shop/LoveMankind
3|1|Oh Lisa, that was hilarious!|sunriver|sunriver@gmail.com|12:39:43|06/12/2010|
Tell your daughter she definitely needs to get that published somewhere. She is a good writer! Tell her even though we are all snickering at her 9-11 call, we are impressed with her writing skills for what that is worth.
So funny!
And Kristy, wow! I would have loved to have seen that especially in my car. That would be awesome.
4|1|Vanessa, cye please:)|Ranalt|ainebailey@gmail.com|12:52:24|06/12/2010|
Life is like a cup of tea,
It's all in how you make it.
Lisa
Check out my DD work:)
http://www.etsy.com/shop/LoveMankind
6|1|That was sooo funny! Thanks for sharing!|hudge4|hudge95@yahoo.com|22:16:25|06/12/2010|
~~Feedback link~~
http://www.refundsweepers.com/dcforum/feedback/1021.html 7|1|omg lisa so funny... |glennie58|glenn_scott@alumni.ksg.harvard.edu|22:55:30|06/12/2010|
your dh sounds like a sweetie though...