So I am having a second night of insomnia, and can't seem to find anything to relax. With all this quiet time after hours, the mind starts wandering...
Many of you have enjoyed my mailings over the years, and now the blog. This past year, three friends have all mentioned that with all these wonderful stories I have, I should write a book. At first, I laughed about it (sorry Buddy, but that honestly was my first thought). Probably because really, what would I write about?
Since then (July last year), two other people, both of whom I value their opinions highly, have seconded the idea. Which has made me pause in more thought at times.
My biggest hurdle? I don't know where to begin, or really what to write. So, random writings, here I come! Random in the fact that I know what I will write about time to time, but the order of events will not be. I thought I would go back on previous experiences, write about them, and go from there.
The following would have to be called: what would have happened if I was alone? Also known as the most nerve wracking experience (scariest) of my life.
In 2003, I was working on a Willow Flycatcher project in the Sierra Nevada for the first time. I was assigned work with a few others (Jacob, Dave, Amy, and Helen) to do call back surveys in the mountain meadow habitats. We would play a song recording and listen for a response in appropriate habitat.Jacob and I got really gung ho with the backpacking and camping aspect of the work. The more remote the habitat, the happier we were! So in week two, around the middle of June, we found ourselves hiking into the John Muir Wilderness, south of Yosemite National Park but north of Sequoia-Kings Canyon Park. We had a number of areas to search around (what I recall) were the garlic lakes.
Jacob, incidentally, was a fantastic partner to have to teach me the ins and outs of backpacking. I hadn't had an opportunity to do that before, and I was very enthusiastic about the opportunity to do so on this job. Me being the way I am, I knew that the farther I got from roads and the beaten path, the happier I would be.
Garlic Lakes were about an 8 mile hike in, along a well used foot path. We started in the early afternoon, after doing surveys near the trail head. The hike was uphill for the most part in the first half, but after that it remained somewhat level as we passed through some of the most beautiful country you could imagine.
In the middle of June at the elevations we were walking through, snow was still evident on the ground in many places. The corn lilies were up, but I don't recall that they were blooming yet. Incidentally, from later reading I have done, this is good bear food (the roots, anyway). The snowmelt did create some great waterfalls, as well as some wet stream crossing and some muddy paths in spots.
We got to our camp and set ourselves up. We still had a little bit of daylight, as I recall, so we used our GPS, maps, PDA with movable map, and compasses and wits and went to examine our habitats for the next day. After making a plan, we got back to camp, made dinner, and settled in. Just thinking about those nights makes me feel glad for these wonderful areas we have in this country.
So, the next day, we proceeded with the plan. The meadows were in a little bit of a string, with a large one, with a homestead (well, what must have been some kind of homestead) at one end, a series of small ones going up a small ridge to another large one. We started at the homestead, and worked our way to the large meadow.
It is hard to adequately describe the habitat, but I'll try. With the exception of the first large meadow, and the last large one, each meadow was about 40 meters across, with a few Alders, Willows, and other shrubs in bud and leaf. Each of these was separated by some distance, tens to hundreds of meters. The boundaries were wooded. There wasn't much shrubbery in the forest between meadows, so it was relatively easy to see into the woods.
As Jacob and I finished the first large meadow and headed up to the first small meadow, we were walking up a gradual incline in the forest. As we got closer to the edge of the meadow, Jacob said "Check it out, a bear!" And yep, there was a bear walking in the forest on the other side of the meadow, from our right to our left.
Knowing that there was a bear there, one of us kept our eyes peeled while we were in the meadow. It was a small meadow, so we only did one call point, and did our habitat assessment after we were done. While doing so, I saw the bear again. What follows is my impression on what happened:
"Jacob, I see the bear again."
"Where."
"Right across from us, over there."
"Cool"
We admired it for a few seconds, and continued our assessment while I kept an eye on the bear. It occurred to me when watching the bear that it was bigger than the first one we saw. Then the following:
"Um, Jacob?" (mild quaver in voice)
"yeah?"
"Look beside and below the bear, to the right."
"Oh crap" (I don't recall if that is the exact quote)
Next to mama bear, was baby bear. And we were about 20 meters away. Maybe closer. Yeah, that in itself was scary. We didn't take our eyes off them for one second. But we still finished our assessment. We conversed, and knew we should slowly back up a little, but then also make noise, let her know we were there. She still hadn't realized we were there. So, we made noise. And she stood up on her hind legs.
Okay, so I know that black bears are for the most part, harmless. But still. When a grown bear stands on its hind legs, there is one thought that will first go through ones mind. We overrode instinct and stood our ground. While she sniffed the air and looked at us, we watched bear number 1 (the first one we saw, in the woods), go galloping away from us in the woods behind the mama and her cub. Yeah, the mama was NOT the first bear we saw.
Mama dropped back down, and baby ran away too. Mama just kind of ambled along, angling away from us, but not in a big hurry.
Jacob and I looked at each other, and I think we had the same thought. Why is she NOT running away? Which is the normal behavior of a bear in this situation, at least in our thoughts. But, we kept making loud noise, and proceeded to walk up the ridge, to the next meadow. He walked forward, I walked backward. Always watching the bear.
When we left the meadow and we were in the woods, at the edge of the meadow we just left:
"Jacob?"
"Yeah?"
"She's walking into the meadow where we were."
At this point, at least I was getting really worried. This did not seem right.
"Um, she's following us."
"Uhhhhhh......"
At this point, I have no idea what my mindset was. But we kept walking, and thankfully she stopped walking along our path, and then went into the woods by where we were originally standing. And we kept making lots of noise (just conversing really loudly).
Later, we decided there was likely another bear cub, behind where we were originally standing in the meadow. At least, that's what I think it was.
So, there you have it. Possibly the scariest wildlife encounter I have had, if only because the behavior of the bear just was not expected. Jacob and I saw each other a few years later, and talked about it. Our stories still meshed, for the most part. And we both still agreed that it was a really good thing we were not alone, but that there were two of us there. With only one person there, it is really hard to say what would have happened.
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