Greatest Bear Story Ever!

“Well now first off, anyone who has ever known me, or hikes with me, knows that every trip I've ever been on something absolutely wacky has to happen. Thing is, I never make the same mistakes twice ? I find a way to make all brand new ones. Well, this story will likely be legendary. I swear if I could make this sh!t up I'd be heralded as a genius instead of a dope...

Two weeks ago I met ?arclite? of TT, and a friend of his to do a day hike, and then a 7 day backpacking loop in Glacier National Park, MT.

We set out the first day for our day hike to the summit of Mt. Siyeh, about 10 miles round trip. Nearly 1/2 way there we come to this huge, beautiful meadow of wild flowers, and step off the trail to take some pictures and lie down for a moment. We notice we're surrounded by torn up ground all over the place - obviously the very fresh work of bear(s), and we all check our bear spray out, toying around like a wild west movie, seeing who would be the fastest draw. The bear spray is in quite a long canister, I'd say 8 or 9 inches, and comes with a velco holster that attaches to your side on a waist belt, like a gun. It's powerful stuff too - the can says it squirts 30 feet, and the entire canister empties in 7 seconds!

Anyway, just a few minutes after getting up and moving on, this old-timer comes high-tailing it back towards us, from the direction we're heading, and looking a little shaken he says there's a big grizzly right up ahead in the trail, he's solo and has no bear spray. He says he can't make it, but if we still want to try this mountain we could go through this small patch of trees over here and go up this slide that he points out. Sounds good to us - we don't wanna mess with any grizzly, so off we go. 2/3rds of the way up on a very difficult, skree slide (I sent a few boulders down that arclite had to dodge) we have a choice to make, right or left. We choose right, and just maybe 200 feet from the summit I pull myself up onto this narrow shelf and find myself staring down at a 2,000 ft drop to the right, and no way to go up to the left. Our summit bid has ended. As we head back down and reach the trail again we're all disappointed, especially me, when suddenly this couple of hikers comes nearly running towards us. The say as they came out of the forest into the meadow there was a huge grizzly only 20 feet away from them - and they also had no bear spray. So now we're like...we didn't get to the damn summit, and everyone without bear spray is experiencing and surviving grizzly sightings...damnit we wanna see a grizzly. So down the trail we bound, and sure enough, after 5 minutes, there he is. A big grizzly just tearing apart the ground for roots, and only 200 or so feet away, right next to the trail in the meadow. I fumble with a bunch of lenses and stuff to get out my big zoom lens and start snapping pictures, and we're all in awe at how big and powerful he is tearing into the ground. But there are some bushes between us and him, and I'm not happy with my shots, so I say I'm goin' in for some closer shots. So I move down about 75 ft, and notice no one's coming with me - plus I'm descending and loosing some sight of the bear - if he doesn't like me approaching, I won't see him start to come at me for the first few seconds...so I'd better get my bear spray ready, and I open the holster and take off the safety clip. I take a few more shots, but still don't have a good view, and eventually head back towards the group. Well after 1/2 an hour or so, we've got to get moving again, but the bear is still there near the trail...so we decide to take this little stream instead, that would re-connect with the trail on the other side of the meadow, past the grizzly. As we start splashing through the stream the bear starts looking at us. I've still got stuff in my hands, from the lens bags and whatnot, and each time I pause to get a face shot the bear looks away. We start to go again, and just then the bear turns and faces right towards us, and the girl that has come into our group says something like "ohh look - he's starting to stand up on his back legs". I'm sick of fumbling with this crap in my hands and have to get this shot...so I bend forward to put the stuff down and....my rib cage hits the top of the bear can on my hip and depresses the button, and the stuff blasts right in my face. I'm blind, knowing there's a bear looking right at me, possibly rearing up, and everyone takes off! Now imagine the irony of becoming easy prey and attacked by a grizzly, because you're debilitated by your bear spray! I start yellin' "Guys...Guys...I'm blind". They hear me and come back and help, keeping there eyes on the bear, while I throw water in my face over and over again. Now luckily I had sun glasses on, so I didn't get a close-in direct shot to the eyes, which the can says would cause "irreversible eye damage" to humans. But I didn't realize the stuff had gotten all over my shirt too - so as I'm blind and trying to wash the stuff off my face, I start wiping with my shirt...and I'm basically rubbing this stuff all over my face. For nearly 30 minutes I was blinded, and then the eyes felt okay, and down the trail we went again. But that wasn't the end...because the stuff started to heat up my face and my neck, and when we got to the car it spread to my chest and stomach...that night it spread to my legs. For nearly 8 hours I suffered. And I'm telling you, I've had broken bones, stitches everywhere, and several torn ligaments...but I have never been in more pain than during the hour car ride to Many Glacier Hotel. It was as if someone spread a vaseline/gasoline mixture all over my stomach, and lit it. Nothing you could do would stop the burning. I dumped what little water we had in our bottles all over me, and we had to stop at a visitors station where I spent 1/2 hour in the bathroom throwing water on me. That night at dinner, 8 hours later, I was still dabbing my arms and my knee with a wet washcloth from my hotel room.

This was our first day out there...and the actual backpacking trip is only about to begin the next day. A few more things happened (no more bears) but I'm too tired to right about it now.”

“well, that'll teach ya!”

“One question wall-man, was the girl a hottie?
Lol - what a story, sounds like an adventure to me.”

“if you had been attacked after spraying yourslef w/ bear spray - would that qualify for a Darwin Award?”

“definately.”

“Buddha - was that girl you?!?! You are a hottie!

Yeah...I was out smarted...caught with bear spray by a bear...I'd swear I could hear 'em laughin' a few times - probably couldn't wait to tell his buddies. And bears are smart ya know. Watch, by next year you'll have heard 3 tourists were assaulted by bears who broke into camp, got their spray, and turned it on 'em!”

“Wall-Man, that is quite the story. You are lucky in one sense - the griz left you alone, but that bear spray...geez! There's an opportunity there: design a safety for bear spray canisters!!”

“Ya know, you can carry the spray AND leave the safety on.

I know of a similar incident, no bear though. These guys were hiking up a steep ridge and he had the safety off also. It was pointed backwards on his hip. He adjusted his pack and sprayed the guy behind him. The guy poured water in his eyes and face and washed the stuff down into his crotch area. Need I say more?”

“Ohh, I know to keep the safety on - see where I mention I took it off when I went down for closer shots of the bear and no one came with me. In the excitment, I just forgot to put it back on.”

“I understand why wall-man had his safety off. We were pretty close to the bear, there was only an open meadow and a few bushes between us, and he had his hands full of camera gear. I had my canister at the ready and I wasn't taking any pictures. Big bear, big awesome grizzly bear. In the excitment he just forgot that the safety was off. It was an honest mistake, not stupidity.

I'll write more about my adventures with blowing chunks. I walked/ran 2.6 miles in forty minutes and those guys beat me into camp by five or ten minutes. I hike at a little over two miles an hour with a full pack but I was running to stay up with those guys. The next day, wall-man did a 5.6 mile hike in about an hour and a half! Orin hikes ALL the time, and is 6'-4", so I understand that he's pretty fast, but Mr. wall-man is just a speed demon. That bear would never have caught him if it had charged.

I got heat exaustion and had to cut my trip short. We have a couple of good misadventures to tell.

We did manage to have a great time. Once again I met someone who I really enjoyed being on the trail with through TT. Only one question, IS THERE ANYONE OUT THERE WHO HIKES SLOWER THAN THIS?”

“Wall-Man, I was the bear laugin' at ya!

BTW-You should try to get that story published somewhere - it is pretty darned funny”

“So where are the pics?”

“I'm picking up some of the film in a couple of hours - had a problem with the camera and, after all that, it's quite possible the bear shots got screwed up. The shop is seein' if they can save 'em.

I'll have to get around to sharing a couple of the more enjoyable wildlife encounters on this trip - and a funny/scary experience in a falling rock/avalance zone, but the bear story takes all prizes.

Buddha - I've actually thought of collecting all my stories and putting them together - I'm tellin' ya this bear story is just typical of the kinda stuff I've gotten myself into out there over the last 10 years or so.”

“I totally understand trying to get bear pictures. Mine wasn't a griz, tho. (on web pg, Bearpaw Meadow Pt 2 thumbnail)”

“I don?t use bear spray but if I did I would get the stuff that will neutralize pepper spray you can get it from some of the places that sales police equipment like www.galls.com or www.gtdist.com it is in a small packet like a handy wipe. JUST IN CASE”

“I've always thought you were supposed to spray your partner and run!”

“lol Aero!”

“Neutralize pepper spray, Grunt? Maybe that works on the stuff they use on humans, but this stuff specifically says "NOT FOR USE ON HUMANS" right on the can. I can observationally testify that bear spray is some VERY nasty business. Wall-man took a short burst of this stuff and was in agony for hours. I didn't find anything funny about it.

Ya gotta laugh afterwards 'cause it's the only thing you can do.

You spray that stuff on me, Aero, and I promise that I will follow the sound of your voice and give you a bear-type mauling.”

“thats quite a storey...last month we were also hiking glacier for 11 days...did not see much wildlife for the firt 4-5. were camped at morningstar lake. i was sitting on the rocky shoreline leaning back watching some mountain goats up high with binoculars. was sitting in my little thermorest chair. felt funny and looked down and accross the little inlet creek and there was a grizzly looking accross at me...about 25 yds. i got up and backed away toward the tent. the bear dove into the lake straight at us. i thought we had it. then he simply swam around awhile, got out of the lake and we watched him walk around the lake for about an hour. then we realized he was COMPLETELY circling the lake back to us. he did just that and actually came into camp. he eventually wondered off. that was at about 12:30-1:30 pm. he came back to the lake at 6:30. twice into camp in the same day.

i have pictures. one shows the bear and my chair...where i was. certainly had my bear spray cocked that day”

“Arclite where all did you hike? I'm heading up to Glacier on the 24th for a week long hike. Got any good tips?”

“Stop me if you've heard this, but....Two hikers were charged by a bear. One guy started putting on his running shoes. His partner screams, "What are you doing? You can't out-run a bear!" The other guy replies, "Yeah, but I can out-run you."

From the Stupid People Tricks File: Did you read a while back about people who were actually spraying their kids with pepper spray as Bear Repelent?”

“deanoman - wow, that had to be unnerving!! In Glacier, the campsites at Granite Park was closed for almost 3 weeks, cause supposedly their were 6 male grizzlies all vying for one female, and none of 'em would leave. We got their a day & 1/2 after it opened, and heard there was a grizzly in the camp at 6am. Had kind of a nervous sleep that night.

humanpackmule - arclite can probably give ya great advice from all the reading and planning he did fo this trip, but being that he only made it for 3 of the 7 days and slept most all of 2 of 'em, you'd hafta ask someone's who's actually seen it! Gotta tease ya arclite! Anyway, there's so many wonderful areas that you can't go wrong, but if you don't have reserved sites yet, you're gonna have to work with what they have available. The rangers are very helpful in trying to help you create an itineray with what sites they know are open. Our itinerary, even with the reservations we had since April, had to be re-worked cause of all the closed trails due to bear activity.”

“Aero, you would not believe how many people thought that we were going to smear the bear spray on us like insect repellant.

HPM, we did the Northern Circle. From Many Glacier, up to Ptarmigan Tunnel, through the Belly River, over Stoney Indian Pass, across the Highline, and back down to Many Glacier by way of Granite Park and Swiftcurrent Pass. Wall-man can tell you about the last half of the circle. I didn't make it. I'll post another thread on that subject.

We had the itinerary carefully planned for six months. When we got to the ranger station to pick up the permits, they had closed both the Ptarmigan Tunnel Trail and Granite Park/Swiftcurrent Pass because of bears. We had to go in at Chief Mountain Customs by the Canadian border. By the time wall-man and Orin got to Granite Park, they had reopened it and they were able to finish where we had planned.

Good tips? Yeah, hike at a reasonable pace.”

“I've had reservations since
May and I've done the usual guide reading, map planning and web scouring. It just seems that information is in pretty poor supply if you actually backpack. I'm starting at Chief Mtn. customs and hiking the Belly River through Stony Indian pass and back to the Loop via Flattop Mtn. 6 nights 7 days roughly 50 miles. I was just wondering if y'all had any fresh info about current conditions or really cool spots hit.

So the Loop trail to Granite Park is now open. That alone is a big help. Thanks.”

“Wow, you guys pretty much did the trip I'm doing. How was Stony Indian Pass? I've got two folks in my group that are already sweating it. (sigh)”

“...and make noise! We ran into a large grizzly (it looked like a hairy Volkswagon) in the Bob Marshall a few years ago. It was running AWAY from us up the trail in the samedirection we were headed; we were already 18 miles in. We had a long discussion as to whether or not we really wanted to continue. After doing a careful statistical analysis (recalled about 6 bear attacks in 10-15 years, 2 deaths in MT, yeah OK we'll go) we did move on. Not much sleep that night, hung the food up about a mile from camp,but eventually we relaxed. Continued to make lots of trail noise. I don't think the little bells do a whole lot- you need something louder and more irregular.”

“Stoney was beautiful, except for the unusual heat, flies that could probably pluck small children off the ground and carry them away in their beaks (yes, flies w/ beaks), and a deer who's developing quite a reputation for stealing peoples poles and eating boots. Seriously, we had heard about this deer before getting there, and he did chew a piece off some guys boot and took someone elses pole. A nice experience was that a big moose with huge antlers hung out only 30 feet away from me in the water at Stoney, yeah way up there, for about 2 hours. Neither one of us was movin' cause of the heat.

Bring Deet for Stoney and 50 Mountain campsites!! Biggg, Nasty Flies!”

“What the Greatest Bear Story Ever and no attack? At least you could have gotten the bear to chase you.”

“Damn!”

“We were hiking Glacier at the same time. I wanted to put together a 4-day trip, but when we reported to the permit office at 6:40 AM, about 6 groups stood in line waiting for the 7 AM opening. Between bear-caused trail closings, prior reservations, and other logistical difficulties, all we got were the leavings. They told me they received 500 permit requests the first allowable day this year. Glacier is very difficult to backpack now, because of these scheduling difficulties, and because of the mandated camping areas. If your mandated itinerary is 10 miles between campsites, and you've only got 8-mile feet, it's just tough. I hiked 8.5 miles to designated site at the far end of Red Eagle lake with my fishing pole to discover extensive unfishable mud flats.

In the future, if I can't day-hike it in Glacier, I'm not going.”

“That is one wild & crazy story. Sorry to hear ya got a face full of bear spray. At least you know how it works. I bet any bears that ever got hit with that stuff never got around people again!”

“Yeow!!! I keep a cannister at home for defense, thanks for telling me it works LOL. My condolences(sp?). Hell of way to end a trip.

Aero, On the subject of bear bells, I heard that bears being as curious as they are may be attracted to them. I'll keep an ear out as to if this is fact or rural legend. Maybe something that mimics the sound of a 30-06 being cocked.

Glacier is crowded!?! I'll have to find a park that Backpacker Magazine has never heard of.”

“What a great Trip report”

“Wow! That's quite a story there wall-man! Sorry to that you had to go through that pain. I've never heard of bear spray. Can you tell I'm new to bp'g? I'll have to get me some of that, although, I'm leaving tomorrow morning to Jennie Lakes Wilderness in the morning. Hopefully I won't need it.

The last time I was in Yosemite, I was reading how they use firecrackers and really loud popping noises of some type to make the bears afraid of people. It made me want to go buy some firecrackers & keep 'em in my pack. I hope it works eventually in time because I sure hate to read about a bear having to be shot because he was trying to get into cars and people's food.”

“Just carry a stick of dynamite.”

“Can't imagine relying on firecrackers-geez, I couln't even handle the bear spray - could you imagine what my story could have been like if I was armed with firecrackers? I'd have been blind, and probably blown off 7 fingers too!

One thing I had thought to bring, but never had a chance to grab, was an air horn - you know those cans that people sometimes bring to sports events. I think they sell 'em at boating stores. That ungodly loud sound would stop anything in its tracks, at least for moment or so, & make it think twice. Of course, I'd have ended up blind, deaf, and fingerless if I brought all this stuff.”

“Wall-man, the bear guru (Herrero) recommends using the compressed air horns as a way to let a grizzly know you are in the area, to avoid a surprise encounter. I'm thinking the main thing you should have brought is a lot longer of a lens! ;-)

Just curious, but what focal length were you using? I'm thinking about adding a lens to my kit for wildlife shots. Maybe a 400mm, with a 2x teleconverter when I really need that extra reach. What do you think?”

“Isn't pepper spray supposed to be used when a bear gets too close to you, not vice versa?

Darwin Award Close Call.

You see a grizzly too close, you go away from it, not move toward it.

You're lucky the spray you got on you wasn't used as a condiment to spice up the meal.

Would the pictures be worth it?

Would you want us to see pictures of you as a first course?”

“BobK - that's what I intended to bring a 400x w/ a 2x magnifier, but had to end up with a borrowed thing that was less than that - I think 440 was my maximum - that was really plenty for the backwoods. I know other people who stuck closer to the hotels & saw some bear, but woulda needed an 800 to get any kinda good shot.


mel - I know...that's why I try to convey in the story the motivations - having been disappointed by not making the summit, and everyone we're running into having close encounters. We did avoid the first bear encounter - even left the trail & bushwacked to do so...but the second time around we were all marching down to see 'em.”

“Over the summer when I worked at a resident boy scout camp we had many visitors of the bear kind. To scare them away all we would use is a bear/air horn. They would go scampering off in to the woods and then come back the next day, because those dumb scouts never learn about keeping food in your tent.”

“Heck of a story. That is one to tell the grandchildren for sure.”

“Oh, you silly man.

You be careful, or we will be hearing of you as TT stories bear excretia.”

“I just got this from the net...I haven't verified it yet.

A pilot, after just dropping off a bunch of German tourists
was surprised to see them from overhead writhing on the
ground and clawing at their faces. Naturally he landed and
upon questioning the tourists found out that someone had
neglected to tell them that "bear repellant" is something
you spray at a bear, not on oneself like a mosquito repellant.
LOL...too much! To the hospital they went with 3rd degree
burns to their arms and faces. Duh”

“Hey - sumtin' funny - the camera I was using was borrowed - I returned it to my friend last week, a full month after the incident - she went to use it over the Labor Day weekend and her eyes watered up so badly she had to flush them with water for 5 minutes. And, despite scrubbing my jacket twice by hand, it still burns the inside of my elbows when I break just a little sweat. This is powerful stuff!!

Hey stanlee - thanks for the story, but it can't be true.

We heard that kinda stuff - it's like an urban myth in bear country - while we were there people claimed to have heard some woman once did that to her children.

Here's why these can't be true: Even if you didn't read or couldn't understand the clearly written instructions in English, 2 seconds after the first person sprays the stuff, believe me no one else is spraying. The mist, bouncing off the sprayed person, would blind anyone within 10 feet, and it chokes you. No 3 German tourists could have possibly done this together. Ohh, and your skin doesn't start to burn right away - that's an after affect - starts about 20 minutes later, albeit it is much worse than the eye pain.

Untreated with water, I wouldn't doubt the possibility of 3rd degree burns though - I still have a slight scar on my stomach where the cannister was closest to my skin, and at times it hurt so bad I really would not have been surprised to look down and see my ribcage!”

“Dang! Sorry to hear you're still hurting, wall-man. That is some nasty stuff. I found my canister when I got home. It was stuffed in my pack and made it through airport security. Ooops.

So where are your pictures, son?”

“Thanks for clearing that up Wall-Man. Which means we can't believe everything we read on the Net...darn. Get well soon. Good story with the camera...your lady friend must really love you for that little surprise. hee hee An eye opener.”

“aclite - hey bud, how're ya doin? Owe you an apology about the pictures, especially since you got yours to me so quickly, thanks a lot!

I just picked 'em up last week, and although I specifically requested 2 prints, when I opened 'em up they only gave me one. Was kinda embarassed to fess up to ya, and have been meaning to get back there with the negatives, but work's been hell. I'll try to do it on Monday - the wildlife shots are all screwed, but there's a few great pictures of some areas you missed that I want you to see. Course the pictures don't show crap compared to the reality.


I'm not hurtin' anymore at all, but I think I may hafta throw out my brand new jacket. Even the dog was sneezing last week when he was investigating my waist pack. And the lady whom I borrowed the camera from hasn't returned my call - I think she's pissed, and I'll probably end up buying her a new camera. I have a strict rule with that stuff - if you can't return something the way you got it you hafta buy 'em new and you get the one you screwed up. I already replaced the strap, but didn't know the stuff was ingrained in the actual camera.

Hey arc - I got my cannister too - don't even want to look at it!”

“Yeah, after that adventure, I've been treating my canister as if it were radioactive. It's still on the kitchen floor.

No problem 'bout the pictures. If figured that you were really busy with life and work. But we should post some shots here.

Yup, had to buy new myself. Geez, that's all you need.

Try taking the jacket to a professional cleaners. The MAY be able to get that crap out.

Dang, I'm sorry to hear about those bear shots. Now THOSE would have been some great shots considering we were close enough to tell the color of the bear's eyes.”