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| Not THE bear...too busy running! But close! |
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| Akkkk! |
Monday, 19 miles into a trail run, trail buddy & I come around a corner on a single track trail & about 200 yards in front of us, coming toward us like he's on a Sunday stroll is a full size black bear! That's right a
freakin' BEAR! My trail partner was running about 25 feet behind me and didn't see it until I dead stopped and told her. I may have screamed "It's a f*!#!! bear"...maybe ;) It was the most scared I have ever been. I wasn't sure what to do. At first the bear didn't see us because it kept ambling along, but then it stopped and looked RIGHT at me. OMG! My heart almost stopped! I backed right up and then we ran away. As fast as we could off that particular trail. We were lucky it was not a mama with cubs because, after some research today, that was clearly not the recommended method for dealing with a bear.
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| In my books, that's a big snake! |
It was a day out of Wild Kingdom! Firstly, I spent the majority of the day complaining about all the snakes on the trail....quite frankly, 1 is too many for me but prior to the bear encounter, I crossed paths with at least a dozen! And some of them were big! Then, on our 4th and last pass on this one particular trail we found a freshly dead squirrel with some pretty big bite chunks out of him. Freaked us out! (I may have screamed like a little girl once or twice that day).
Our plan was to get in around 23 trail miles, but after the bear we beat feet out Of the woods and called it good at 21.We even left our empty water bottles in the woods! It is not like us to litter, but we were NOT going back for them that day!
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| 1 mile before the 'encounter' celebrating a new trail PR distance of 18 miles |
Then we sat on trail buddy's deck and had extra large marguirita's. We earned them and I'm still a little freaked out by the whole incident.
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| A happier part of the trail |
As a public service, here is some advice on what to do if you encounter a bear....I think I am lucky to be alive because we did not do the right thing.
What to do if you encounter a bear while running
In retrospect, I think we were out there too late in the day and the bear was just waking up. We will not run that late anymore. Why haven't I read about this in Runner's World?????
Tomorrow we face our fears and head back out there...besides, we have to pick up our water bottles!
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| We had 2...we earned them! |
You and I must be on the same wavelength because I went hiking yesterday and saw a grizzly about 25 ft. away. Almost pissed myself. I was in a national park though. I would have lost it. I laughed reading about you yelling out loud. I shouldn't have laughed but I did. At least you made it out in one piece!!
ReplyDeleteCool!
ReplyDeleteRemember the critters (bears and snakes ) were there first. I would rather see a Bear and be afraid than never see one. Ditto for snakes (which are very endangered) ...they are very efficient critters. (unlike humans)
Making a lot of noise is good so you don't surprise Yogi 8)
Have fun!
OMG! And you're going BACK?????
ReplyDeleteHOLY CRAP!!! Did you have to clean out your shorts before enjoying those beverages?? YIKES!!!
ReplyDeleteHoly cow! That is scary (but amazing). Glad you made it out safely:) I always bring pepper spray on hikes/trails but have never seen a bear. I secretly thing it would be really cool even though I know it's dangerous:)
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you didn't get eaten by the bear!! Great job on hitting a trail PDR!
ReplyDeleteVery scary! Glad nothing bad happened except for a good scare.
ReplyDeleteOh wow, scary!! The worse I ran into was a llama in Ohio and a Giraffe in Arizona, I am so not lying, but no one bleieves either story to date
ReplyDelete