DC2.2GSR
06-28-2009, 23:46
I had quite an interesting experience last night, thought you guys might like a good story.
We hiked up the PA side of the Delaware Water Gap towards the Kirkridge Shelter and camped just north of Lunch Rocks (< 1 mile north of the the shelter) this weekend, June 27 - 28. About 8:00pm on Saturday, we were startled by a large black bear that wandered right along the trail southbound, about 20 yards max from our site. From some previous research I guessed this bear may have weight 300 lbs +, but not more. Our food was hung already and we weren't doing anything out of the ordinary, just relaxing around a fire quietly. The bear scared the hell out of us since it was so close, but we soon realized that it payed us no attention whatsoever so we relaxed. It didn't so much as look twice at us. He/she was alone, no cubs. Call it what you may, bravery or stupidity, but we actually slowly walked closer to it to take some pictures as it was digging through an old stump to find bugs. Honestly it was a very very comfortable encounter. There was not a single moment that I felt threatened or thought that we were making the bear uncomfortable. We still stayed smart and payed close attention to the bear's body language, but as I said, it showed no care in the world that we were there. The bear continued south (towards the shelter) and down the steep hill that is the 'face' of Lunch Rocks. He was gone.
However...
About 15 minutes later we were still jabbering about how cool the bear was, when another bear came from the same direction and on the same path as the first one. :eek: It was the same distance away when we noticed it even though we were scanning the trees on high alert because of being worked up by the first bear. This experience was much different. This guy was so much different looking than the first one. I would not doubt that he weighed 450 lbs + easily. His face was larger and more 'male'. The bulk on this animal was incredible. We had four people with us, but two of them were in their tents. With just me and a small female friend in view it was obvious that he did not feel threatened and came towards us. It was a step or two sideways, then a turn, sniff, head turn away, then a step towards. Another sideways look, then a half-raise on his hind legs, then another 2 steps towards. At that moment we were backed up past our fire ring and almost past our tents. My other friends both stepped out of their tents. As soon as the bear saw two more larger people, he made a very quick swinging motion with his front legs away from us and took a few quick steps and was gone.
This larger bear showed no fear of us until he was startled by the other people. He wanted what we had and was coming for it. He did not look aggressive necessarily, but I felt that he would not hesitate to become aggressive if we made the right (or wrong) move. My friend put it best... "There was a whole different feeling comin' off of that bear." It's true. I felt threatened. Not at all like the first one.
We did not sleep until about 4am. :o
I guess that aside from being a great experience overall and a fun story, this has basically just been a HUGE learning experience for me. I've now seen the personalities of bears in the wild that couldn't have been more different. I've learned that not every bear wants you dead :rolleyes:. haha. I've learned that body language is so very important, both reading the animal and showing it yourself to convey a certain message. The most valued piece of new info I've gathered is in regards to the animal's stealth. I was always under the impression that bears made crashing noises, huffed and puffed, grunted, and generally were loud as hell in the woods. WRONG. These bears were extremely silent. I could have tossed a stick or rock underhanded and each bear, but the entire time (about 10 min of 'contact' total) we didn't hear so much as a shuffle of leaves or a twig breaking. If we were looking the other way we would have easily missed the first one and not seen the second until he was close enough to touch.
Being so close to two animals that could take your life in a heartbeat if they wanted to, and having them calmly walk away was an incredible experience. The adrenaline rush was awesome! :D
Here's the first bear digging through a stump for bugs:
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g290/mlyons_5871/bear.jpg
We hiked up the PA side of the Delaware Water Gap towards the Kirkridge Shelter and camped just north of Lunch Rocks (< 1 mile north of the the shelter) this weekend, June 27 - 28. About 8:00pm on Saturday, we were startled by a large black bear that wandered right along the trail southbound, about 20 yards max from our site. From some previous research I guessed this bear may have weight 300 lbs +, but not more. Our food was hung already and we weren't doing anything out of the ordinary, just relaxing around a fire quietly. The bear scared the hell out of us since it was so close, but we soon realized that it payed us no attention whatsoever so we relaxed. It didn't so much as look twice at us. He/she was alone, no cubs. Call it what you may, bravery or stupidity, but we actually slowly walked closer to it to take some pictures as it was digging through an old stump to find bugs. Honestly it was a very very comfortable encounter. There was not a single moment that I felt threatened or thought that we were making the bear uncomfortable. We still stayed smart and payed close attention to the bear's body language, but as I said, it showed no care in the world that we were there. The bear continued south (towards the shelter) and down the steep hill that is the 'face' of Lunch Rocks. He was gone.
However...
About 15 minutes later we were still jabbering about how cool the bear was, when another bear came from the same direction and on the same path as the first one. :eek: It was the same distance away when we noticed it even though we were scanning the trees on high alert because of being worked up by the first bear. This experience was much different. This guy was so much different looking than the first one. I would not doubt that he weighed 450 lbs + easily. His face was larger and more 'male'. The bulk on this animal was incredible. We had four people with us, but two of them were in their tents. With just me and a small female friend in view it was obvious that he did not feel threatened and came towards us. It was a step or two sideways, then a turn, sniff, head turn away, then a step towards. Another sideways look, then a half-raise on his hind legs, then another 2 steps towards. At that moment we were backed up past our fire ring and almost past our tents. My other friends both stepped out of their tents. As soon as the bear saw two more larger people, he made a very quick swinging motion with his front legs away from us and took a few quick steps and was gone.
This larger bear showed no fear of us until he was startled by the other people. He wanted what we had and was coming for it. He did not look aggressive necessarily, but I felt that he would not hesitate to become aggressive if we made the right (or wrong) move. My friend put it best... "There was a whole different feeling comin' off of that bear." It's true. I felt threatened. Not at all like the first one.
We did not sleep until about 4am. :o
I guess that aside from being a great experience overall and a fun story, this has basically just been a HUGE learning experience for me. I've now seen the personalities of bears in the wild that couldn't have been more different. I've learned that not every bear wants you dead :rolleyes:. haha. I've learned that body language is so very important, both reading the animal and showing it yourself to convey a certain message. The most valued piece of new info I've gathered is in regards to the animal's stealth. I was always under the impression that bears made crashing noises, huffed and puffed, grunted, and generally were loud as hell in the woods. WRONG. These bears were extremely silent. I could have tossed a stick or rock underhanded and each bear, but the entire time (about 10 min of 'contact' total) we didn't hear so much as a shuffle of leaves or a twig breaking. If we were looking the other way we would have easily missed the first one and not seen the second until he was close enough to touch.
Being so close to two animals that could take your life in a heartbeat if they wanted to, and having them calmly walk away was an incredible experience. The adrenaline rush was awesome! :D
Here's the first bear digging through a stump for bugs:
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g290/mlyons_5871/bear.jpg