When Brian Boitano was in the Alps
Fighting grizzly bears.
He used his magical fire breath.
And saved the maidens fair
Posted on 09/02/2020 11:34:08 AM PDT by SJackson
Here is my favorite bear encounter and I h9ave had many......
I met the son about three years ago at the century anniversary celebration of our church. His memory is much the same as mine.
The Preacher and the Bear
August 3-6, 1958
I was about 16 when the preacher asked me to take a hike with him and his son. The trip would be on the Appalachian trail across the high crest of the Smokies from New Found Gap to Davenport Gap. It was a distance of about 35 miles and would be 4 nights and 5 days on the trail.
I was an Eagle Scout, an experienced camper and had spent a good bit of time in the Smokies. I was able to add some experience to the crew on what was to be a great adventure.
After a very wet and uncomfortable night at the severely crowded Ice Water Springs Shelter we awoke to a clear morning. At breakfast we learned from the other hikers that there were bears. That is, we will have bears in camp at the other shelters.
Later that morning, on the trail, the preacher advised us not to worry..……. He could smell bears and we would certainly have advance notice of a bear’s presence.
That evening we arrived at the Peck’s Corner shelter. It was a sturdy open front Adirondack stone lean to with a chain link fence across the front, After supper we saw a mama bear and two cubs emerge into the clearing below the shelter. She sent the cubs up a tree and ambled toward us to check out the smell of our supper. Having had bears in camp before, I knew that if we beat on our pans and yelled , the bear would go away. That is what happened.
The next day we made good time and arrived in the early afternoon at the Tri Corner Knob shelter. Already there was a party of young women, good Presbyterian girls, from Queen’s College in Charlotte. The Preacher did not like the idea of another night in a crowded shelter, especially one with nearly all women. He decided we should continue to the next shelter. We had plenty of daylight and it should be no problem. At some point before leaving we were advised…… there’s a mean bear at that camp.
Somewhere along the trail we encountered some of the Queen’s stragglers. One girl was hiking in sneakers and the going was slow. We were told a bear took one of her boots and carried it away.
The Cosby Knob shelter was an Adirondack lean to made from logs. It had no comforting chain link fence enclosure across the front. We settled down, ate and went to bed. It had been a long day. Then we heard the bear. It was just outside the front. We had our packs hung from nails on the log beam across the top front roof line. The packs and the food were what the bear was after. We yelled and beat on something and the bear apparently left. It was hard to tell in the dark. Anyway, we returned to our sleeping bags.
Sometime later, we were again disturbed. It was the bear. The ol’ bear was at home, his home, and he knew all about it. He waited and then came from behind and climbed up on the roof to get the pack from above. I don’t remember exactly what happened, but we discouraged the bear. He left the roof. It was apparent that something must be done to remove the temptation. The solution was to take a length of parachute cord and throw it up and over a tree limb and suspend all the packs and food off the ground out of harm’s way.
The bear came back and gave his attention to the packs. It turned out that by standing on his hind legs and swiping with an extended paw, he could barely reach the preacher’s heavy steel framed rucksack. He swiped one of the pockets and out came our bottle of pancake syrup and a tin of crackers. The syrup bottle broke and made a mess. The bear took off with the cracker tin. We found the cracker tin the next morning mangled, with tooth holes and no crackers.
So there we were. It was the middle of the night, we were tired from the extra miles. The bear was a better player of the game than we. Something had to be done. There was only one solution. Find a higher branch. Throwing a stick tied to a parachute cord over a high branch at night in the dark is no mean feat. It was however finally accomplished, again.
My job was to snub the line around a nail in the shelter while the preacher hoisted the packs as high as he could over his head. It was being done and then it happened. I can’t remember if the cord broke, or if the knot gave way, but the pack fell. It crashed onto the preacher’s head and shoulders, knocked him aside and hit the ground beside him. He shouted “DAMN!!!”
There it was…. the preacher said DAMN!! It is a memory still firm in my mind.
The next day we had only a few miles all down hill, so we dumped our excess food in the garbage pit down below the shelter. Included was a big plastic bag of peanut butter. As we were saddling up to hit the trail, we heard a commotion at the garbage pit. There was loud coughing and gagging. We concluded the bear found the peanut butter and devoured the bag whole.
We gained a day and spent 3 nights and 4 days by skipping Tri Corner Knob Shelter
The memory of that wonderful adventure across the high crest of the Smokies .
Hahaha...back when you were allowed to have ethnic names in jokes...even Oly and Sven could appreciate the humor.
I’ve not been to Glacier, but every National Park I’ve been to has numerous signs about bear contact. At trailheads and in parking lots. Of course you have to read them.
Listerine will take care of that magical fire breath.
Those folks were headed to the ridge at a right good pace. At the end you could see them going up and to the right.
How can you fault something that obviously worked?
har
Did I ever tell you the one about “Sonny Bubba Junebug Johnson?”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0PbJjDhOCE
I highly recommend the train from Williams to the Grand Canyon. There was plenty of entertainment provided, and the views were gorgeous.
We took the Verde River train tour for my birthday a few years back and while the scenery couldn’t compare to the Grand Canyon tour, it was beautiful in its own way. They also served pub food and drinks, and the price was affordable. We had a blast!
They were just lucky the bear stayed on the lower path and didn't attack.
So, which part are you suggesting "worked"?
Imagine how incredible it would be if were possible to drop off a large, live grizzly bear in the middle of an Antifa riot.
Well, the last part of the video that showed the hikers high tailing it up the trail seems to indicate that something worked..........LOL!
we have our share of black bear up here in the NEK...
Or have an attack cat handy....
“The observers shouted “don’t run”, but the folks toward danger ran anyway.
They were just lucky the bear stayed on the lower path and didn’t attack.
So, which part are you suggesting “worked”?”
They are alive.
“Do not run! Back away slowly, but stop if it seems to agitate the bear. Assume a nonthreatening posture. Turn sideways, or bend at the knees to appear smaller.”
Actually, it looked like running and scattering was the right thing to do, at least in that video. On top of that, the bear then turned towards the idiots who were screaming.
Bear: “Oh, Lunch! Hi lunch! I’m coming lunch, don’t go anywhere!”
This is why I always carry bubble wrap when I’m in the woods.
If a grizzly charges, I drop the bubble wrap and run.
He’ll sit there popping the bubbles for a good twenty minutes.
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