A Beary Good Story J

Day 2 of the great migration southward ended at the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. The Subaru and the Budget rental truck had survived another 500 miles of Interstate 5, and everyone was ready for a bit of rest. Upon arriving at our campsite, we found that the items in the rental truck had experienced some ‘shift’ en route. Thus, the door of the truck was jammed shut … or so we thought. Our trusty-steed friend, Rod, applied some manly force to the door which resulted in the door flying open. The twine which cris-crossed the rear of the truck was just enough to counter the effort of approximately 80 boxes trying to join us in spending the night on the ground. Unfortunately, Rod nearly lost a finger in the door-opening process. We still don’t know what caused the cut on his left ring finger and pinky, but whatever the case, a clean sock and a friendly fellow camper helped to stop the bleeding. For expedience sake – and because the tent was somewhere in the chaos of the rental truck – we decided to throw some blankets on the ground and sleep in the open air for the night. The night was beautiful; the temperature was pleasant the sky was filled with stars and a bright moon. I was awoken at 4:30 am to the sound of snapping twigs. The night was even brighter with moonlight than it had been when we drifted off to sleep, and as I came to, I saw quite clearly a very large bear within 25 feet or so of our sleeping bags. The situation was a bit surreal, and at the time I derived what surely was a false sense of security from having my old-school, wooden bat lying next to me. I’ve seen a fair number of bears whilst tramping through the woods, but this was by far the largest I’ve ever seen. I estimate that it was about 3 feet high at the shoulder. It had a prominent hump near the neck, but I assume that was simply evidence of large shoulder blades (as opposed to an indication that the bear was a Grizzly). The magnificent animal walked right on past us, as if we were of no concern. I believe that we may indeed have been of more concern to our furry friend had we not placed into the truck the few empty bottles of the delicious cider we had enjoyed prior to going to sleep. ~ The bear sighting prompted an earlier-than-planned exit from the campground, and provided material for a good story for years to come.