I fist encontered a bear, my first night ever into canoe country. Cumming's Lake, BWCA It was getting dark and I heard something behind my tent about 25 feet in the woods, I yelled to my buddie "Don I think we have a bear coming into camp!!!!!!!" Don came up from the shore were he was fishing for blue gill and said, "it's a bear!!!! it's a bear!!!!!" I learned in the Marine Corps to always be prepared for the unexpected, so I took the whistle wrapped around my neck purchsed from R.E.I. and blew with all the air I could get into my lungs. (I wasn't up for wrestling with the bear that night, I had a tough portage earlier in the day, I also did not want to give the bear a bloody nose.) The bear took off, I was sure the bear would be back, but it never did return that I am aware of, I did not sleep could that night. On my second trip into BWCAW I was walking along the shore of Ensign lake It was getting dark and about 100 feet in front of me, a group of tree's started bending and cracking and moved violently move back and forth I never saw it, but it could have only been a bear and I was glad it ran into the woods instead running after me. I also met a Women who brought her two daughter's on a 14 day trip, but had to cut the trip short after several day's because the last four nights they had bears coming into camp, and the last night 3 bears in camp that would not leave and keep them up all night!!! On my third trip into BWCAW, I was the only one in camp, it was dark, and about 250 feet away wobbling back a forth in the typical bear fashion, was a very muscular bear, I could actually see the bears muscles ripple as it walked in the direction of camp. I watched for about 30 seconds in awe, then probally out of fear of becoming a statistic (man from Chicago found partial eated and mauled by bear), I stood up a yelled at it to go away. It made a 90 degree turn and took off into the woods faster then anything I had ever saw move before or since in my life. On my forth trip into the BWCAW I was awaken by the sound of pots and pans moving around the camp fire, I was ready from all previous experience's, I had in my tent both pepper bear spay and a 45 caliber glock auto pistol. I grabbed the glock first out of instinct, but had made a consious decision before going on the trip that If the pepper spray failed I would only use the glock if the bear charged me and ended up on top of me. I would only use it if all else failed, I have a fear of being eaten alive and would do what one must do to survive. so with my glock in my left hand and pepper spray in my right hand I began to open my tent when all of a sudden the pepper spray disharged as i pulled the zipper down the the bottom of the tent, and the pepper spray then hit me in my left foot. The tent now was filled with pepper spay and I began to cough violently, I could not breath, and my eye's burned and became very watery. I said to my self great it's all over for me now, I am dead, this bear is going to kill me, I can't see all theat great, so in a John Wayne fashion I came out swinging and yelling, come on bear you want a peice of me!!!!, well come and get it!!!!!, Looking all around I did not see anything, no bear I must have scared it away, maybe that bear spray sounded like a skunk going off, I don't know but I was glad it was gone, and so I stumbled to my chair next to camp fire pulled out a cigar, let it up and was eated by the thousands of minnesota's largest state bird, the mosquito and on the other side of the lake I heard a loud crash of big tree's breaking, it had to be a moose. I said to my self, The BWCAW is the best place to be, and I thanked God being alive and being in God's Canoe Country. The next day I had to stick my foot over the canoe into the lake every 5 minutes so it would stop burning, That caused a lot of down time on my journey to the next camp sight. Well there you have it Tim O'Brien bear's experience, stay tuned, in 2 years I do The Yukon River trip, a solo trip and will have to write a book on that one. Hope all enjoyed.

Posted by Tim O'Brien on March 01, 2001 at 01:50