Close Encounters of the Ursid Kind

Well, it would seem I forgot I had a blog for about a year. I guess I was focused on a lot of other things like applying to graduate school, finishing the ol' bachelor's degree, trying to think of good blog posts, and other hectic life stuff that happens.

This and last summer, my job has been working through the university as a contracted field researcher for the US Forest Service. Along with two or three other crew members from school, I visit study sites in the national forest to look at vegetation trends. Some of the sites are easily accessible with a 4WD truck, but others require hiking and even bushwhacking. We had a new experience this week, and since I woke up the other morning with the clever title you see above, I decided I'd share it.

Wednesday was a hiking day at work; fortunately, there was a good trail to follow so aside from the steep incline, the two miles weren't too bad. The district's range technician had chatted with us in the morning and mentioned that we'd be in bear country, which usually means it's a good idea to stay alert, make noise (so as not to startle a bear by suddenly happening upon it), and carry bear spray, but it isn't likely we'll see anything. My coworker brought her 8-month-old cattle dog for the first time this week, and it turned out to be nice having her with us on that hike. She was keenly aware of our surroundings, noticing every bit of movement/sound made by birds and rodents. At one point, she stiffened and raised her hackles, so we knew something different was in the woods. Nothing happened, so we kept going. Much later, when we were almost to the first site, the dog and her owner heard some crashing branches and rustling plants: something big was in the clearing up ahead. We all stopped and couldn't see anything so dismissed it as a deer that had bounded off, but after another step or two, I saw that it actually was a bear - the first one I've ever seen outside of captivity. It was a smallish (for a bear), light brown-colored black bear and was just checking out a tree about 100 or so feet from us. I told my companions what I saw, the one grabbed her dog (who was alert and growling) and the other reached for her bear spray in case it charged. It took just seconds for the bear to notice us and take off running up the hill in the other direction. Breathing sighs of relief, and glad we wouldn't become one of the horrific bear encounter stories our professor enjoys sharing, we were able to appreciate the neatness of the experience. It could have gone so much worse than it did, and although we were all a bit freaked out for the rest of the day, we were grateful to be safe.