Want to hear something really scary? Let me preach on: I'm dreaming last night.....I set out on a hiking/backpacking trip in the mountains. For some unknown reason, I'm hiking at night. There's no moonlight, so I'm creeping along pretty slow because I don't want to fall off the narrow trail down the mountainside. The trail starts getting pretty dangerous, and I'm kicking myself for not waiting until morning to begin this trip. So, I decide to sleep for the night where I'm at. I can't block the trail, so I see what apperas to be a flat area off to my left about 50 feet. First I have to climb a rocky berm, so I'm carefully testing my footing (remember it's quite dark). I hear what appears to be some large animal walking in the general area I was about to sleep in. You can tell by the brush cruching and snapping that it's big, like a deer or bear. After a few seconds I start getting concerned because it's most likely a bear. Suddenly a deep, raspy, rumbling voice says "no bear!" Two things hit me fast: 1. This thing can read my mind 2. It's definitely not a bear Here I am alone in the dark mountains, with a mind-reading large creature! Next thing you know, I'm moaning/yelling in my sleep and my wife wakes me up. Whoa....just.....whoa!
True story: I was about 10, I guess, and we were visiting some friends in one of those NY state vacation cabin communities on a lake. Nothing but mountain and wilderness on the other side of the road. One dusky evening I was walking between the cabin we were in, and a neighboring one where everybody had gone for a get-together. On a big rock next to the road, sat a bear. I froze. Okay, it ain't moving. i'll walk slow. reeeeal slooow... The bear started to get thinner! as I walked along slowly, I finally saw it was just an uprooted trre in the shape of a bear. Whew!
I got about 50 yrds or so from a grizzly in Glacier National Park last summer. I was wondering about 3/4 of a mile off the road in a marsh meadow (like an idiot alone too) photographing wildlife. Scary as shit, watched it sniff the air for me and then got out of there before anything could happen. Would NOT recommend it to anyone. Although it would have been awesome if I had at least 4 other people with me and a gun for safe measure.
I've been within spitting distance of black bears in Alaska (when I was alone) and it's pretty scary. But a grizzly/brown bear is a whole different level of terrifying. Size matters.....
