Beware: Bears Behind Every Bush!

Our trip to Alaska proved to be the most memorable, and the scariest trip I’ve ever taken…

Memorable because of the awesome adventure it was – just Greg and me, a tent, and some provisions, hunting for bear in a location I was certain no other human had ever stepped foot upon. Our pilot was to return for us in three days, we just hoped he had remembered to program our GPS coordinates, and that he didn’t loose them.

Scariest because we had been left alone in what the outfitter described as “bear territory”… I envisioned a bear behind every bush, literally fearing for my life!  

Our campsite was on a hill overlooking the river with nothing but the vast rolling landscape as far as the eye could see.  Our tent was pitched over clusters of low-growing blueberries – all around was evidence that bears had been dining heavily on the little blue treats.  This didn’t do much to calm my jittery nerves or ease my pounding heartbeat.  

Hunting was prohibited on the first day at camp so we decided to trek to the river and catch some fish for dinner… little did we know that what appeared to be a short hike took us over two hours – up and over hill after hill.

As we closed in on the river, the brush and grasses became thicker and thicker until getting through it was almost impossible.  Luckily, we came upon a well beaten down trail, only to find bear tracks in the soft soil and half -eaten fish left behind – now my heart was thumping like a base drum and I found it hard to move forward, I kept looking in all directions for a bear that might still be hungry, or a mama bear who would protect her cubs at all costs.

The bear trail was on a high ledge, too steep to access the river so we trudged on until at last it led us to the river’s edge.  After preparing our poles we began throwing in our line, and right off the bat we were pulling in beautiful rainbow trout and king salmon from the cold, clear water. Greg was cleaning them right on the spot – fish blood up to his elbows – I was more sure now than ever… we were going to be some bear’s next meal!  BUT… amazingly, we made it back to camp without a single bear siting, even though the two of us smelled of fish with our fresh catch in tow.

The fish were the best I’ve ever eaten, cooked in a skillet over small sticks we had gathered for a fire.  After dinner, exhausted, we retired to our tent for a good night’s sleep, but only one of us was sleeping.  I was wide awake, alert to every sound and every movement, knowing full well we COULD NOT HAVE BEEN MORE VULNERABLE … we were camped atop a bear’s favorite treat, we smelled like a bear’s favorite meal, and what was left of our fresh catch was under a nearby bush luring a hungry bear straight to us!

I’d seen it happen in movies – an angry bear pulling sleeping campers out from under their tent…terrifying!  I was so sure this was to be our last night on the earth!  BUT… to my great astonishment, next morning we emerged from our tent in one piece, even our fish remained untouched…remarkable!

After that first day I began to calm down and realize that bears were definitely in our midst, we had seen plenty of evidence to confirm that, but thankfully, NOT behind every bush!