Now that the weather is getting better we are all anticipating the camping season. I love to camp. Mostly cause Jared does all the cooking, the kids run a muck, I get in a lot of reading done, napping in the sun, the hikes, and really the break from life. I thought I'd share an experience from my childhood...
My family growing up rarely went camping. My mom hated it. I mean hated it. So, I really only remember 3 times. One of these times we were going up to Riggs Lake on Mount Graham in Arizona. My grand parents were coming with us. And we were going to do some fishing. I was probably 8. This was a big deal for us we were excited! When we got there the forest service was setting up a bear trap and others were trying to push a huge metal, 8 bin long garbage can back upright. We found out that they were having a bear problem at the lake. They had caught it once and let it go in another mountain range and it had found it's way back. They gave us all the precautions; don't leave food out, make sure you put your cooler in your car, if you should encounter the bear make loud noises and it should leave you alone.
They day progressed fine. We were having lots of fun. (I am the only girl among 4 boys stuck right in the middle.) My older brothers kept saying how cool it would be to see a real, live, in the wild bear. So, as good smart kids that are out of touch with reality we began leaving little bits of food all over the campsite. Of course my mom and dad had no clue.
That night we nestled in the tent (my three brothers and I). My parents and baby brother were sleeping in the back of our station wagon. (How convenient hu?) The last thing my dad said to my oldest brother before taking refuge in the car, was if the bear should rip open the tent he was to use a pocket knife and cut the opposite side of the tent so we could get out. Great! You can imagine how long it took me to fall asleep. All of the sudden it did not seem so cool to see a bear. I did eventually fall asleep but sometime in the middle of the night I was awaken by some people yelling, the weren't close, but as I strained to listen I could hear them banging and making loud noises too. THE BEAR!! I was terrified. I was sleeping next to my oldest brother (he was probably 14). I tried and tried to wake him. I wanted the pocket knife at the ready. I begged him to wake up. He told me to go back to sleep it wasn't the bear. Well, the banging and yelling grew louder and louder. You could also hear an occasional honk of the horn.
I need to set a little more of the mood. Have you ever been so scared that you shiver and your teeth are chattering. That was me. I was trying really hard not to cry, heck I was trying hard not to breath. I did not want that bear to know I was there. By this time my brother was finally awake and believed the bear was on his way toward us. My grandparents had driven up an old truck with a camper on the back and the door of the camper was swing back and forth with the breeze outside. I was convinced the bear was getting in their camper and going to eat my grandma and grandpa.
The sounds kept growing until we could hear that it was at the campsite next to ours. At this point I hear the car door open and shut. I was shaking so bad. Sure I was going to be eaten. We could hear the bear right outside walking through the forest.
All the sudden the door of the tent open. There stood my dad. That was all my poor 8 year old body could take. I threw up everywhere. One of my brothers wet his sleeping bag. (I won't say who...he denies it anyway) Another one slept through the whole ordeal. My dad did his best to keep us calm--and quiet.
We then heard the camp on the other side of us begin to make noise too. They had brought dogs and the dogs were going crazy. It was such a relief to know the bear had passed us.
Eventually everything quieted down. But it was a LONG LONG night. When we woke the next morning and talked to other campers we found out one of them had heard some noise outside their tent. When they opened it up and turned on a flashlight they saw the bear going through their igloo, so they turned off the flashlight and zipped back up the tent. The man next to us with the dogs...(he was in a trailer) he said he had gotten up when his dogs started going crazy and tried to look out his window to see if he could see anything. He saw the bear staring straight back at him, nose pressed up to the window. The garbage cans that took 8-10 forest workers to set back up the day before were back on their side.
Needless to say before the next night we were safely back at home sleeping in our own bear free home.
When my dad retells the story he says that as he walked from the car to the tent he could hear the bear walking next to him a few yards away. He could hear the bear breathing. He was scared.
I will never forget that. It is actually surprising that I love to camp at all. But I do and my kids love hearing the story.
10 months ago