Bears. From the Ritz Carlton

June 02, 2002

Bears. From the Ritz Carlton in Phoenix one day to fearing for your life in a tent in the Rockies 5 days later. I’ve seen more big game on this particular run than any other time. Perhaps its because I’m with children. This makes spotting wildlife the prime objective of hinterland travel. By night three we checked into a provincial campground near Banff. The words that would haunt me for the next 12 hours were, “...there was a grizzly seen cruisin’ through. You have young children with you?”. Nothing like that to stick in the back of a city boy’s craw. I was sawing logs at 4 am when my beloved bolted up with a, “what was that”? The tarp we’d strung up over the tent to deflect some of the rain was rippling and snapping in the wind but the groaning sound was what piqued my attention. Her next words were, “where’s the hatchet?”. Over the next hour or two I imagined each scenario of defense and every news headline that would result from my failed attempt. How would I protect these people with a friggin’ hatchet? “Family mauled by grizzly suffering slight flesh wound by single hatchet blow”. Bear warnings are the most obtuse and confusing edicts in the camping guidebook. Run , don’t run. Make noise, back away slowly. Look big, be submissive. Fight back, play dead. Punch it in the nose. Grizzlies act differently than Black Bears. OK...I give up. This leads to ultimate confusion if faced with an actual “situation”. “Oh don’t worry. The bears here don’t care about you” to “I don’t know what it is but all the locals have noticed how aggressive and bold the animals are becoming. Why just yesterday I saw a cougar coming out of the town park with a fresh kill”. I guess it goes with the territory. See the beauty...smell the fear. The Icefields Parkway between Banff and Jasper has got to be the most beautiful stretch of road in the world. Bears everywhere. Much more to write but its all borrowed time.