Quote
madmxe
Can you finish the story of the one with the boys? What did they do and did the bear keep advancing toward them? That bear looks kind of serious about something.
Actually there is the start of the story that I have to tell first..it was my first backpacking trip with my kids, ages 10 and 8 at the time. After much research, trying to find something that would be in Yosemite, far enough away from the road to legally camp but close enough to not have it be too far or too steep for them to hike (you gotta keep it fun with the kids!), I had decided to go from the Murphy Creek trailhead up Murphy Creek a few miles and then cross country a half mile or so to Polly Dome Lakes. It was perfect...fairly short and not much elevation gain. We got a good start and had a problem free hike into the lakes and set up camp, did a little scrambling on rocks and I was getting dinner ready when we watched a guy camping about 200 yards away get into trouble swimming, and, eventually, drown.
After we pulled the guy out of the water, my 10 year old (on the left in the picture) and a 13 year old with the other group were told to stay together and get back to the trailhead to tell what had happened and summon help, while I and the victim's brother in law attempted resuscitation. I kept my 8 year old busy yelling for help. Another solo hiker came along about half an hour later and I took off with my 8 year old for the trailhead, hoping that my earlier decision to send the two boys off alone didn't create a second incident. As we were about halfway back to the trailhead I saw a chopper coming in from the Valley so I knew the kids had probably made it out OK, and they had, doing a great job for which I was quite proud, and grateful (and btw the victim did not make it...see "Death in Yosemite" 8/13/99...yes, the last Friday the 13th of the last millenium...weird, eh?).
So anyway, after spending a night with the rangers at Tuolumne Meadows, I was ready to head home, but the boys convinced me to give it another try....wanting to "sleep under the stars", and thankfully they talked me into it. We had basically abandoned our camp at Polly Dome the evening before, so we had to hike back there to collect our stuff (which was just as we left it, fortunately) and I had told the kids that I didn't want to spend the night there (and I haven't to this day been back) so we continued on to Glen Aulin, where we had a great night and where the bear visited us early the next morning.
So to (finally) answer your question...I was awake making breakfast at probably 6am when the bear showed up, making his rounds. He sniffed around the tent in the background (who occupants were I am sure still asleep) and then off to the right behind the trees in the background of the picture, and then, really wanting to get to me and the breakfast, came up the cleft in the rock, arriving near the boys feet. I had, of course, awakened the kids to see the bear a bit earlier. So they watched the bear come towards them as I took the picture, and then they said "...Daddy!..." and I took a step towards the bear and stomped my feet and it ran away towards the blue tent and around towards the left, back towards me, as I scrambled to get my foodstuffs back in the bear can. So when the bear finally got to my kitchen area, it sniffed around, couldn't get any easy breakfast from me, and continued merrily on its way.
And the best part about the whole thing is that the kids not only learned some valuable lessons about what can go wrong in the wilderness, they also stuck with the trip despite its tough start, and to this day when we talk about that trip the first recollection is not about a guy who drowned, but about how much fun it was sleeping under the stars... and the bear!
) (a telephoto helps with that!)
