The High Sierras - Day #2

Day 2 begin with a very unexpected surprise. At about 4:45am I woke up to the not so familiar sound of a bear about 50 yards from our tent. It was obvious to me that he was chomping down on the food that we had so wisely "hidden" from him the night before. I have never been scared of bears in the past as I have encountered them numerous times in Yosemite and Mammoth. But there is such a fear of bears by Jen (wife) and by Ryan (friend on the trip) and by Ryan's wife Lauren (who I think was convinced that we were going to be eaten) that I began to wonder as I lay in my sleeping bag listening to the bear if this was it. Were all the fears, which I had previously laughed, going to become prophecy.

All of the sudden I heard him about 10 feet from the tent. I woke Ryan up and told him there was a bear. He didn't believe me. Then it growled. He believed me. It came to within 5 feet of the tent. Then we heard it rummaging around one of the packs. We started talking and it immediately bolted. Bravely I got out of the tent and checked around the campsite. Convinced that he was gone we examined Ryan's pack. The bear had ripped through the rain cover on the pack and then had opened the top compartment and pulled out some wet wipes. This bear didn't rip the compartment open. It simply unzipped it. In fact, the bag and zipper were totally fine after the bear had left.

We had not even been in the backcountry 24 hours and we had already become victim of the brilliant bears of the backcountry. They are smart (more to come).

"No cookies left! No cookies left!"

This is all that is left of our bagels, granola bars, beef jerky, cookies. Stupid bear. Stupider humans.


The rest of the day was very relaxing. We read, fished, relaxed, and just relished in the beauty of God's creation.

The fishing was tough. Really windy. No fish caught. Spirits high though

Beauty!

We ended up moving campsites (because of the bear) but staying at Thousand Islands Lake. We found a great site with some coverage from the wind and a great campfire pit.

Cooking some din-din and enjoying the fire.


We had a great night around the fire talking about life and ministry and reading from God's word. We ended the night tired yet filled with God's goodness.

Before we went to bed we still had to deal with all the trash that was left from the bear. It wouldn't fit in the bear canister. Since we had trees around us I grabbed a stuff sack and threw the trash in there. I would use all my skill and hang it in a tree. We would beat the bears this night.


I laid down rested and peaceful. I would not feel that way in the morning.